Day 30: the state of the family

 Today is the 3rd day of the 5th week, the 30th day of the 1st month, the 30th day of 2024, and:

• AFRMA Fancy Rat & Mouse Day
• Independence Day - the Hanthawaddy Kingdom from the Pagan Kingdom in 1287
• Martyrdom of Mahatma Gandhi - and start of the Season for Nonviolence, which supposedly lasts through April 4th 
• National Croissant Day
• National Escape Day
• National Inane Answering Machine Day - I rather miss those days when a taped message from Boris Karloff, Alfred Hitchcock, John Wayne, or others greeted my callers!  
• National Plan for a Vacation Day
• School Day of Non-violence and Peace
• Yodel for Your Neighbors Day
• World Neglected Tropical Diseases Day
• and Voyager 1 is 22h 34m 43s of light travel time from Earth, or 24,368,000,000 km / 15,142,000,000 miles / 162.89 AU 

Quote of the day:

" If the Sun and Moon should ever doubt, they'd immediately go out. "

~  William Blake - English poet, painter, and printmaker 

It's been a tough month for my family, setting aside the issue with five Mondays, and no one [well none of the adults at least] seems to be getting much rest or sleep.  

My daughter's family suffered a tummy bug that ended up affecting my daughter so badly that she ended up with a trip to the ER  because she couldn't stop throwing up.  [side note:  We learned there is an actual medical definition of "vomiting".  One has to keep the food down for at least a half hour before regurgitating it in an "altered state"].  Of course, I went over to help out and take care of the girls, despite recovering from COVID.  Of course, both the girls came down with it.   And of course, even tho I was masked the whole time, I ended up with persistent diarrhea.  However, although I have felt nauseous, I have not gotten sick - just haven't been eating.  They made other arrangements when she had to go to Urgent Care again a few days later - but at least that was during the day rather than in the evening.   She's doing much better this week  

My son had two chemo treatments this month.  And the week after his second one, he too landed in the ER last night with an elevated temperature, and dehydrated from constant diarrhea and vomiting.  They also found he was mildly neutropenic [the fact that it was mild is a hopeful sign] and an elevated A1C [high blood sugar for the uninitiated].  Last time he landed in the hospital he was there for five days; we are hoping this stay will be shorter.  

Seven years ago today, I was in the funeral home for my step-son, who had shot himself.  We never did find out why, he left no note and there didn't seem to be anything happening in his life to indicate a reason.  He just opted out of living, leaving his family behind to grieve.  His mother never did quite recover and died within a year.  

2024 certainly got off to a rough start for us!

Ah well, maybe we are getting all the negative things out of the way right off the bat so that we can enjoy the rest of the year

yeah, that's it

After all, we have 11 more chapters to go in this story!