by Judy Handley | Apr 28, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 118: Home – Ollie and President Biden
Date: Wednesday, April 28, 2021
Weather: Mostly Sunny; High 62, Low, 46 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Ollie is HOME from the hospital. Hurray! Hurray! And President Biden addressed the Congress tonight. In my opinion, he hit a HOME run.
I’ll start with Ollie. His day went as planned. By 8 am I heard from Heather that they were taking the two of them down to the OR to have Ollie’s PICC line inserted. By 8:45, Ollie was asleep and taken into the operating room. At that point, Heather went to the waiting room. Less than an hour later he was out of the operating room and not long after that Heather sent a text saying he was awake and chatty. Later in the afternoon Heather and Jed had their practice session in giving him his infusion of the antibiotic through the new PICC line. Then he was released from the hospital and they headed home. But before leaving his room, he had one more fun experience with what Heather called his robo bed. Even with Boston rush hour traffic, they were home before Jonah and I got home from his soccer practice. There were lots of hugs and kisses and then we enjoyed a homestyle Cambodian dinner that Heather and Jed picked up at Stir Crazy once they were back on the Cape. Ollie has dark circles under his beautiful eyes, but he was upbeat and okay with the new PICC line on his left arm. It was wonderful to see the Goldstones together as a family again. Welcome home, Ollie!
After dinner, I headed home to listen to President Biden’s address to the Congress. I must say that, like a majority of Americans, I find it hard to disagree with most of what he is promoting. I like having a grandpa as President right now. I think he is just what the doctor ordered.
by Judy Handley | Apr 27, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 117: It Takes a Village
Date: Tuesday, April 27, 2021
Weather: Partly Sunny; High 58, Low, 45 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
It is such a wonderful feeling to see friends step up to help when help is needed. Yesterday Anna, the mother of Jonah’s good friend Luke, took Jonah to soccer practice up near Hyannis. This evening the Keefe’s, Heather and Jed’s neighbors when they lived on Vidal Avenue volunteered to pick Jonah up and take him to Scouts. And tomorrow Grace, the mother of Sam’s good friend and school partner during Covid, has volunteered to pick up Sam and Jonah after their half day of school and take them home with her for the afternoon. Jed could have stayed home to do all of this, but that would have left Heather alone in Boston with Ollie. Or I could have done it all, allowing Jed the time to be with Heather and Ollie. But isn’t it wonderful the way people just pitch-in to help? Life can be done without the village, but it is so much nicer when everyone works together.
Ollie gets his PICC (Peripherally Inserted Central Catheter) line inserted tomorrow morning at 9 am. Once that procedure is done, Heather and Jed will get training in how to give Ollie the intravenous antibiotic infusions and how to flush the line at home. VNA (visiting nurses) will also come to their home for a couple of days making sure they have the process down. When Jed got home tonight, he said they expect Ollie to be released from the hospital late tomorrow afternoon and they hope to be home for a late dinner. Yippee!!! I know Heather and Ollie will be so glad to be home and spend tomorrow night in their own beds. And I know Jed will be glad that he doesn’t have to drive back and forth to Boston.
I spent my morning outside continuing garden clean-up and adding compost to the beds. Then from 2:45 onward, I was shuttling Sam from here to there. I have done no writing or proof-reading this week, but I plan to start my day doing that tomorrow. Mid-day I have an appointment to get the oil changed and tires rotated on my car. Then I’ll come home and do a little more gardening until it is time to pick up Sam and Jonah. Jonah has soccer practice tomorrow evening and during that time, I might co-opt Sam to help me spread compost on the raspberry plants and pound in some garden stakes to support them. Then we’ll all head to 43 Grasmere to welcome Ollie home.
