You Know Who You Are

The drugs are working. While I am far from feeling well, I am certainly getting better. The general exhaustion is lessening, as is the dizziness. I ate something this morning, a task I could not accomplish last night or yesterday morning, beyond a couple of slices of toast. I am slowly picking away at the remnant charcuterie from last night's party.

It was quite a party, too. Tonny contacted everybody; I didn't worry even the slightest about who was or was not going to be here. In fact when he offered to tell me who had responded yes, I said "Don't tell me. This is your gig." Bobbi arrived early, early enough to help me get the ham into the oven. She did an amazing job with the glaze; she herself declared it to be "very good". Tonny arrived and the others followed lickety split. Suddenly my home was filled with life and people. I was happy, even though still battling a terrible infection.

The only really difficult part of the evening came when we transferred me to the couch, and promptly yarded my catheter off, issuing a stream of urine all over my nether regions. It's so funny in a way. Everyone else seemed to take this as a kind of a non-event, like, "Richard pee'd on himself again? So what's new about that?" We then had a group debate as to whether I should try to re-catherize myself, a process prone to failure when I do it, or just use towels a soaker pads for the rest of the evening. One of my friends, a nurse by profession, even offered to help with the catheter attachment. I declined.

In the end, I decided to try to re-catherize, a task taking some 20 or so minutes, far longer than when the HCA's do it. I was only partly successful. It held for a bit, but I didn't get the tube for the bag properly attached. That's why it's important for me to do this laying down, or at least bent at a low angle. So it was back to towels, my small towels purchased just for this purpose, to use as soakers.

Nobody noticed. Nobody cared, Nobody said anything. The only mention was around the timing for my evening Home Care to arrive. As it ended up, the HCA arrived at almost 10:00 PM. Kabira, the HCA, confessed that she came late to give me more time with friends at the party. Her arrive signalled the winding up of things, although people were still tidying and putting away for a while afterwards. Anisa even folded my laundry!

It was a great party, made even better by the friends around me, not just those in attendance but those who couldn't attend yet are with me in so many other ways, helping constantly. I don't know if I will ever really get over my wonderment and joy with them. You know who you are. Thank you.