Thanksgiving Menu

Thursday November 19, 1992

I'm more tired, probably from such a busy day yesterday. Of course the teacher had to teach us a polka last night. That was really tiring for me. Frank has gone to carving class so I sleep in and rest until 11 a.m. I don't do much all day.

In the afternoon Frank goes to Oxnard to pick up a compressor Maria wants to give Gary for Christmas. He has shopped all over and decided this is the best one.

After a nice dinner we watch TV all evening. Frank makes a cheesecake.

I call Chris about 3 p.m. We have a great visit. She tells me the menu. She has a great dinner planned for Thanksgiving. I can't wait.

Oh no, I thought round dancing was more slow-paced and mellow, not a fast polka! I spoke with Frank just this weekend and he told me that round dancing was like ballroom dancing, so much slower. His current wife Carol had a mild stroke last year and is just now getting back into dancing, so they are starting with round dancing.

Since Mom was almost always the one who hosted the family dinners, it was a treat for a change to be able to sit back and allow someone else to prepare the food. No wonder she was looking forward to it. I wish I could claim that my Thanksgiving menu looked anything at all like the one pictured above. I have never been a good cook, and my meal preparations usually require a minimum of preparation. Cooking a Thanksgiving meal for 12-15 people was a very big deal for me, and not easy with an infant.

Joe Is 12 Today

Wednesday November 18, 1992

I'm up at 7:30 to leave for the doctor at 9:15. I have to lay down often while getting ready. I'm tired and sweating. Once at the doctor the nurse is unable to get blood out of my catheter. She tries everything like putting me in every position and putting a total of 30 cc of saline before she and finally Dr. Semrad give up and send me up to the lab to get blood out of my arm.

Doctor says the redness around the exit tube is probably from the Betadine. He says don't use it any more or the plastic bandage. Just use gauze. I get my medication and an appointment for next Tuesday so we can leave for Chris' on Wednesday. Dr. Semrad says I should start to feel better in a week or two. It's the cancer making me feel so bad.

We stop in North Hollywood for lunch at Bakers Square. We are so close to Henry and Jan's we decide to surprise them with a visit. They are so happy to see us. Henry just turned 84. Jan says he's been doing strange things and is very forgetful. He seemed fine to us. He cried when we left. He is very concerned for me.

At 6:30 we go to Gary's to give Joe his birthday present. He is 12 today. Frank has made him a game he wanted and we give him some money too.

At 7:30 we go round dancing. All our friends are sooo happy to see me. I get lots of hugs. We do OK considering we missed 2 or 3 classes. I sit down whenever I can, but do OK until 9:00. I'm tired. We leave 1/2 hour early. Dick chases us to the parking lot to give me a hug. that means alot. We go to have burgers. We're hungry. They're great!

Even though Joe and Junior were Maria's sons from a previous marriage, Mom never treated them any different than she did her biological grandson Justin. I wonder what game Frank made for Joe's birthday. I wonder if it's the game "Sequence" that he brought to our home the following week for Thanksgiving.

Most of the photos I have posted in this blog have been 20 or more years old, but as I am now within a few months of completing it, I will begin posting more current photos. The photo above of Joe with his wife Shannon and 3 beautiful girls was taken in 2012. Joe will be 33 years old this year in November 2013.

I'm not a doctor, but it sure doesn't sound good to me that the doctor could not get blood out of Mom's catheter that went directly into a blood vessel. It makes me wonder if her chemotherapy medication is getting into her bloodstream. She had a long busy day this day. It's no wonder she is tired. So sweet that two different men friends gave her a big hug and expressed their concern for her. I don't know too many men like that. My experience has been that my women friends are the huggers and criers.

Jet Lag

Wednesday October 14, 1992

I don't sleep much from 2-4 a.m. We arise about 8 a.m. I don't feel too bad. Frank feels great! He goes into high gear. I rest alot during the day, sleeping off and on. I feel pretty good about 5:30 p.m. so get up and have a light meal. Frank does too. Then at 7:30 we go to round dance class. I do pretty good though I still have the pain under my ribs on the right when I strain or cough or take a deep breath.

We're home by 10 and I'm ready for bed again.

Gary called at 5:30 p.m.

It seems like Mom and Frank didn't have much trouble with jet lag either direction. With my limited experience with flying, I have noticed that the adjustment is easier going from east to west, where you are gaining time, and harder when flying west to east, where you are losing time. I feel sleepy for a couple of days when we turn our clocks forward for Daylight Savings Time, much less flying halfway around the globe!

Angiogram

Wednesday September 23, 1992

Had another bad night of pain. After hours of not sleeping well I prayed to God to relieve my pain so I could sleep. I rolled to my stomach and found it didn't hurt so much that way and went right to sleep. I try to sleep in but don't really sleep from 7 to 9:30 when I finally get up. I feel pretty good once I'm dressed and made up.

About 1 p.m. we go to the bank to get our travelers checks. Frank calls his mom. Dad is scheduled for angiogram on Friday morning and possible angioplasty. We are worried about this just before we leave on our trip but agree it must be done now.

We go to learn round dancing with our friends. It's fun. I think we'll like it. I feel great today.

From Wikipedia, "Angiography or arteriography is a medical imaging technique used to visualize the inside, or lumen, of blood vessels and organs of the body, with particular interest in the arteries, veins and the heart chambers. This is traditionally done by injecting a radio-opaque contrast agent into the blood vessel and imaging using X-ray based techniques such as fluoroscopy."

From rounddancing.net, "Round Dancing is a form of social ballroom dancing in which the steps are choreographed precisely to the music, and those steps are announced by a "cuer," as we dance. The presence of the cuer makes a round dance look different than the usual ballroom dance — all the couples are dancing in unison and the choreography can be relatively complex and interesting (since the man doesn't have to think it up as he goes) — but otherwise round dancers are ballroom dancing. We hold our partners in the normal way. We take the same kinds of steps. The rhythms are the familiar rhythms — waltz, foxtrot, cha-cha, rumba, and others."

This sounds quite a bit different from square dancing. Kind of like "Dancing With The Stars." I think I would enjoy this more than square dancing since I don't care for country western music.