My very dear Seven Samurai:
During my most recent hospital adventure, I realized that I should not be home alone day after day with no one checking on me.
When I was delivered to the hospital by ambulance on Friday, October 21, I was diagnosed with acute bacterial meningitis. (By Dr. Sam Tolman.) I had a fever of 104. When I was discharged the following Wednesday, October 26, I was told that I did not have meningitis, nor had I ever had meningitis.
When I asked what was wrong with me, I was told, "We don't know."
That means that I could black out again without warning. That's pretty scary. I do have a cheat sheet of things to watch for, and I will share that in a future e-mail with those of you who are my samurai.
The basic commitment is this: The samurai have agreed to call me once a week on "their" day.
They may make this call from anywhere in the world, as long as they can afford the phone bill. They need to keep calling me on the house phone or my cell phone until they reach me.
Right now, I cannot access messages left on the house phone. I worked on this with the phone company for two days last week, but we were unsuccessful in fixing the problem. I have a rant about the-phone-company-formerly-known-as-Qwest that I will post soon.
It's OK to leave a message on my cell phone asking me to call back, but if I don't do that within 15 minutes, the samurai needs to try me again, then call 911 and then Younger Son.
When they talk to me, they need to establish:
1) I have eaten that day.
2) I have taken my morning meds.
3) I am coherent.
If it's a question of my not eating, they need to take the first pass at getting me to eat something. Ask me what is in the fridge. Bring me a milkshake, or some vegetable soup. I don't eat much these days, but if my helper pushes too hard, I am likely to refuse to eat at all or to vomit on their shoes. (Sorry.)
If I am not coherent, they need to call 911 (script for that is coming) and then Younger Son. YS has my medical power of attorney and will have a copy in his backpack at all times. There will also be a copy in the house.
Here's the list of who has what day.
Sunday: Younger Son
YS has been coming over on Sunday afternoons for months now. He helps with the chores I can't do--vacuuming, mopping, cleaning the bird cage and the cat's litter box, and taking the trash down.
He also usually takes Constant for a walk and then we have dinner together--could be take-out, delivery, or a restaurant. Lots of choices in our part of town. Sometimes we cook together.
Monday: Ufuk
Ufuk and his lovely family appear on my blog once in awhile. Both Ufuk and his wife are college professors, and their 3-year-old son recently let me transform him into a clown.
Tuesday: Teri
Wednesday: Maggie
Maggie left the first of 13 comments on this post: Back in the Hospital, Comments
That was around the time other readers started leaving comments saying, "I agree with Maggie," and so on. One reader asked if Maggie would be the "designated commenter."
Now, I thought that was pretty funny, but still ... Here is my reply:
"Maggie--my readers LOVE you, make no mistake. And you have an incredible talent for saying the right thing to an admittedly touchy woman.
"That doesn't mean the rest of you are off the hook however. This is a call for e-mails and comments of support to get me through this one.
"Thanks. Jeanne."
Thursday: Martha
Martha has been my friend, helper, and jewelry-making buddy for about two years now. Even though she is 12 and could probably handle emergency phone calls to 911, I would rather that her mother do that.
So I will ask her mom, Gretchen, to call me in the morning on Thursdays, and then Martha will come over after school to help with her usual chores--bird cage, cat box, walking Connie (with me), and then working on jewelry.
Martha and I need to get our holiday earring-making workshops organized within the next week.
Friday: Linda
Today, Friday, Linda drove me to my appt. with Dr. Lee. Then we did a series of quick errands--the bead store; to drop off a year's worth of scans of my brain and spine at Dr. Chamberlain's office at SCCA; and to the drugstore to get some new prescriptions filled. A quick panini sandwich at Starbuck's for lunch.
Linda had to head home after that since she had a piano lesson. I picked up my meds and walked home, using Cane No. 2.
Linda can't do this for me every week, because she's pretty busy. But on days she can't drive me to do errands she will at least call and make sure I am OK.
Saturday: William
Someday soon, I need to have a contest for my funniest friend. I think the contestants are William, Teri, and Cathy (from Maryland).
Here is William's acceptance of my request to be one of my samurai:
"I'd be honored to be one of your Seven Samurai, and will make my call on Saturday. In fact, I think calling once and then making a second call later in the day would a good idea. I could call at 10 a.m., for example, and then again at 6 p.m. -- or whatever times work best for you.
"Kimura plays the noblest of the seven samurai. More to the point, he also survives the final battle."
Works for me. Jeanne
Wednesday afternoon update:
HERE IS THE LINK TO THE INTERVIEW: KIRO-7 Refused to Call 911
I think they did a good job with the piece. I'm not sure if it gives a contact number, but if you know who this young woman is, please e-mail me: jeanne.sather@gmail.com
I haven't been able to access the voice mail on my house phone all day. The phone company is, supposedly, working on it.
