The Eleventh

It’s a roller coaster, this week.

Today, I had a call from my sister.  She had an update on my dad, who is gaining ground incrementally while in the hospital.  The doctors feel like he may be able to have surgery next week and have tentatively set up a surgery date for next Monday provided he continues on IV fluids and drinks the liquid nutritional supplements they bring him.  She said my brother is reporting that Dad looks markedly better than he did yesterday, even though he’s still dreadfully thin and weak.  The hospital room he’s in has the temperature cranked up to 90 degrees because he’s so starved that he can’t maintain a high enough body temperature.

I called his hospital room tonight and visited with him for a few minutes before he got too tired.  He sounded terrible, but nowhere near as bad as he sounded last Saturday when I called him at home and he was so weak he could barely talk.  So I’m encouraged.

In other news, I got a house sold to some buyer clients from out of town.  We negotiated back and forth with the sellers and their Realtor, back and forth and back and forth, and I think we got them a good deal.  They are a very nice family and it’s a great feeling to know you’ve helped them buy a house they’ve fallen in love with.

Rabbit had a doctor appointment this morning because she’s sick AGAIN, and the doctor gave her amoxicillin (she’s developed an upper respiratory bacterial infection) and we’re waiting for the pharmacy to get the other prescription filled, which is for a major cough syrup that will probably taste like something you use to take varnish off of floors. 

Rabbit spent the afternoon on the sofa watching movies and eating popcorn, blowing her nose and drinking water.  Now she’s in bed with a lap desk, coloring in an old coloring book she found when we cleaned her room last weekend.

Tonight after work, I started some preparations for Thanksgiving.  I roasted chestnuts for the dressing, and I roasted a whole head of garlic as well.  I used some of the roasted garlic in a batch of hummus, to which I also added roasted red bell pepper.  I made up a batch of dinner rolls (4 dozen) but this year, I used half white flour and half wheat flour.

Tomorrow night, I need to get the turkey into the brining solution, and peel potatoes, get the sweet potatoes going, and make my cranberry orange relish.  On Thanksgiving day, I’ll roast the turkey, make the mashed potatoes and gravy, and the stuffing. 

My secret for the stuffing?  Stove Top–and I’ll add to it some chopped chestnuts and either a little sausage or some pancetta, if I can get some tomorrow. 

Enough minutiae. I’m off to bed, where I’ll read the really tedious John Irving novel I’ve been plowing through until I doze off.  That should take about ten minutes. 

Thank you thank you thank you thank you for all your comments, emails and phone calls about my dad.  It means the world to me to know people are thinking of us and being so supportive. I love you guys.