We Chide Gary About Getting Married

Wednesday May 13, 1992

Up early so i can have breakfast before I start drinking the media for my CAT scan today. Then I make spaghetti sauce and salad to take to Gary's tonight. I fix breakfast for Mom when she gets up about 10 a.m. She seems so feeble and needs to hold on for fear of falling. I worry how she manages at home. This is the last time she will drive here herself.

My CAT scan goes OK, but I am worried about injecting chemo drugs on top of what they injected for CAT. Not to worry, my platelets are too low, 5500; they must be at least 11,000 for chemo. I must worry about bleeding. My blood won't clot.

We have a lovely dinner and visit at Gary's. We chide him about getting married. He's been with Maria 10 years now.

My brother Gary is never one to rush into anything. Ten years is a long time to date the same woman. I think Mom is pushing him to "pop the question" so that she can look forward to more grandbabies. Maria has two teenage boys Joe and Gabe, but Mom thinks it would be nice for Gary to have a biological child. But Mom is not one to tease. She and Frank dated for 8 years before they got married.

Grandma Helen is 84 years old at this time and even though she is becoming feeble, it is amazing that she is still driving 4 hours from Desert Hot Springs to visit her children. I'm not sure it was her idea or Mom's that this would be her last time making that drive. Grandma Helen, as well as her mother Grandma Johnson always prided herself for being a strong independent woman, and being able to drive gave her alot of independence. It would be 5 more years before she passed away, outliving her daughter.