Merry Christmas Chorrol!!!

And to you, mALX! And everyone else!

Merry Christmas mALX!

Have a merry Saturalia while you're at it, too!

And a Happy Festivus for the rest of us!

Lol, the "Feats of Strength!"

You wanna fight me, mALXie?

2024 has been a terrible year, and 2025 is off to a bad start for me.

As I was telling the gang at the NA guild meet last night, my BIL in Colorado is in hospital. He was diagnosed with Stage IV lung cancer with a metastatic brain tumor back in May; initially he did well with aggressive therapy but starting in November he declined rapidly. He ended up in ICU the weekend before Christmas with difficulty breathing - they found pulmonary edema and initially thought it was a reaction to the immunotherapy he had been receiving. Treating the edema resolved that issue, but he was still struggling to breathe, and they discovered a triple co-infection pneumonia - Aspergillosis, PJP, (two fungal causes) and Moraxella (bacterial) - all opportunistic organisms that are causing trouble only because of his immunosuppression by the drug therapy. He's not producing blood cells either - they've given him two units of blood yesterday. He's not able to get rest, or even get more than a can of Boost down because of the constant stream of health care workers checking in on him and giving him treatments of various kinds.

This is one of those times when I really resent my health issues - I'm not able to travel from IL to CO to be with my sister at this time. She feels that if he doesn't turn a corner soon and start feeling better, he's not going to be able to rally back from this. I had a conversation with her yesterday, and she brought up hospice care. I said it's not a bad option if he's ready for it. But I also suggested having a conversation with his healthcare team to see if they can't give him quiet time in the am and in the pm so he can eat more than a can in the am (when he has the most energy) and he can just sleep undisturbed.

I know from years in veterinary ICU care that aggressive treatment can cause more harm than good when it interferes with the patient's ability to take in sufficient nutrition and get enough rest. I've always tried to build in a chunk of time in the patient's schedule where we don't have to do anything other than eyeball the patient from outside their cage/bed. They just need that time to just sleep and just be. It sounds to me that my BIL is at that point.

I'm just hoping that my sister gets her hubby back - the sunny, funny guy who mouthed "F- you" to me across the restaurant table the first time we met (he couldn't believe that I'm good at lip reading) and who laughed when I promptly mouthed "F- you too" back. Of all of my sister's boyfriends, he was the one that I hit it off with right away - he was just chill and fun and just the right amount of humility.

Aw, Haute, I am so sorry he is so sick. He sounds like so wonderful a part of your family; I really hope and pray he turns that corner. I agree with you fully; those nurses could be monitoring him via those machines and a monitor at the nurse's station and let him get some rest. Maybe his doctor can put an order for them only to disturb him every three or four hours and watch his monitor the rest of the time. That does sound aggravating; and rest is healing too. He needs his strength to overcome this. I really wish you could be with your sister too; does she have anyone she can lean on there? Close friends or a church family? (etc). Bless your heart!

Sorry to hear that, Rider. I hope he's able to come back from this.

<sighs>

Guys! It is time! The semlas have arrived for the 2025 season!




X1



Stay tuned!



Also;

Ah, the annual semla count down, er, count up.

Place yer bets! How many semlor will ‘Rocu destroy this year?

I wager 14.

Baker's dozen: 13

If he does not get help from Isobel, then 11. With her help, 52.

More than that, lol.

Never having had semla, I have no idea how many it would take to feel full.

That said, I'm voting for 21.

In other news, I just heard from my sister - my BIL came home this afternoon for hospice care. I'm grieving to lose him, but I'm also relieved that he will have peace and quiet for his final days. His daughter has already flown out and will be with them; my sister also has a circle of friends from college who have kept in touch all these years and are living in CO (one big reason they decided to retire there), and I know they will be there to support my sister through this tough time.