Woke up a bit after 10:00, Cousin Laurie called as arranged around 11:00. We had a nice talk, about an hour actually. After we were done I called Middle Brother's group home and told them the situation. They said they would tell Middle Brother, and I said that was good.

Then mashfanficchick got up and we went to have breakfast at Dunkin' Donuts. I got the $6 meal deal again.

Then we went to the house and worked. Got a few more boxes of things packed, and are almost done now.

At 4:30 we went back to zer apartment, and I Ubered to the hospital to see Oldest Brother while ze went to zer father's to go to a seder.

Oldest Brother was pretty good, actually. More verbal than he has been, and he even managed to make a joke. When I told him that it was Passover and mashfanficchick was at a seder, he clearly and distinctly said "Oy vey". Thus showing that he understood what I said, and was capable of responding with humor.

I stayed about an hour and a little more, than took the bus home. Everything was OK when I got here.

I Skyped the FWiB, and at 8:30 I called Middle Brother and talked to him. He's taking it pretty well. Then I finished talking to the FWiB, and had dinner.

Tomorrow is the final push in finishing off the house. The movers are coming back in the afternoon so we have the morning to finish things up. I will get up early and go over.

Gratitude List:

1. The FWiB.

2. Oldest Brother seemed good.

3. Middle Brother OK.

4. The house almost done.

5. Family.

6. Bed soon.

Started by getting up at 10:00, expecting to hear from my therapist. She did call, a bit before 11 and I told her everything that was going on.

Then I had coffee, and showered, and mashfanficchick ordered food to be delivered to zer mother's house, and we left for there. It was raining a little.

Cousin Linda had texted me yesterday asking me to call her so I did, and when we eventually got to talk, she wants to come visit Oldest Brother, along with Cousin Steve. I said I would ask Oldest Brother if that was something he would like. She also filled me in on the family doings. Rick and Martha are expecting another baby, and Erika is getting married.

I also called middle Brother's group home twice, and there was no answer either time. Very odd, i hope the phone isn't out of order, which has happened before.

Anyway, after the food was delivered and we ate, we worked in the house. RK brought over some packing stuff mashfanficchick ordered from U-Haul. He stayed for awhile.

We left at 5:00 because I was supposed to meet the Kid and her boyfriend at the hospital at 6:00. I got there a little after 6"00 and they were still on the way.

Oldest Brother has been moved to the hospice unit. It is very peaceful, and the room is very nice, with a couch and a chair. He was about the same as he's been. The Kid and her boyfriend arrived somewhat after 7:00, and we had a lovely visit, really. The visiting hours seem to be different, they didn't make the announcement that they were over til 9:00. We stayed til the end, and sang Happy Birthday. He seemed to enjoy our visit.

They Ubered home, I took the bus. I got here in time to Skype the FWiB. Then I fed the pets and made dinner, and then called Linda back.

And now mashfanficchick is calling about plans for tomorrow.

Anyway, one other sad thing, my friend Lynn S, the one Chris and I went to visit last fall, died last night from the pancreatic cancer. The same thing Oldest Brother has. I emailed Chris to let him know. I knew Lynn wasn't doing well but I didn't think it would be this fast.

Gratitude List:

1. The FWiB.

2. Linda and the rest of the family.

3. Smoked salmon crepe for lunch.

4. Oldest Brother seemed to enjoy himself.

5. mashfanficchick

6. The Kid.

Got up this morning when mashfanficchick came in from an even earlier run to the storage unit to put the locks on. Ze brought back food so I had a South American beef stew for breakfast. It was very good.

Then I showered and dressed in time for us to meet up with zer Uncle David at the house. He took some stuff he wanted and left, and I collected some stuff I was taking, and we went back to zer place.

Ze canceled our flights for tomorrow, and put in for the flight insurance. Annoyingly, it doesn't look like ze will get refunded but I should as my claim is based on Oldest Brother being hospitalized, whereas zer's was based on Dani having pneumonia and zer doctor not want zer to stay with her.

I called the Kid and spoke to her about Oldest Brother and some other stuff. Then eventually we watched two episodes of Will Trent.

Then I Ubered over to the hospital and saw Oldest Brother. He is about the same. My psychiatrist called while I was there so I talked with him.

