The Mountain Thymes

 Thursday, April 29.................... Yesterday was comatose day for Cliff.  He was so cold that he cuddled under his electric blanket and the house heat was set on 75.  I spent the day outside.  I cleaned my side of the garage throwing away junk that hadn't been used in the twelve years we been here, vacuumed the Kia, reorganized the shelves and now we actually have space on the shelves.  I then did a little gardening, planted a few more greens and watered all the container gardens and the big garden.  In the afternoon I sat on the back porch, while he continued to sleep, in my hammock swing and enjoyed............ Cliff is doing a little better today with eating, drinking, and having awake time.  He's still tired and sleeps off and on but comes up for air more often.  Yesterday and this morning he drank a smoothie that I made for myself containing banana, blueberries, and strawberries, almond milk, and chia seeds for protein.  I was pleased that it actually appealed to him.

 Friday  April 23............. Cliff's son, James, arrived Thursday afternoon in his cop car. James buys cars that speak to him, have character, and restores them.  His is a mechanical genius.  Not his career, his hobby.  He drove this from Rhode Island arriving on Thursday afternoon to spend time with his father.  Helping his father set up Zoom for Piedmont nutritionist and physiologist meetings while we journey through this adventure.   Took James to Helen,GA today, not too distant a drive for Cliff and barely any tourists.     We always stop at Hansel and Gretel for fudge when we go to Helen, the only time we eat fudge and overload out body with sugar.  Sign on Hansel and Gretel Candy Shop........................ So many fragrant sweet flowers in bloom as we walked through the city.   Cliff's appetite is still strong and he's got strength in his legs again.  It's been a good week for him to eat whatever appeals to him in preparation for Monday's chemo. 

 Yesterday was quite rough for Cliff.  Sunday night was sleepless due to terrible anxiety about Monday's chemo treatment. The thought of his immune system tanking after chemo was overwhelming.  Our doctor gave Cliff some tips and advice on how to take charge of the situation and be in control of his healing.  He had a good patient-to-doctor conversation Monday morning and after the blood work came back, it was decided that he would skip that chemo,  return next Monday for a lesser dose and after that treatment he would have blood work again Wednesday.  Most of Monday was spent napping.  After a much more relaxed sleep last night, he ate well and felt better today. Our Carolina wrens fledged from the nest.  No more peeping sounds and the nest is empty.  Cliff went down to the garden with me today, fixed the chicken wire fence so the deer can't get in and walk all over my spinach and Swiss chard, then relaxed in the sun with his sherbet.  We have two bluebird houses at the edge o

 Update.... Cliff is napping on the couch after a light breakfast of Cream of Rice cereal.  Yesterday was a hard start for his first day of chemo. A couple of days ago he experienced terrible pain in the upper abdomen but attributed it to gas. Yesterday morning it happened again but  became so painful on the way to his chemo appointment that he cried out for me to pull over and call 911.  Ambulance arrived as his pained lessened and he decided to have me continue to the appointment where he told the nurses what happened.  It seems that he has a bacterial infection in the stent site where Dr. Shaw did surgery.  He's on two antibiotics along with the anti-nausea meds and the list of other supplemental aids.  Yesterday I tried to read his post-chemo instructions with my tired brain and got confused so am straightening out the Rx schedule this morning.  He's doing pretty good, weary, fog-brained, as expected. We'll both need to nap today.  At least it's sunny and will be wa

  Twenty-two degrees this morning at 8 o'clock.  Frozen hummingbird breakfast.  In our twelve-and-a-half years here we've never had frozen hummingbird juice.  If they had arrived, I'd be bringing in the feeders for a few more nights until this cold snap passes.  This morning it was frozen clear through to the base.   Yesterday morning only about a third of it froze.  Putting all that aside, we have multiple signs of spring to celebrate. The daffodils, tulips, and sourwood trees are in full bloom.  Dogwood trees are beginning to show their creamy white buds.  Bright yellow finches and the wood thrush hop around the ground looking for insects and seeds.  There are four eggs in the Carolina wren nest on the porch.  We're hoping they are still alive after the last two night's freezing conditions.   Thursday we celebrated our anniversary, a day early,  at the Longhorn Steakhouse, because Friday Cliff was scheduled for his port surgery.  Our server had an aura of caring e