kvetching up

 Entry 1.    7:39 a.m. Dogs woke me some.time ago, just after 7:00 a.m. Around 5:00 a.m. Jenny sent a text telling us she goes for her procedure this morning at 9:30 a.m. The sooner the better. Hopefully, this means she is home more quickly.  The G.I. surgeon will call me this morning, post-procedure (it's endoscopic), to tell me how it went. Someone gave us an electric St. Peregrine votive candle when Jenny got sick. Peregrine is the patron saint of cancer patients.  Time to flip the switch on that bad boy.   Entry 2.    9:58 a.m. Jenny has had so many scopes in the last 17 months she expected not to be put under general anesthesia.  This procedure requires it, we just learned.  I will  visit, hopefully, this afternoon.  The surgeon says he expects she will be home tomorrow. Fingers crossed. Entry 3     11:50 a.m. The surgeon called just after 11. The procedure, he told me, was a success. Jenny was awake a...

 Entry 1   9:35 a.m. The rain is pouring. The dogs loved it. This is a change for Buddy, but the enthusiasm of his "little" sister, who prances, cavorts, wiggles, waggles, jumps and runs in the yard regardless of the weather, kept him out there with his tail wagging hard.  It is nice to have such levity. Bookends.  Jenny, my poor sweet wife, lamenting death last night, and begging for her diagnosis not to be real this morning.  Expressing dread about her upcoming scan, she told me she doesn't want to die, with the same plaintive voice she uses every time.  This is wrenching.  Two more days and we will see Dr. P., get the scan, discuss the pathology report, and have to decide how to move forward. I expect we will continue on this regimen.  Jenny is worried her cancer has grown or spread, or both. I have no idea.  I just know that her endurance, despite her best attempts to fight it, continues to wane. She continues to fight. She just said...

  Entry 1.  7:22 a.m. The New Yorker has an article about my professor, my mentor,  my former boss (I was his TA for two years and then his teaching fellow in constitutional law at NYU), and friend, the late Prof. Derrick Bell Jr. A leading anti-racist, scholar, author and activist of civil rights for people of color, women, the LGBTQ community and more, he taught constitutional law through the lens of critical race theory, and in fact founded the discipline back in the 1970s.  A brilliant mind and a compassionate soul, his work is, and will remain, a seminal analysis of race, racism and American law.  You can read the story without going through the paywall here: http://hnn.us/article/181240.

 Entry 1     1:49 p.m. I am taking care of the dogs, have emptied and refilled the dishwasher, managed to dress myself and packed 3 boxes, all with my arm in a sling. I tried to pack with two arms  but that was stoopid.  I absolutely love all the physical chicanery y body has played on me these last few months.  The mind-body connection is real. We hired movers. Nevertheless, we are so excited Jenny has invited people to come move boxes over between the time we close and the day of the move.  I even rented a van for a few days before moving to transport boxes.  With my arm and shoulder malfunctioning, and a possible heart problem, well, I am not sure what I should and shouldn't be doing, other than changing my diet completely. Having a new puppy has been a great occupier of my time. I have potty trained her, taught her to sit. If there were ever a custody battle, I'm the primary, hahahaha.  It thrills me. I haven't had a puppy since I wa...