Thanks, Iris, for your lovely post about me. You can read it here.I was editing the Compass, making great progress, when suddenly the new Microsoft program on my computer began printing everything in two columns. That's the bad thing about my new computer. You touch something and boom - all sorts of strange things happen.
I went downstairs and pulled out my receipt. I was 5 days too late to return my new Acer laptop. Darn!
Scott and I are gonna have T'giving together. He bought a 6-lb turkey at the Giant, asparagus, stuffing mix and apple pie w/ice cream. He's gotta catch the 7:30 pm train to go to work on Thursday so can't spend it with his family in NJ.
The great fear when working on the Compass is that I won't have enuf articles. Well guess what. I have too many! I can't go over 60 pages, says Mark Amos, owner of Bux-Mont Office Supply who's my printer. As you may remember, I work upstairs on my bed. I didn't have Mark's phone no., so I looked it up on the internet.
What's a gal to do? For starters, I mercilessly cut down a couple of terribly lengthy articles. I thought about not publishing one of my poems but then thought, What if this is the last Compass? They need something to remember me by.
Iris, who wrote the aforementioned post, had a brother who died during a kidney transplant operation of a coronary. Coincidentally, Sarah called me this morning and said she thinks we should get a second opinion at Johns Hopkins.
Good idea, I said. Maybe we can just mail our reports down there w/o going. I told her I knew a woman who, at age 80, was the oldest transplant they ever did. She had been rejected by Philly hospitals so she and hubby Irv went down there. She only lived two years tho. The deceased donor had died from cancer - which apparently had not meta'd to the kidney - but then Judy too was found to have cancer all over her body.
Why? Was it the immunosuppresent drugs? No matter, she's a goner.
But cheer up, Dear Reader. There are so many things to be thankful for. I'm gonna sign off now but I want you to think of five wonderful things to be thankful for. What a nice idea for a holiday.
Hi Ruth,
ReplyDeleteOh boy do I sympathize about your computer going quirky on you while you are rushing like mad to get the Compass issue done. I have been in your shoes.
Just want to clear up one thing you misunderstood. My brother did not die while having his transplant. The kidney was functioning well. He had a heart attack the day before he was to be discharged. It was most likely because he was a long term diabetic and maybe wasn't such a terrific candidate in the first place and not due to a blood clot or anything. I also had a close friend, Bonney, who worked on my staff, who had a transplant and she came through it with flying colors. Unfortunately she had two other serious subsequent medical crises having nothing to do with her kidney but as far as I knew, the kidney transplant was a success.
I think another opinion at Johns Hopkins or elsewhere that you feel good about is an excellent idea, if you can.
My 5 things:
My family is healthy
I am healthy
I have treasured friends, though I may not see them all often
After a career in adoption work I found work I am good at and that I enjoy and makes me feel I make a difference in people's lives.
Ideas for poems still come to me in the middle of the night.
and a few more...Though I have lost a lot of loved ones, I have found ways to integrate who they were into parts of who I am and have wonderful, happy memories of them (and some sad ones also)
And I got a free turkey and since I had already made a donation to our local food bank, felt I could keep it...
Happy Thanksgiving!