Ethan’s Journey

 Happy Halloween. Avery had fun at school today. She did the senior parade and was dressed up as one of her game characters.  Jiminy had on his pumpkin sweatshirt. He was chilly this morning and it only seemed fitting. Nana has knee surgery tomorrow, so I am going to help by driving them to the hospital. I am so glad I am in a more flexible position to be able to help. Halloween is more fun when your kids are small. Except….I still “tested the candy to make sure it wasn’t poison.” I have always been dedicated to candy safety. I feel if you sample often, you will be able to tell if something is poison. Ha!

 We had dinner at Nana and Papa’s . Ethan chose not to go. We were all bummed. He made his choice. Paul thought we should “make” him go. I mean that is a hard call. If he were away at college we wouldn’t do that. Also, as he transitions into adulthood, he should be able to make his own choices. Pick your battles wisely.  Was it the right thing to do? Who knows. I wish he liked us more and wanted to be around us. Oddly enough, he spent a small amount of time with Paul, Avery and I this morning as we congregated on the couch in the living room. We had mindless conversation with sarcastic comments that were said with the hopes of making someone laugh. I like those moments. It was like 10 minutes of normal. This was my gift today. Paul and I spent time out in the yard trying to prep for winter as well as get rid of all the leaves. I thought about the past couple of years and how I wasn’t able to do the work I did today.  Prepping for a move in 2020 and dialysis in 2021 were both time consu

 What a pretty day today was. Everyone was exercised. Paul and I did some outside work. My work was more productive as Paul accidentally cut a tree down and it fell the wrong way onto our barn. It left some dents, but no one died.  Paul had a string of words come out of his mouth that were not favorable. But again, no one was injured. We went out to dinner at a Chinese place in the city. The food was delicious. Avery was so tired. She worked all day and went out to dinner. She has to work in the morning again. Her season is winding down. She did say she was looking forward to a day to herself with nothing to do. All in all, this late October sunshine is good for the soul.

 I had my costume meeting today. It turned out pretty good. Several people dressed up and had great costumes. I put a bee costume on Jiminy. I don’t think he really cared for it. At first he gave me a pouty stink eye. I told him how cute he was. But he then decided he was going to ignore me and not make eye contact. I then was laughing at him and he got defeated. He gave up his protest.  I told him he was one of the cutest bee puppies there ever was. Together, we were a bee and a flower. You can’t have one without the other. Jim got bored during the meeting and fell asleep during the meeting in his bed costume.  After work, I took Avery and her friend to pick out stuff for their Halloween costumes for the senior Halloween parade on Monday. We had fun. Avery had her spirit week dress up today for either a soccer mom, OR a grilling dad. She chose a grilling dad. This was her interpretation: All in all….it was a fun day. 

He called! Woo hoo! He called and spoke to the doctor. He was respectful and they seemed to have a decent conversation. He does NOT want the flu and Covid vaccines. They said that was ok, as long as he knew that it was against the recommendation. They said, he can chose not to have those vaccines because he is in control of what happens to his body.  I was thankful He talked to the doctor. This was such a win. They also discussed about how they want to change his rejection medication and how it will involve a lot of blood draws. He agreed to it. However, I know this will come with a lot of complaining. I am ok with that. I will politely listen. It’s for the sake of his kidney. I finished up my costume for tomorrows meeting. I am excited to see everyone else’s costumes. I have a busy day tomorrow on the phone.

My big dilemma today was trying to figure out how I am going to make “petals” stand up on a headband. I have to show up to my virtual meeting on Friday in costume. I thought that was a fun way to bond with new co-workers. I have decided to be a flower. I will wear a headband with petals. Jiminy is going to be in a bee costume.  As far as I know, Ethan didn’t make the call today. He told me he wasn’t going to this morning, because he was working all day. I then saw in my calendar that he has a “wellness” exam at the pediatrician’s office on Friday. I am going to cancel it. We made it a year ago. He has had so many sets of eyes and so much bloodwork….I am certain he will be ok. I am also certain if I tell him about the appointment he will get VERY agitated. It is not worth the fight. I will save the fight for bigger appointments. A few friends stopped by for a quick visit this afternoon, which was nice to visit with them.  Another bright spot today was that I got to work outside for the

 Ethan’s cardiologist wanted to talk to him and follow up with him after his appointment that got cut short due to his desire to just get out of NYC last week. I gave Ethan the number to call. He refused. I tried begging, convincing more begging…I tried more convincing later….and still I was met with anger and refusal. Defeated, I just accepted that he wasn’t going to call. I know they wanted to discuss a medication change, that will require Ethan to get frequent blood draws for the first several weeks. Ugh! Now what? He won’t make a phone call. How can I convince him to agree to the medication change without completely alienating him? Later this evening, he texted me to ask the name of the lady he is supposed to ask for. I told him. He then texted me that he wasn’t able to get through. It was after hours. So hopefully he tries again tomorrow. Sigh. The weather was excellent today. This tree from our front yard is confused. It doesn’t know what color it wants to be.