Uh, Day(s) in the Life

As many of you already know, my wife Geri is dealing with end-stage liver disease and going through the process of getting on a liver transplant list.  Part of the listing process requires being checked out and cleared by pretty much every type of doctor you can think of, and that for us means a lot of running back and forth to the Cleveland Clinic and other offices.  Today, for example, we got up at 6 am and barely had time to let our dog out and wolf down a cup of coffee before we headed into Cleveland for an early lab draw, followed by an appointment with a pulmonary specialist, followed by an appointment with a transplant surgeon, followed by a thorocentesis in which a third doctor drained 1300 ml of fluid from her lung. Now we're back home, shortly after 5 pm and I just got dinner cooking.

Yesterday, we were at the Clinic for hours attending a liver transplant informational seminar. Tomorrow, we'll be there again for an anesthesia clinic, dentistry appointment and maybe more.  This is our new status quo, and has been for some time.

I called off work Wednesday and Thursday last week, canceled my trip to Maryland over the weekend, and didn't get to see my dad and step-mom who were in town from West Virginia yesterday and today.  First things first.  So don't please feel bad if I haven't answered your message or published your book yet. I will, I promise.  Maybe I'll finish reading a friend's chapbook while I'm sitting in a doctor's office. Maybe I'll share a YouTube video or political article from my phone because that only takes a few minutes and that's all I can cobble together to focus on something other than liver transplant stuff.  Maybe I'll even watch part of an Indians game when I get home at night because I'm too drained to do much more. But I promise I will give you the attention you deserve as soon as I can.

Peace, love and poetry,
John