March 2016: "The Georges in Peru"

Last night, Amy slept well (with the correlate of: Allen slept well).  Amazingly enough, she woke up this morning much more lucid, able to talk a bit, able to sit up and even stand for a bit!  Her head is hurting very little.  She has already drunk about 500ml of my home made electrolyte drink this morning.  Sarah got her to eat two pieces of apple this morning, and a bite of toast, which isn't much but it's something.  

My sister Carolyn's brother-in-law Duane died yesterday from the same type of brain tumor that Amy has.  Our suffering isn't unique.

After my mom died a year and a half ago I thanked my sister Carolyn for doing the majority of caring for her.  I used the word 'burden' and she quickly corrected me, "It wasn't a burden.  I was the lucky one.  I got to spend time with her."  At the time I thought it was a great tribute to my mom:  Her children saw it as a privilege to take care of her during her dying days.  I now know even better what she meant.  I've received a lot of emails commending me for stopping most of my responsibilities and dedicating my time to taking care of  Amy.

Amy has gotten weak enough that she prefers to be carried up and down the stairs.  She's light enough I can do it, though if there is one of the kids nearby, I have them help carry her.  Today she vomitted twice.  Once was right as we were starting lunch, so I felt sorry for her and our guest that had brought us strawberry shortcake for dessert (that's how one remembers which is 'dessert' and which is 'desert'; strawberry shortcake has two 's').

update 8:29pm CST

Yesterday I needed to take Paul to the RENIEC office, which is where every Peruvian (Paul is Peruvian because he was born here) has to renew his ID card.  Since he is a minor, I, as a responsible adult, have to request the renewal, and I have to show my ID card to do so.  Since my ID card is currently being processed, I have to show my passport.  I looked in our safe.  Not there.  I looked in my briefcase, bookbag, inbox, outbox, floor around everywhere, on my dresser, desk. Gone.  Ughh.

This morning, despite getting her dressed, hair combed and teeth brushed, Amy was just too tired to go to our missionary team meeting.  She really wanted to go, but has really gotten weak.  She stayed home with Sarah and Adriana (our maid that comes on Tuesdays and Fridays) and I went to the meeting.  Afterwards, I went to Maestro (ACE Hardware) to buy a flexible shower hose so that Amy can shower more easily.  Arequipa has changed a lot since we came 16 years ago.  I probably wouldn't have been able to have found such a thing back then.

Amy has gotten a lot weaker the last two days.  This afternoon I had to have Ben help me carry her back up to her room after she half-heartedly played a game of Settlers of Catán with the rest of us.  She might have to stay home from church tonight, as the entryway is a series of stairs, mostly without handrails.  We could probably carry her in, but it would be a bit dangerous.  Most of the time her headaches have been tolerable, but they fluctuate from no headache to being bad enough she needs Oxycontin.  

Update (9:11pm) 

Amy has been feeling enough better lately that she went with me on my weekly visit to Alejandro yesterday.  Alejandro is the 83 y/o amputee that I visit each Thursday to take him food and help clean up his room.  It was Amy's idea to set a bucket with a spigot on a stand so that he can wash his hands and get a cup of water easily.  He really likes it.

Last week we received a call from a woman we'd never met before, "Hi.  My name's Lidda and I heard about the health of your wife and I would like to bring you dinner some day."  Her daughter lives in Springfield, Virginia (just outside of Washington, DC) and five years ago the daughter's husband died of melanoma.  Their church rallied around them and took care of them so well, it really impressed Lidda, so she wanted to extend the same generosity to us!  She brought a great meal of roasted chicken, potatoes and vegetables.

Amy's doing well on the headache front, but she (and thus we) had a rough night because of her tummy.  My brother calls it the 'Peruvian weight loss program', but Amy's about 55 kg (121#) and doesn't need to lose weight.  And not being able to run to the bathroom makes it even worse.  Thankfully, the cipro (antibiotic) I gave last night seems to already be working and she ate a decent breakfast this morning and no more troubles.

Last night Amy had a very good night.  She slept from 9pm until 6am without moving.  It was actually a bit disconcerting and I'd try to be quiet and make sure I could hear her breathing several times during the night.  She woke up with hardly any pain or nausea and even walked around the block.  Her condition fluctuates so much it is really an emotional rollercoaster.