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I did an interview with a reporter and cameraman from KIRO-7 this morning and I liked them both very much.
The cameraman, Brian Doerflinger, even braved the backyard, which had not been pooper-scooped in two days, to shoot footage of me playng with Constant, the Wonder Dog. I am happy to report that Connie was a perfect gentleman and did not jump up on Brian once, despite the fact that he was/is a large, unknown man with a camera on his shoulder.
This good behavior was, of course, reinforced by a pocket full of treats (my pocket, he's my dog).
I missed watching the program live because I slept through it. Busy day today--a one hour TV interview, followed by a hair cut by Chez, who works out of a shop in Wallingford called Spin. My lawyer was kind enough to drop me off at Spin on his way back to the office, since I am not allowed to drive, and have no working car anyway. See this page one story in the Seattle P-I: Wanted: Husband With Canadian Health Care
That's Chez cutting my hair in the photo above. Oh, for the days of the P-I, the little paper that tried harder. They kept the Times on their toes. In my opinion, the quality of the Times has gone downhill since the print edition of the P-I went away.
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Full disclosure: I have never worked for the P-I, although I have a friend or two there. ("Hi, Brian!") I HAVE worked for The Seattle Times on a three-month contract in the summer of 1998, and was working there when I was first diagnosed with breast cancer. That was one of the the errors edited into Carol Ostrom's 9/21 story about me.
The Times story says I was a freelancer when I was diagnosed with breast cancer for the first time. Not true: I was working for the Times on a three-month contract with no benefits. Before that, I worked for a year, full time with benefits, as managing editor of Washington Law & Politics. The Times referred to that job as "freelancing" as well. Who are they protecting?
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From there, I walked to the T-Mobile store to get a new charger for my cell--I believe the missing one was left behind at NW Hospital, but somehow I had no desire to go back there to ask about it, since I'm suing them and all. Besides, it's contaminated with C. diff.
Then I walked down to Fusion beads, looking for some orca beads, handmade if possible. I did get two sterling orca tails, which I thought were pretty cool, and I will order more on the Fusion Web site.
I will be making orca jewelry for the members of my pod, which now includes Chez, who has cut my hair for the past 10 years or so. He's given me free haircuts when he knew I couldn't afford to pay. In fact, about six haircuts in a row, including today's.
Supposedly, I am making Chez jewelry in return, but I am waaaay behind on that, as I am on most of my custom projects. Chez, like most people who know me, is not concerned. He knows he will get his jewelry before I die. Or shortly thereafter.
Note to media: If you are a member of the media and trying to reach me, e-mail is the only way, unless you are JuJu Chang. If you are JuJu, leave a message at this number --206-522-9560--and I will return your call.
Or Tim Egan of The New York Times. I have a book of yours I want you to sign in return for an interview.
All other reporters, writers, editors, producers, and whatever--e-mail me. I will not return your phone calls. I don't have the energy.
Also, you should know that I decided beforehand that I would only do one local TV interview, and I've done it--the one with KIRO-7 that aired today. There is no advantage to me in doing another local TV interview, and I will not be wasting my limited time and energy on this.
KIRO got this interview because a managing editor with news judgment was working on Sunday night when he received an e-mail from a mutual friend. The friend forwarded my e-mail to Jake Milstein.
A footnote about The Seattle Times: Jim Simon of the S Times declined to buy this story from me, despite his well-known good news judgment. Read what I had to say about the Times at the link above and you will see why he might have declined to buy it.
However, if Jim REALLY had good news judgment, he would have bought it anyway and also bought the syndication rights. He may point out that we attended J School (master's program) at UC Berkeley together, which is true.
We are not personal friends, in spite of this. I think I've had lunch with him--he paid--once in the past 10 or 15 years.
Tomorrow I will try to get up my post about the deliberate errors The Seattle Times' editors added to the story Carol Ostrom wrote about me recently. Page 1 of the S Times, September 21. You can find it online.
I discussed these errors with Carol on the phone shortly after the story came out. This was after I sent her an e-mail listing the errors. I listened to Carol's second-hand explanation of why her editor, Janet, made the changes, which were errors of fact. I did not believe Carol, but I knew they were not HER errors, so I let it slide.
Carol and I joked about the snarky post that was already written, but that I would not be pushing live, only out of respect for her and the quality of her work. Carol knows how well I do snarky.
Next question: Will Carol be assigned to write the story about my lawsuit against the UWMC, or will the S Times ignore that story now? They'll look pretty silly if they do. Plus, Carol has already started working on it, I happen to know.
Want to e-mail Jim? Do so with my blessings: Jim Simon
@ Jeanne Sather 2011.
I just e-mailed Elaine. She's the woman who gave our cat a home after Older Son refused to keep the litter box and surrounding area to a level of cleanliness that made it safe for me to have a cat.
This battle had raged for years, and I always lost because I love the cat and couldn't bring myself to give him away. Reality check from therapist, enough said.
