Mama is better

Mama's surgery (mastectomy) was 8 weeks ago, and she's feeling much better. Her only complaint is that her clothes don't fit, since her two breasts are so drastically different in size. She won't buy a breast form or prosthesis (too much money, she says). Her doctor says he will perform surgery to reduce her other breast next year on her birthday (which is about a year from the mastectomy). Mama has no other complaints, though, and of course we totally understand her dissatisfaction with the way her clothes fit.

But in every other way, Mama is very happy now. She feels much better and has more energy than before. She can see better, and the roaring in her ears has gone away, so she can hear better. She is enjoying quilting again. Mama accredits all of these physical improvements to the estrogen pill she is taking to treat osteoporosis. She has also been taking daily injections for osteoporosis. Her doctor says her bones are really "crumbly".

Since the surgery, Mama takes a cancer pill once a month. The purpose of the pill is to stop the growth and even shrink the growth of cancers that may already be present in her body. Starting in October, Mama will receive monthly infusions, but Frances and I aren't sure whether the infusions treat the cancer or osteoporosis.

A Painful Decision

This morning I made a heart-wrenching decision to let Oliver go. Frances is driving him to the animal shelter as a write this, so I didn't have to endure the painful trip out there, listening to him cry. I'm grateful for that.

Oliver, my "middle" child as I've often referred to him, really needs lots of attention. He would thrive in a home where he's the only cat. While he has always loved Ryan, my oldest cat, he had a hard time learning to tolerate the presence of Manteo, my baby. After I brought Manteo home, Oliver first started exhibiting some violently aggressive behavior, but fortunately it didn't last too long.

With the addition of Frances' two cats to the household, Oliver has gotten more and more aggressive. Sarah at least fights back (and very vocally), but Mariah is fearful of him. Last night Oliver attacked her while she was using the "potty", and it wasn't the first time, sad to say. So this morning, rather than go to the litter box, Mariah went potty on the papers on my desk.

Frances was going to get rid of Mariah, but that wouldn't have solved the problem. Oliver would still pick fights with Sarah. Frances and I would still be stressed out from their fighting. So, hard as it was to do, I decided Oliver should be the one to go. I cried. Oliver is so affectionate, so sweet to people. He'll let just about anyone who comes to the house pet him. I hope he will be placed in a good home, where he can be the center of attention. That would be perfect for him. At least I know if he doesn't get adopted, he won't suffer. There's a degree of comfort in knowing that.

After a Long Time...

I know it's been weeks since I've posted an update, and perhaps you've been a tad concerned, knowing that from me, silence often means things aren't going so well. Not to worry. This time, mainly I haven't written because I've been so busy. Not "overwhelmed" busy, but taking-care-of-things busy. Although I had hoped to be working by now, when I look around the house at everything I've gotten done, I feel really pleased. These last few weeks have given me time to do some organizing projects that I wouldn't have gotten to for months, once I went back to working full time. Such as:

- reorganizing the kitchen. One morning last week, I rearranged all of the kitchen cabinets so that the things we use the most are within easy reach on lower shelves. Fortunately this wasn't too much work. The kitchen was already arranged into "zones" with items stored where they are used; glasses near the sink, bakeware near the stove, and so on. But when Frances moved in, we didn't reorganize the kitchen but stored her things wherever we found space in the appropriate cabinets. Things were still grouped where they belonged, but not necessarily where they were easily reached.

So last week I went through all the cabinets, one by one, taking everything off the top two shelves of each cabinet. Next I lowered the top and middle shelves (they're adjustable) to make everything easier to reach. Then I put everything back, putting things that are used less often on the top shelves. What this means is, we don't have to bring out the step stool any more, to get to something we use all the time. In fact, I don't think we've needed the step stool at all in the last week, when we had been using it at least once or twice a day. Getting organized may take a little effort, but hey -- in the end, it saves you work.

- reorganizing my household filing system (for paper files). A few weeks ago, I bought a book called "File... Don't Pile!" written by Pat Dorff, and decided to implement her methods. Actually, my paper files were already in good order, but I am trying to get Frances' paper clutter under control. Although I may have to implement a solution for Frances (if I want it done in my lifetime), I don't want to be a "slave" forever beating a path to the files whenever she wants something. So I need a fiing system that would make it easy for either of us to quickly and easily find anything. After reading her book, I am convinced that Dorff's File...Don't Pile system is the answer.

So far I have reorganized all of my Gardening as well as Home Management files. Although it has taken some work, the new filing system has already "paid off" for me. What makes the new system better than the old one is the cross reference. Sometimes I've been frustrated trying to find something in my files, even though they are organized. As Dorff points out, it can be hard to find something if the subject is obscure or might be referred to by more than one term (one example from work would be "customer" and "client"). Unfortunately our minds don't always think the same way two days in a row. Here is where the cross-reference comes in -- to trigger the mind into remembering. Now, as I file something, or as I'm retrieving something from my files, I take a moment to think about using the file again later. Next week or next month, will I remember which subject I filed this under? What about Frances, will she be able to find it? What subject might she look for? An example from my Home Management file is painting advice, which I filed under the subject of "Decorating". So as I filed papers about paint and paint colors, I added a cross-reference for "Paint" to point back to the Decorating folder. Redoing my files hasn't seemed like such an effort, because I expect the cross-reference to save lots of frustration in future.

Besides these two projects, Frances and I have finished unpacking all of her moving boxes, and have been working for the past week to rearrange the garage so we can park our cars inside. Today, for the very first time, we were able to get both cars in the garage. Hooray! And a little ahead of the deadline I had set, to get the cars in before the first day of frost.

I really had hoped to be working again -- and earning a paycheck again -- by now. In my last post, I wrote that Jay at CMS had called me, telling me that another job would be listed the week of September 4. It wasn't published in the paper, but only listed internal to CMS, so Jay called and emailed me the week before, to remind me and ask me to reapply. Which I did. I think the deadline for application was September 8, so I expect to hear something from CMS this week. I'm not sure if they will do another interview or just make an offer. Just keep your fingers crossed for me, think a good thought for me, please! I have applied at a few other places, but I really think a job at CMS would be ideal.