Family and Friends

Today I’m going to give a shout out to my hospital visitors and family. First hospital visitors (Alta Bates visiting hours = 24/7. Major kudos) -

My Giants ticket partner and I were into a baseball conversation within thirty seconds of his arrival. We kept things rolling with a discussion of recent books read or movies watched. In a great coincidence he was also able to give me a ride home from the hospital.

Another hospital visitor is a favorite of mine because she laughs at pretty much any stupid pun or joke I manage. That’s hard to beat (and perhaps, some might say, hard to believe). And kudos to her boyfriend who came along even though we’ve only met twice.

Another guest happens to be pregnant, which immediately opened up a nice avenue of conversation along with the books, movies, and work drama verbiage. I’m looking forward to watching that midsection grow.

My wife would just come in, hand over some good, easy to digest food (hospital food = yuk), pull out her knitting, and give detailed reports on our dog Koz-B and cat Judy. Otherwise, we’d act like we were at home, except for the part where you yell, “Honey, where’s the . . . oh, here it is. Never mind.”

My family didn’t know I was in the hospital, but when I got my preliminary diagnosis I emailed the word to them. My sister was the first to get through to me by phone. She related a ten minute story about a friend of hers who had lymphoma, went through chemo, never missed a day of work and is now cured. It was great to hear and incredibly detailed, as is her habit (nephew and niece, you know what I’m talking about). Thank you, Sis.

Her two kids, my nephew and niece, also called with best wishes, though both are extremely busy. In fact, it might not be an exaggeration to say that this is the most important couple of weeks for my niece since the birth of her last child.

From Terry’s side of the family I got a nice phone call from my niece. We had a lot to talk about because she had some health problems as a teenager that had her in and out of the hospital a lot. 

Her mom, my sister-in-law, has got some blessing meditations and healing circles going on for me, and I’m reaching out for those good vibes.

Finally, I want to share a silly thought that runs through my head these days. My late mother, Scooter, would rarely miss a chance to repeat one of her favorite jokes. If you’d say, “I’ll be right back, I have to go to the bathroom”, she’d say, “Go for me too, will you. I’m too lazy to get up right now.” Well, I’m getting a lot of “please let me know if there’s anything I can do” messages these days. “Sure,” I’m thinking, “Could you take one of my chemo treatments for me?” Ha ha. (BTW - I’ve wondered for years if Captain Kirk ever contacted Scotty asking, “Hey Scotty. I’m really busy right now. Can you beam the contents of my bladder out into space?”)