round two

It’s a little early to call it, but I’m giving round two to Rico.

Round one clearly went to chemo, but this time he’s able to eat a little, walk a little, speak in coherent sentences- and most important no more nightmares about Satan taking up residence in Duluth.

(Sounds funny to me too, but I can assure you it was terrifying for the guy who couldn’t ascertain the difference between his hospital bed and Lake Superior).

This week was a bit trickier than last time. Last round gave us the grace of summer. Although it wasn’t how we wanted to spend the last few weeks of August, we did have the freedom of no school, no work for me, no play practice, no piano lessons, no extra activities. Luckily, we are surrounded by kindhearted, good-humored people one of whom was willing to drive Rico to Mayo, have lunch and keep him company during his intake. Because of this, Rico was able to go into round two calmly and in great spirits (thanks Steve) and I was able to keep the girls on schedule and be at the studio for the first full week of classes.

This was by far the most difficult part of my week. (Then again I’m not the one being shot up with red devil juice three times a week, but I digress. . .) Walking into our studio, knowing that Alisa would never be there playing the piano with me, never laughing, never asking me how to run the iPod or telling me how to work the sound board (yeah it took two of us just to play a track through the speakers) - that was the hardest part of my week. 

But we made it. We made it because she was right there with us the whole time. We made it, because the last conversation we had was her saying, “You guys need each other, and you better keep singing and you better make sure people dance, because I know if I was there I sure would be.”

So we did. And she was right, we did need each other, and it was good to be back where we belong.

So I guess it has been a better week.

Not an excellent week. The chemo is causing a lot of mouth sores, and the doxorubicin does make him nauseous. We found another dead chipmunk in the garage (wth?) and the chocolate pie I tried to make was actually sort of gross, but aside from that, we are doing ok, and for now, ok feels really good.