by Judy Handley | Apr 26, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 116: Not the Week We Planned
Date: Monday, April 26, 2021
Weather: Sunny and Warmer; High 56, Low, 39 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Yesterday was not the day we planned and today it became apparent that this is not the week we planned. But there is some good news from Children’s Hospital regarding Ollie. The specialist that reviewed the lab tests told Heather this morning that there is no evidence that there are pockets of Lyme in Ollie’s body other than in his left knee. But the infection in that area is significant is going to require another month of a different antibiotic, Ceftriaxome, that has to be administered daily via IV. In order to do this from home, they have to anesthetize Ollie to insert a PICC line. Through this PICC line, Heather and Jed will administer the antibiotic for the next month. A VNA nurse will come to their home for the first two or three days to train them. But the hang up is that the hospital cannot schedule time for Ollie in an operating room until Wednesday morning. So, he and Heather are still there. Jed came home in the wee hours of the morning as it was after 2 am before Ollie was moved from ER to an actual room. He is being a trooper. He has learned one thing, however. He really doesn’t like needles! Only parents can visit and when Jed goes back tomorrow, he has to be Covid tested on site and wait for the results before seeing Ollie and giving Heather a couple of hours of time off. Just the Covid testing process can take 45 minutes to 2 to 3 hours. That, plus the drive up and back, will make for a full day for Jed. I had Sam and Jonah all day yesterday and overnight. Jed has them tonight and I will do after school deliveries to various activities tomorrow evening from 3 pm onward until Jed gets home. There are drum lessons, rowing practice, and a Scout meeting just tomorrow afternoon and evening. Busy boys!
It was a beautiful day and as I took Shadow for his walks today, I realized that the whole neighborhood has blossomed. Azaleas, tulip trees, tulips, daffodils, Shirley’s Japanese plum tree, and even the moss in my backyard are in bloom. I spent some time today working on getting my raised beds up and going, but I have lots more work to do.
Late this afternoon Heather sent a selfie of herself and Ollie enjoying a rooftop garden at the hospital. You can’t see her chai in the photo, but you can see Ollie’s half of a big M&M chocolate chip cookie. Heather is hiding her half which Ollie insisted she have. As Heather labeled that photo, things could be a lot worse. She is trying hard to make sure Ollie’s hospital experience is as positive as possible. Go Heather and Ollie!
by Judy Handley | Apr 25, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 115: Not the Day We Planned
Date: Sunday, April 25, 2021
Weather: Overcast and Rainy; High 49, Low,41 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Yesterday was such a beautiful day, but the weather forecast for today was rain. I planned to finish proofreading the latest chapter I completed on Thursday and the Goldstones planned a laid-back day. Then we were all going to meet at my house for dinner. But we make plans and then then life happens. I got a call from Heather around noon saying she had talked to Ollie’s orthopedic specialist for his swollen knee due to Lyme Disease. He wanted Heather and Jed to take Ollie to the ER at Children’s Hospital in Boston today. The labs from tests run last week had come back looking like there might be a secondary infection in his knee. That, along with a red rash that has appeared in the area at the base of both thumbs had him concerned. I volunteered to take Sam and Jonah so that both Heather and Jed could go with Ollie. They are still there and one or both of them will spend the night with O and meet with a team of specialists tomorrow. Sam and Jonah are tucked in for the night here. I will take them to school in the morning. When we talked to H, J, and O tonight at bedtime, Ollie was just getting to eat his first food since this morning. He does not appreciate all the needles but sounded in good spirits. He was still in a room in the ER, but Heather and Jed were hoping for a ‘real’ room for the night. The good news is that the ER team does not think he has a secondary infection. I hope to have even better news by this time tomorrow. Six weeks on Doxycycline has not done the trick. We are all hoping the Infectious Disease specialists at Children’s can work some magic.
by Judy Handley | Apr 24, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 114: First Soccer Saturday Since Fall 2019
Date: Saturday, April 24, 2021
Weather: Sunny, Winds Building; High 65, Low,46 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Most of my day was spent at the soccer field . . . for the first time since the fall of 2019. It was hard to believe that it has really been a year and half since the last soccer game. But, surprisingly, even with Covid ‘adjustments, today felt ‘almost’ normal. Only two adults were allowed per player and everyone, including the players, wore masks. Those of us on the side lines also used physical distancing. But since all of that seems normal these days, I hardly noticed. But what I did notice was how much all of the boys have changed in the last year and a half. They are all so much taller! Jonah has continued to practice and play some games this school year with a different league, but most of the boys have not played in a game since the fall of 2019. They are not really playing competitively this spring. The local Falmouth travel league has simply lumped the kids together by grade levels. The teams are large enough that they can divide in half and play against each other. So due to Covid, there is no traveling, but at least the kids get to play. Again, even that seems normal these days.
