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.