Yesterday.

So I had to work last night. We start at three instead of four on Friday. My wife had an appointment down at Hillman at eleven in the morning. She took the girls with her. She let the younger baby girl skip school. The other doctor's office called on Thursday and asked if she could stop in there at noon. The other doctor is the plastic surgeon who will do the reconstruction. The folks at Hillman had to do the required monthly blood work, E.K.G. and chest x-ray. She had the blood drawn, then drove down the block to the plastic surgeon's office, then drove back to Hillman for the rest. Her oncologist/surgeon who is in charge of The Team spoke to her briefly. It was good that the girls went with her. They now have a better understanding of what is going on.

Everything is moving very fast now. It looks like the first of May is the date for her surgery. Kind of strange. May Day, the distress call. She is sleeping right now. She is exhausted. Stress will do that to a person. They sat in Friday afternoon Pittsburgh traffic on their way back home yesterday. She said the traffic was bumper to bumper from the Highland Park Bridge all the way to The Mills. Construction. I shot home from The Dock at my seven-thirty lunch break to let The Dogs out. They pulled up five minutes later. A very long day for the ladies in this house.

I'm going to eat something now. I'm thinking about what I will have. These are important decisions. I'm glad we have options. I actually complained the other day. I complained about the fridge being so full that I couldn't find what I was looking for. I immediately realized how stupid that was. Well, like my grandfather always said.

"No sense bein' stupid unless you show it now and then".

I made that up. As far as I know my grandfather never actually said that. It sounds like something a grandfather would say. I'm going to go eat now. I'll be back.

That was good. She makes this dish, it's a recipe she got from Southern Living magazine years ago. It's pretty simple, but oh so good. Ground beef with chopped onions and all kinds of good seasoning with a crust made out of crescent roll dough. You lay the dough in a 8 1/2 x 11 glass tray/pan thing and fill it up. Then, you criss cross the rest of the dough on top and bake it. It's best served with sour cream on top. I like to put some hot sauce on the sour cream. I had a large serving of her home made pasta salad with it. I sat on the living room floor with my back up against the couch and ate while watching some of a John Wayne movie on one of the cable channels. I think it was on AMC. I really like John Wayne movies. I put my plate on the sink. I stepped out back and hung a smoke.

She has been cooking a lot this past week since she's been home again. She made her world famous lasagna. She made this ham and rice dish that we all love so much. We made chili together last weekend. And of course she made the recently consumed, aforementioned meat pie and pasta salad.

It's good to see her feeling a little better. Not having to drag herself in to the powdered metal factory every night at midnight is starting to show. Her hands are cleaner. The powdered metal dust is washing away a little at a time, no longer being replaced each night. Her sleep patterns are improving as well. The one down side is that now she has more time to think. It's almost easier to deal, or not deal, with problems when you are busy and tired all the time. It's good that she's thinking about, and absorbing all of this cancer stuff. It's good but it's not easy.

My friend Beetus, I wrote a post about him some time back. Well Beetus called last night and told me that he had this feeling. Beetus said that I have to buy a Powerball ticket today. He said I have to buy it but my wife has to pick the numbers. It's unusual for Beetus to say such a thing. I went out and got the card that you use for picking the numbers. When she wakes up I'll have her fill it out. I'll take it down to the corner gas station/convenience store and buy the ticket. You never know.

Hey Tommy. I was thinkin' 'bout you this morning bro.........Yeah, you know the deal......Well bro, I got to go for now. I have to listen to Elvis and get some work done on this hallway that we've been working on here in this drafty old house........Maggie was her name Tommy. My grandmother's name was Maggie. I wrote a post about her too. It was like a year ago, maybe longer........Yeah Tommy. Later.

"I'm gonna stick like glue........because I'm, stuck on you....."

That's the one I sing to my wife.