I left with enough time to get home by 7:30, feed the pets, and Skype the FWiB. Then at 8:00 I went to my D&D game. We fought mummies.

Then I had dinner, and fed the pets again, and started here.

Gratitude List:

1. The FWiB.

2. The day off from the house.

3. Good TV.

4. Oldest Brother is OK for now.

5. The Kid.

6. My pets are fine.

Got up this morning and didn't have breakfast or coffee because I had blood tests scheduled. I showered and dressed and packed, and killed tme til i:30 when I Ubered over to the lab and they did my tests.

After that I walked up to Dunkin' Donuts and had the $6 meal. Pretty tasty actually. I like the Dunkin' sausage, egg, and cheese sandwich much better than a McDonalds egg mcmuffin.

Took the train from there to mashfanficchick's and we went to the house and worked for several hours. Then we came back and I Skyped the FWiB while ze watched the Mets game. Then we had dinner, Chinese rib ends, fried rice, and egg drop soup.

Then we started watching Will Trent and sort of got carried away, and now it is late. Time for bed.

Oldest Brother supposedly had his MRI today but I didn't get any results.

Gratitude List:

1. The FWiB.

2. Blood tests are done.

3. Missed the rain.

4. Mets won again.

5. Tasty food.

6. Good TV.

Started out this morning getting up at 9:00, having breakfast and coffee, showering and dressing, and going to my Al-anon meeting. I thought I was going to be late, but I wasn't.

It was a bit smaller than usual, maybe because the weather was grey and damp, and when we went to the diner there were only three of us. I got a ride home with C.

Got home and my new Mets cap that I ordered the other day had arrived! Very fast delivery.

I went down to the laundromat and picked up my laundry and brought it back, then I packed my backpack for an overnight at mashfanficchick's.

I went to the hospital to see Oldest Brother. He was awake and aware and doing OK. I talked to a doctor who told me that he's supposed to have his MRI on Monday now. They have him on antibiotics. I stayed somewhat over an hour and then took the 65 bus to Flushing.

I called mashfanficchick and we discussed what to do. Ze had access to Mets tickets from zer friend Larry. So we decided to go to the game tonight.

So I took the train to Citifield and waited there for zer. We got food and took our seats, and watched the game. It started out pretty bland, but picked up and by the end of the game was very exciting. We won 3 to 2. It was a lot of fun.

Then we came back to zer place and had hot drinks to warm up, and now we're going to get ready for bed.

Gratitude List:

1. The FWiB.

2. My meetings and the people there.

3. I got to wear my Mets hat to a game.

4. Mets won.

5. Oldest brother doing OK.

6. The rain stopped in time for the game, and we got back here before it started again.

I got up this morning somewhat after 10:00 and had breakfast and coffee, showered and dressed, and went to mashfanficchick's place.

From there we went to the house and worked. While I was working they called from the hospital. Oldest Brother is not getting out today or tomorrow, they want to gove him an MRI to investigate his pancreas more, and also they may do a procedure to drain infected fluid from his abdomen, and they think he has an infection in his sacrum.

So tomorrow he gets the MRI, and we'll see.

Anyway, we worked in the house til 6:00, about four and a half hours. Then we went back to mashfanficchick's place, and at 7;00 I Skyped the FWiB til 8:00 when we watched our TV shows, 911 and then Dr. Odyssey.

I called Middle Brother at 8:30, he is fine, nothing much new.

After that ze went back to the house and I helped zer carry stuff over. Then I Ubered home. The driver didn't know where the hell he was going, and I had to direct him. Weird, he didn't have the GPS thing that they normally have.But I got here and all was well/ I fed the pets and started here.

The FWiB wanted to Skype again for a bit so we just did.

And now it's time for bed.

Gratitude List:

1. The FWiB.

2. The staff at the hospital taking care of Oldest Brother.

3. Middle Brother doing well.

4. Moving along in the house stuff.

5. Good TV.

6. Bed soon.

Last night I could not sleep no matter what. Finally at 5:30is I decided there was no point in trying to get up at 10:00 like I had been planning so I turned off the alarm. I fell asleep somewhat after that, and slept until 12ish. Still not a full night's sleep.

Anyway, I got up and had breakfast and coffee, and showered and dressed and headed over to the hospital to see Oldest Brother. He has been transferred to a regular room. He's not on the nasal cannula any more and he looks pretty good. I visited for almost an hour, left when he started seeming sleepy.

