One Less Thing To Worry About

Thursday felt weird all day long. Everything was really quiet. Time seemed to pass more slowly. Fido didn't want to go on walks (but deigned to be led around the yard), perhaps sensing the strange vibe given off by the humans in the house. Danielle could still squeeze my hand that morning, which was reassuring, at least. Torin was finally well enough to return to school, and my parents came by after dropping him off. They spent much of the day here, which was nice, because most of the times they'd been here previously, they spent almost all their time wrangling Torin, rather than spending it with Danielle. A friend sent me some advice that really resonated, based on his experience losing his mother to brain cancer. I decided that I needed to act on it. I spent all afternoon just talking to her, reminiscing about fun times and travels and anything else that came to mind. I can't count how many times I said, "Remember when..." It was really nice to relive some of th...

Hasn't even been a week this time, and there's more to talk about. Saturday, we hung out. Torin got sick (after three whole days at daycare/"playschool"), so my parents didn't bring him by, as Danielle getting even a cold right now would be not good. Her childhood friend, whom we've become close with again in recent years, had already planned months ago to come to Ann Arbor that day, so she came by at night. We chatted, had some laughs, and it was good. Sunday morning, we were giving Danielle her pills, and one went down the wrong pipe. She wasn't strong enough to cough it up right away, so it was lodged there, causing a lot of discomfort and difficulty breathing. It was scary. I called hospice, and they said "warm sips of water while rubbing her back", so we did that. We think the pill dissolved (at least mostly) after a few hours, but the cough and some wheezing remained. Her friend came by again in the evening, and we established some new stra...

It's been quite a week. Both Danielle's mom and dad have been here, and her brother is here too for a couple days. (I don't know if he knew he was getting himself into helping pull his sister's pants up/down to go potty, but so far he's been a real trooper. 😜) It's really great having the whole fam-damily together with her. I'm happy to wipe my wife's bum, but there's no way I could transfer her to/from the bed and commode by myself. My parents have continued helping with Torin (more him below). We have so much support, it's crazy. I mentioned it last post, but I want to reiterate that I really feel for the families going through something like this that don't  have this kind of help coming out of the woodwork. I am able to focus most of my energy on Danielle (and some on work when she's sleeping), and I feel sooooo lucky, and so loved, for that. Aside from immediate family, many friends and well-wishers have been offering us meals, and ...