girl at large

Legendary

Halloween 2020 is testing the creative powers of parents across the country.

Tonight I’m thinking about my greatest parenting triumph when at seven o’clock on a work night we made a Batman costume from household items (including a tarp, duct tape, construction paper and shoelaces) in ten minutes so Viv could go to the elementary school monster mash party at the very last minute and then promptly take it all off to jump around in a cafeteria with a throng of sweaty seven year olds.

We did not take a single fucking picture.

So, here is photo of Viv the year before, as Frankenstein’s monster.

 

DIY Chemo

So the best fix for mouth sores from chemo and the pain of thrush, also caused by chemo, is a prescription mixture called Magic Mouthwash. It wasn’t provided in advance, or even mentioned by my chemo nurses. Typically around 50% of chemo patients experience canker sores, mouth sores, mouth pain and/or a thrush infection. Many experience a change in taste so extreme that even water tastes bad. Water.

This is me.

After some back and forth with the nurse line and doctor, we finally got the prescription called in for Magic Mouthwash today. But it’s not covered by my insurance. The pharmacy mixes it for $138.00. Unmixed, the ingredients are $18.00.

Guess which way Paulie went.

 

This Is Not A Journey.

I have breast cancer. It’s an aggressive type, fueled by my own hormones, and like a constellation it has traveled in a great arc from my breast to my sternum, out to my arm and up past my clavicle. 

I won’t go in to the story of how I was diagnosed, why it wasn’t caught “earlier”, or the howling anguish of the last thirty days. Not yet.

Today I’m ready only to say that things look bleak but also better than they did a week ago. It’s all horrible but also I’m very lucky. I feel like shit but I’m also ok.

Journeys are fun. This is not a journey. I hope, someday, it will be just a story.

 

Crap Year, but Always a Quality Man

I’m trying to convince Paul to be on time for this morning’s grocery store pick up appointment by just going in his pajamas. He won’t do it.

“Paulie, have you seen how people dress here?! Even in your pajamas you have more buttons on right now than the average Wisconsin man at a wedding!”

Happy Birthday my love. Next year will be better. Le Mans is waiting for you. 

So are the groceries. There’s booze in that order, get going.