ARCHIVES - 1996 to FOREVER

I don't know why it is so hard getting up, but it is... I guess that I'm even tireder than I think I am. And I think that I'm damned tired, heh.

So I got to Hospice House about 08:30, and Karen was still mostly asleep; I had a cuppa coffee and decided to go to the hospital and fill out some paperwork so that I could get some vacation days to at least pay for my insurance... we get a half-hour for every extended illness hour that we turn over, and I guess I will get around 20 hours out of it. I would much rather get full value for them, of course... but that would require getting sick or having another coronary, and I certainly don't have time for that.

I've been out of vacation time for... well, six months, anyway... savings is about done, so it'll be time to dip into the retirement account soon.

When I got back, Karen had just finished her breakfast... well, half-finished it, which is much better than she's been doing. Cold cereal and a little cinnamon roll, I think it was.

19:50...
I discovered today that Mom's cousin Reta, who is such an angel and is helping me with Karen, does not know who Mom's cousin Wanda is... Wanda has lived in Topeka for years and years and is about Reta's age, and they're both from the same side of the family, so I don't know what's up with that... they will get together and figger it out and tell me, I'm hoping.

The Hardestys had big families... hell, everyone did back then, more hands for the farm work, y'know.

About noonish, I went over to Lawrence to pick up Brian, Matt's' boy... Karen had really been wanting to see him. He's a good kid, but needs some guidance... and grandma has been spoiling him.

He lost his maternal grandmother a coupla years ago to lung cancer... the smoking kind... that was hard on him, and she didn't spoil him nearly as much as Karen did.

Karen had wanted me to give Brian some money, 'cause he "needed" a playstation game. Well, I don't do stuff like that, but I offered him $100 for the bass guitar that he'd inherited from his grandfather... it's worth about $30, but that's OK, I can use it after I get it reconditioned and re-strung.

I just don't like the idea of giving kids money for non-necessities, y'know? goes against my grain. So at least he was willing to sacrifice something, even if it was something that he would never use.

After I too Brian home, I went home for a few minutes and then back to hospice. Shortly after I got back, Kim got there, and then Andy came in. I talked to Reta for a while, then left Karen to talk with Kim and Andy.

She had wanted me to start organizing the garage/shop, so I decided to go out to Sams' and get some metal shelving, the heavy-duty kind that I could put wheels on. I got one of the long carts, and I tried moving one of the cartons onto it... couldn't budge the sonovabitch. I looked at the lighter units... and I couldn't lift them either. And I couldn't find any help, so I gave up on the idea for today; I'll take some help with me next time.

All in all, this was a good day for Karen... she slept a lot of the day, but she was alert and sharp when she was awake.

And a good day for Karen is a good day for me.

Fuck cancer. Just fuck it.