From Vicki - A half a pound at a time

As we continue to settle in to this strange new normal, the focus every day is on making sure John gets alot of calories, without too much fat. As much as his body needs a little more "subcutaneousness", he is now without a gall bladder, which is the thing that helps to process fats.

Much of our time each day is centered around what is the next thing to fix to eat.

John wakes to a small bowl of grits, or maybe some oatmeal. Then there is usually some kind of egg scramble, sometimes wrapped in a tortilla or sometimes with toast. Next we like to get in a fruit smoothie, then later a little snack like string cheese or crackers, then there is dinner. At nite, there is the feeding tube in his side where he recieves 2 cans of Peptomine which gives him an extra 500 calories a day. He despises being tethered to that confounded machine, but he's also impatient to get his strength back, so he grudgingly allows Taryn or me to get him hooked up each night.

I did notice at dinner tonite (Thank you Carlene, the spaghetti was FABULOUS) that his face looks like it's filled out a little more and he is starting to look a little less scary.

John is getting around more and more every day. He takes one 1/2 mile walk each morning after getting unhooked from the machine and that is tiring him out pretty much for the rest of the day. Several long naps each day, allow him to get up and torment anyone that's near and not doing something useful.

Our good friend Jim Fox is over tonite, sharing dinner with us and helping with some plumbing things. He brought his cribbage board, but I don't see that happening any time tonite. He promises us some split pea soup for Saturday nite's dinner and we're looking forward to that, always happy to have our own personal "Santa" visit David Street.

The post op follow up appointment with the surgeon, Dr CK Chang, will be on Thursday morning at 9am. At this appointment, we hope the staples will be removed from John's belly, we hope to have at least 1 tube removed and we hope to get a clearer picture of what and when the cancer treatments are going to be. As with everything else and as I've written about several times before, we are again managing expectations.

As I mentioned Sunday, the California Democratic Party convention was this last weekend in San Diego. My friend and proxy to the convention, Karla Goodbody, called on Saturday to let me know that the chair of the party, Art Torres, mentioned our situation to the entire delegation during a general session on Saturday morning. Again, another example of good Democrats, coming together to turn philosophy into reality and really live the idea that we are all in this together. How amazing it's been to see this happen and how lucky John and I are that we are the beneficiaries of this incredible generosity.

I hope you'll click the bold link above and note my response to babaloo's blog post from today. Our country is besieged with a horrible health care system that does NOT take care of everyone. I think it's important to use our situation here to highlight the needs of so many to get access to good, affordable health care. It was not so long ago that this Cosgrove family went for 3 years without insurance. While we still have many bills to pay during this anxious time, it was good that there was never a time that getting treatment was going to be impossible for John. 45 million Americans do not have the same choices that John had.

Imagine finding out that you have a life threatening disease, then realizing that getting no treatment that could help you live, is a serious option for dealing with your problem. What a horror. Martin Luther King Jr says, "Of all forms of inequity, injustice in health care is the most shocking and the most inhumane."

Our current health care system is COSTING tax paying Americans billions of dollars every year. California is working on legislation that would get Health Care for All. Of course, insurance companies are probably going to fight this tooth and nail, with every excuse they can think of to continue to keep gouging the American public, (hence the need, also, for Clean Money), but this legislation would be a good start toward getting more people with the ability to have safe, affordable health care. I hope you'll take a minute and look into it and think about the possibilities.

Peace, love, hope & gratitude
Thank you for stopping by
Vicki