LIVING WITH MCL

The month of November is not starting out so good. And I'm not just referring to my normal complaints, i.e. shorter days, colder than expected temperatures (44°F this morning), work, and a myriad of other issues I won't get into now. It even goes beyond the fact Edie's lastest chemo regime (Bendamustine) isn't working, and she going to be starting on Melphalan and Prednisone as soon as her counts improve. It all started last Wednesday when I discovered a friend (family almost) went into the hospital for brain surgery because of seizures, which was complicated by the fact an artery was nicked during the surgery. Now she's in an induced coma, and there does not seem to be any clear indication of her prognosis, or even when they are going to bring her out of the coma. Then on top of that, Edie's sister just called to inform us her oldest brother just suffered a massive stroke, and the prognosis doesn't look good. I was shocked. I just saw Norm when we were back...

As if enough things haven't been turned upside down enough this year already, so it must have been destined for Thanksgiving this year to be different as well. Every year for the past I can't recall how many years, we have had Thanksgiving dinner, at Edie's nephew's home in the Valley. But this year, Edie's nephew decided to go back home to Ohio, and spend Thanksgiving with his mother and family there, leaving us to fend for ourselves. Now it's not that I love spending Thanksgiving in the Valley with Edie's family that much (it really is a love hate relationship, I dread the 50+ mile drive), I have sort of grown accustomed to the routine. So this year instead, we had a Thanksgiving day brunch at Mr R's Grill in the Long Beach Marriott hotel, with Edie's niece (who also lives in the Valley), her husband and two boys. It was nice, the food was good and plentiful, Edie got to spend some time with her family, and best of all I didn't have to drive ...