Then I came home and put in a Shipt order for stuff I'll need to set up the apartment for when I'm going to Ohio. It was a long time coming.

I Skyped the FWiB and we talked until it was time for my meeting at 8:00. The meeting was just me and M. But it was good.

After that the Shipt order finally came, there was some mixup with the delivery but I got it.

I had the basil fried rice with shrimp that we got as BOGO on Sunday for dinner. It was delicious.

Then I went to the bedroom and played solitaire until pet feeding time.

I am soooo tired from being up so late last night.

Gratitude List:

1. The FWiB.

2. MY meetings and the people there.

3. Oldest Brother out of ICU.

4. Thai fried rice.

5. Bed soon.

6. Girl Scout cookies.

We slept late this morning, and then had breakfast. mashfanficchick still didn't feel good so we watched some episodes of Will Trent before going over to the house to work.

We put in several hours, and then zer friend Robyn came over and helped. We worked two more hours, and I called Middle Brother, who is fine. Then it was 9:30 and we broke for the night.

mashfanficchick and I came back here and ordered dinner, Thai. They had BOGO deals so we'll have Thai for dinner tomorrow too.

Then we watched more Will Trent. The Kid texted me which was nice.

Gratitude List:

1. The FWiB.

2. The Kid.

3. Middle Brother is good.

4. Good TV.

5. Thai food.

6. Bed soon.

Got up at 8;30 and had breakfast and coffee, showered and dressed. Then mashfanficchick's father picked me up and we went to U-Haul and got the things mashfanficchick had ordered.

Then ze called and said ze felt really awful and was just going to stay in bed for the day, and we should drop the stuff off at zer place, and then zer father should just bring me home.

So that's what we did, and I got back home around 11:30.


And then instead of doing anything useful, I lay down and played solitaire until I fell asleep, and then, with the exception of going to the bathroom a couple of times, I stayed asleep until 4-something.

I finally got up, ate a little something, and puttered on the computer until 5:15 when I left for my meeting in the Bronx.

I went for pizza first, as usual, and found M there. So we sat together and talked a bit.

The meeting was the first one where we have to go to the room upstairs rather than our usual room, which will now happen once monthly. It's not a bad room, but inconvenient carrying our meeting stuff up from the downstairs.

After the meeting K drove me to the bus stop. I had a pleasant interaction with a young black man who asked me if I knew when the 5 bus was coming. I was able to tell him.

I came home and Skyped the FWiB. We talked about 45 minutes, then I fed the pets and started here.

I don't know why I slept so much today. It was really a waste of time when I could have done several different things I need time to do. I am annoyed at myself.

Gratitude List:

1. The FWiB.

2. Day off working at the house.

3. The rain didn't start til after we were in the meeting.

4. And was pretty light by the time we left.

5. Pizza.

6. My meetings and the people there.

I got a phone call at 1:00 am from Oldest Brother's nursing home that they were sending him to the hospital via the ER.

I got a call from the hospital at 9:30, saying he had been admitted, was in ICU, and had pancreatitis and a UTI. But no pneumonia, his breathing is good, no intubation, just room air.

Well that put paid to our potential plans to send me to Ohio on Monday in exchange for Dani's husband John to come work on the house. I called mashfanficchick and told zer the news. But I decided not to go to the hospital today, it is my birthday and I did have plans, and besides, the first day there's usually a lot going on that it's probably better to not interfere with.

So I met mashfanficchick at The Cheesecake Factory and had pasta carbonara, which was delicious. And then we had cheesecake for dessert. We took our time over the meal, and it was pretty late when we finished. We went back to zer place, and then to zer mother's where we did some work.

Then I came home by mass transit, first stopping at Starbucks for my free birthday drink. I got home in time to Skype the FWiB. So we talked til 8:00 and the went to my D&D game.

The game went very well, we got a lot of treasure after battling Faceless Stalkers and a lizard thing that our witch turned into a mouse.

After the game I fed the pets and talked to mashfanficchick. That's pretty much my birthday.

Gratitude List:

1. The FWiB.

2. mashfanficchick

3. Oldest Brother doesn't have pneumonia again.

4. My D&D group.

5. Texted cousin Laurie today.

6. Called the Kid and talked a few minutes.