Ahhh..yes, the check mystery. Well, my sister Tina went to her bank and got copies of the backs of all the checks, and of the dozen or so she got, except for three that looked a little suspect, all the signatures looked to be Deb's. So to be honest, I don't know what the heck to think on that one. Debbie can get a little forgetful from her meds so personally, I'm chalking it up to that.
On the whup ass front, after stewing a bit on the couple of male behinds I'd like to kick, I'm happy to report a couple of guys have restored my faith in the male sex. I was talking to my husband and without my even asking, he told me Debbie could come live with us...I can't tell you how happy that made me. Tina and her husband Luis are getting a spare bedroom ready for Debbie so she can visit them in South Carolina any time she wants, and my brother said she could come and live with him on a moment's notice. As long as I'm running down the list of sibilings, my sister DeAnn opened her house to Debbie as well, so the girl has some options.
As I was trying to call Debbie to tell her all this, I found out Ray's parents were at the house telling Debbie and Ray they could move in with them.
As nice as it is to have a choice, all these options have their disadvantages. I'd love to have Debbie here and try to figure out how to make it work, but we don't have an extra room so while she would have her own space, it wouldn't have a great deal of privacy, plus she really doesn't want my kids to see her in pain or to see her going downhill. I think she'd probably be happier with my brother though there are logistics to work out on getting her to and from her appointments. I think for now she just wants to stay where she is. She realizes Ray has problems, but the good outweighs the bad most of the time and he is a godsend when he's not messed up. Tony realizes Debbie is sick, and at 94 he's not feeling all that great himself, but he cares about her as well and wants everyone to get along.
I did go see Debbie on Saturday, and while she looked pale she seemed to be doing better. She said she'd felt better the last three days than she had in a long while. Seems, thanks to the intervention of Arrington, the patient "navigator" at Piedmont, Debbie's two doctors are now talking and treating her together to manage her pain. They've upped her pain patch to 75mg and she doesn't have to take as many "fill in" pain pills. Plus, pigs have flown, and Dr. J. is being much nicer, so says my sister. She's still having some pretty severe side effects to the chemo, which worries me since she has another infusion tomorrow.
This will be the fourth round of chemo, then they do scans again, then we get the news again from Dr. Jonas. It wasn't the best of news last go round so we're praying this time the chemo is slowing the growth of the tumors or can we dare to dream...shrink them? And please, God, don't let the cancer have spread any further. I so want the chemo to be over so her tired body can start to heal a bit. She asked if I could be there when she gets the results...it's our "thing" as she calls it.
Debbie told me once she's feeling better after this latest infusion (will that happen??? she's had non-stop side effects from the third round) she wants to come stay with me for a few days and talk over some things with me, which I took to mean long term plans. In the short term she has to once again, go deal with the Medicaid people and try to get that reinstated even though she feels like crap six ways from Sunday. Apparently, when you get disability they assume you make too much money to now qualify for Medicaid and expect you to pay for your medicals bills out of your disability payments. If anyone out there can tell me how you can live, pay your bills, pay for your medication and pay for hospital treatments for terminal cancer on $1100 month, will you give me a call....would love to hear how that's supposed to work.
Okay, Sheri, you've bitched and moaned and "taken out the trash." Now what are you going to do? (I'm going to Disney...seriously...I am).
I'll be talking to Debbie via cellphone but siblings will be checking in as well. Should have more to report soon.
Next post: The hardest thing
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