When Elaine took Hakusei (Hawkee is his other name), she always said I could have him back whenever I was able to, that we could consider it a long-term foster. But I thought I was going to be dying soon and I also thought I'd be losing my house to foreclosure, and where would I find a place to live with a dog, a cat, and lousy credit? Not to mention no money for first, last, and a deposit? That money all went on plane tickets to S. California.
However, since that time, Older Son has moved out (at my request); my cancer is in remission, which means my blood cell counts are pretty normal; and I'm not too worried about Citi foreclosing on my house, at least immediately. I hear it is taking them a year to get around to foreclosing on some people.
All I need is two volunteers to keep the litter box and surrounding area to a level of cleanliness dictated by a member of my medical team (a lot of bleach is involved), and the cat can come home!
Younger Son has already volunteered, and I am going to e-mail The Amazing Martha next. She came to see me in the hospital, and she has a cat herself. I think she will be happy to volunteer.
Hakusei may be home as soon as tomorrow!
Younger Son will be here in the afternoon to do some chores for me, as he does most Sunday afternoons, and he will mop the cat area and go out for a new litter box, food, and etc. I may even go with him, on foot.
Photo: @ Elaine Thompson 2011.
@ Jeanne Sather 2011.
Jeanne,
September 27 is now officially the worst day of my life. Mom died at 5:00am.
Sent from my iPhone
On Sep 23, 2011, at 2:50 PM, I wrote to Robbi:
Hi Robbi--has the glass prayer-bead bracelet arrived? I so hope that it has and that your mother understands what it is.
Also, please let me know how you and your mother are doing. I want the beads to arrive before she dies.
I love you. I love your mother, [also named] Jeanne. And I'm sorry we weren't able to get her here to see Dr. Greer. We were overtaken by events. I am holding your hand, virtually. Please try to see if you can feel my grip.
Things are OK with me. The worst possibilities have been ruled out, BUT we still don't have explanations for the main problems that got me here in the first place.
LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE
Jeanne
On Sep 26 (4 days ago)--from Robbi
I was planning mom a huge 70th birthday party for Oct. 1 because her birthday is Oct. 3rd. When we found out mom was dying her doctor got us a cake and balloons.
There were about 25 family and friends at the hospital and us along with the nurses and doctors had a big, loud party.
I cried all the way through the song because I would never get to sing it again to mom. In the photo she was getting her cake. She was already not herself. Very confused and couldn't talk. It was a great moment for us. Just wanted to share.
To be continued. In the meantime: Robbi's mom
Introducing Sage, the new kid next door.
Sage, 6, is looking uncharacteristically shy on his front porch as he holds a pot of green onions we potted for him to take home.
I think the pot over his shoulder is the one we planted with "sugarsnappeas." That's the way the kid says sugar snap peas, as if it were all one word.
If I say, "So you like snap peas?" Sage is likely to respond, "You mean sugarsnappeas?"
Sage is my favorite 6-year-old in all the world, and this is why:
Sage is engaged with the world. He loves learning Japanese and keeps asking me for more new words. The first time I showed him a few kanji (Chinese characters used to write Japanese), he started copying them.
I had only intended for him to get the concept.
He's thinking all the time and asks great questions--except for the time he had me on the ropes trying to explain why Chairman Mao was "a bad man" at a smart-6-year-old level. (Of course, it was a good question. I just had trouble answering it.)
I love teaching students like Sage, so we are a perfect match. It also turns out that the kid is a true bilingual: He was born in the Netherlands and spoke Dutch until he was 3.
Then the family came to the United States (Northern California), and Sage started speaking English. So the munchkin's brain is wired for two languages already--that makes learning yet a third language much easier. Unfortunately, his mother has not tried to keep up his Dutch, she doesn't see the need for it, although she is a native speaker.
In addition to studying Japanese together several afternoons a week (I'm also teaching Sage's babysitter, Dana, who took the photo above), these are the things Sage likes to do at my house:
** Help walk Connie, my dog. The latest thing is to play soccer in Ravenna Park. I bought Connie a dog-sized soccer ball. Everyone gets lots of exercise.
** Play with Hakusei, the calm cat.
** Plant things. I'm still working to get my seeds transplanted and vegetable starts into containers or the ground. Sage likes to help--nothing like getting your hands dirty.
** Pick up rocks for money. I told Sage I'd pay him a penny a rock for each of the rocks he picks up in my back garden. So far, I've paid out almost $2, and the kid was thrilled. After I give him his money, I shake his hand and say, "A pleasure doing business with you, sir."
Sage and Dana came over this afternoon for the first time in two weeks, and we cut out pictures from the Japanese cut books (kiri-e). We each had our own pair of scissors, and Dana and I kept a watch on Sage's newly snotty nose. He has another cold.
@ Jeanne Sather 2011.