Ollie had a game at 9 am, Jonah at 10:30 am, and Sam at 1:30. I came home between Jonah’s game and Sam’s to walk with Shadow and grab some lunch. Then after Sam’s game, I hurried to a local plant nursery to buy a few more herbs and then headed home to walk with Shadow again. I spent an hour proofreading the first half of the latest chapter I completed in the Voyage of Windbird. Then I spent the rest of my evening listening to the audio presentations of the first day of the Food Revolution Network’s Spring 2021 Summit. Today’s topic was: How Food Can Change Your Life. The evidence becomes more obvious and convincing each year. We all need to be eating a plant-based diet. I am not there yet, but presentations I listened to this evening were very convincing. There are three hours of presentations each day, but I listened to only two from this first day of the Summit tonight. Dean Ornish, MD, the “father of lifestyle medicine,” gave critical insights on how the right diet and lifestyle can address chronic conditions like heart disease, cancer, and dementia. He reviewed the differences between preventing and reversing disease and shared some of the top insights he’s gleaned in forty plus years on the leading edge of the lifestyle medicine movement. I actually only listened to about half of his presentation. Not because I wasn’t interested, but because I had heard most of it before and because there just weren’t enough hours left in my day. But then I was riveted by the presentation of William Li, MD. He is brilliant and shared his stunning research on food and COVID-19 outcomes—all new information to me. He shared what to eat (and what not to eat!) if you want to build a healthy immune system. His book, “Eat to Beat Disease: The New Science of How Your Body Can Heal Itself” is one that every household should have as a reference book. My copy is in large print and is about three inches thick and every single page is jam-packed with vital information. I would love to organize a study group focusing on Dr. Li’s work. Anyone want to join me?
by Judy Handley | Apr 23, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 113: Shopping with the Goldpebbles
Date: Friday, April 23, 2021
Weather: Mostly Sunny, Still Very Windy; High 54, Low,44 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Shopping with the Goldpebbles means going to Army-Navy surplus stores. We went to one in Hyannis, the Mass Bay Company, and then one across the bridge in Wareham called Go Bananas! The latter advertises as “a working man’s LL Bean” and the boys LOVED it. I only knew about the place from my friend Karen Baranowski. Sam, Jonah, and Ollie say, “Thank you Karen.”
Boys being boys, and being Boy Scouts, new knives for whittling and diddling were the first order of business. We found those at the Mass Bay Co. in Hyannis. Then we headed off-Cape to Wareham which should have taken half an hour. But there was construction at the Sagamore bridge, and it took us way over an hour sitting in bumper to bumper traffic when we got close to the bridge. It was a rude reminder of what summer traffic on the Cape is like—just a little early making it all the more painful. But the boys hung in there and they were glad they did because the loved the second surplus store. The one in Hyannis was neat and tidy. The one in Wareham was your more typical Army-Navy surplus, and they had way more ‘stuff’ the boys were interested in. When I look at Sam, I feel like he is twice the size he was last summer. I’m sure that is an exaggeration, but yesterday we found out that he certainly did not fit into to his life vest. So we were both glad to find one that fit. We did not find the camo pants or Carhartt overalls we were looking for, but in addition to Sam’s life vest, I got a new kayak paddle and new nets for catching critters at the beach. I have bought camo pants for the Goldpebbles at Costco in the past. But due to Covid, it has been so long since I have been there that they have all outgrown and worn out what they have—too many holes to pass down to a younger brother. And Jonah’s favorite camo jacket is two sizes too small for him. Maybe I’ll venture north to Costco next week to take a look.
