FLAKE!

That's me. A bit flakey these days. Yes, I realize I've been a bit flakey this week. Grandpa died on Thursday Feb. 2nd, so I've been a bit preoccupied trying to make funeral arrangements and deal with the logistics involved with dying. Plus, the costs incurred from storing his stuff in a vacant apartment are astronomical, so I've had to go through his personal things sooner rather than later. For those of you who don't know, I am Grandpa's only grandchild and next of kin, so all of the logistics fall to me. I am happy to do it; Grandpa has given me so much. Nevertheless, it adds to the sheer quantity of things I am trying to juggle.

aNYWAYS...Dalton is out of ICU!!! He has been for almost a week. He is feeling pretty good (up for visitors for those of you who are local), but we are now playing the waiting game.

Not much has changed regaring the leak, and they can't send him home until it has resolved. The doctors decided to "bite the bullet" today and clamp his chest tube off in the hope that will encourage healing. However, there doesn't seem to be a lot of certainty about that and everyone appears to be a bit perturbed about the fact that he is still leaking chyle. He will likely be there through at least Monday, and who knows after that.

His wound is also healing slowly, most likely because of the radiation treatments. It is big, and open, and deep, and I am having a hard time with the idea of being responsible for the dressing changes. The other night, I had to leave the room because I started to have an anxiety attack when they pulled out the gauze. Please pray for me to have the strength and ability to do what needs to be done. I suspect it would be even harder for Dalton to do the dressing changes, because it is fairly disfiguring while it heals. I want to spare him that pain, but will need some supernatural support in order to do so.

Even with all that has happened, Dalton and I are in really good spirits. We are truly living day to day, and that is finally more pleasurable than dreaming of the future or bemoaning the past. Evenings spent listening to Sam Cooke or Nine Black Alps hold more joy than vacations spent dreaming of how things will eventually be. It's hard to explain, but today really is enough.

I will try to to do better with my blogging so that no one has to wonder what is happening. And, if you'd like to come by and visit Dalton while we wait, just give me a call at 213-422-9439. I'm trying to stagger the visits so that he can rest in between.

Cheers,
Tricia