Monday, 12/21

Today was very long. I wasn't here for most of it, so my details will be sparse (I apologize). Many logistics didn't go as planned today, so to ask anyone to recount most of the day's events is basically to request a rant of frustration. (I thought I'd spare my parents this, as they've lived it well enough for the day.)
Mom went for her first round of radiation around noon today, and, as she put it, that was about the only thing that went smoothly. Her staples were removed -- somehow they ended up in a box that Kirk showed me during dessert, and that mom used as some kind of shaker-egg to add percussion to the theme of "Friends" -- and, although the radiation appointment itself was pushed back a couple of hours, everything went smoothly.
The following is somewhat secondhand, but what I gathered happened with the chemo today is that there was a fumble along the lines so that mom and Kirk were never given specific instructions as to how to administer the chemotherapy (it's in pill form and can be administered at home). So Kirk had the medication in his pocket by 8:30 or so this evening, but this isn't the kind of medication you want to "wing it" with. This ordeal took just about all day, and so mom will be taking her first round of chemo tonight after she's waited three hours after her last meal (...three hours. At that point, I'd be afraid she'd come after me for the carbohydrates under my fingernails from the sandwich I had earlier today. I'm washing my hands before bed and sleeping with the door locked.) ;)
Other than that, she's in pretty good spirits. It's been a very frustrating day around here because of complications in, around, and completely independent of this whole ordeal, and even at 11:20 p.m., some of these complications are still being dealt with because they need to be; but we're all trying, mom included, to keep her as calm and happy as possible. It was just one of those days.

P.S. I can hear her singing from her bedroom "I get to wash my hair tomorrow!"
She is SO excited about that -- due to her incision that needed healing over the past two weeks, she was only able to get portions of her head wet for washing. Tomorrow she gets to do the full-head shampoo. I'm thinking she'll be quite happy.