Thursday 13: A Chemo Angels and Senior Angels Update

1.   Since it has been over two years since my last Chemo Angels/Senior Angels update, I decided it’s definitely time for another one.

2.    If you’re not familiar with Chemo Angels and Senior Angels, you can read my long post about them here.  (Other updates are here and here if you’re interested.)  The short version is that they’re programs that match patients undergoing chemotherapy and seniors (both known as buddies) with volunteers (known as card angels or chemo angels) who send them a card or letter at least once a week.  It’s strictly mail-based, and volunteers are matched with buddies based on interests.  I started volunteering with both programs as a card angel in 2019 (I did take about five weeks off right after Hurricane Helene hit), and I absolutely love doing it.

3.    As usual, with this kind of post, the photos are just a random assortment.

4.    Unfortunately, this update includes some sad news, so I will share that first, so we can end on a happier note.  My senior buddy (called Agnes for blogging) passed away in October last year.  I knew it was coming (she was in her 90s and was in hospice care), but I had been writing to her almost since I first signed up.  (I signed up in August of 2019 and started writing to Agnes in November of 2019).  I cried when I got the email and cried again when her daughter sent me a very sweet letter letting me know that she had passed away and saying that she enjoyed my cards right up to the end. 

5.    The other senior buddy I had (called Callie for blogging) also passed away last year.  She had Stage IV cancer, so it wasn’t a surprise, but it was still sad.  Her husband found me on Facebook and sent me a very sweet message. 

6.    I’m sure you’re ready for some happier news in this update, so here’s a happy ending for you.  The teenage boy (called Sam for blogging) who I was writing to the last time I posted an update, finished chemo and is now cancer-free.

7.    Whenever one of your buddies finishes the program for any reason (hopefully for finishing their treatment), they always ask if you want to get back on the list for another assignment.  That works well for me since I usually get a new buddy fairly quickly and can stay in the habit of writing to someone. 

8.    Chemo Angels had a shortage of volunteers last year, so I’ve cycled through a lot of buddies since my last update.  At one point, I got a new buddy just two days after a previous buddy finished the program.

9.    Four of the buddies that I had since my last update have written back to me.  They’re not required to write back, and volunteers are told repeatedly not to expect or ask our buddies to write back, so it always feels really special to get a letter from one of my buddies. 

10. Fortunately, all four of those buddies have finished their treatment and were cancer-free at the end of the treatment.

11. I currently have two relatively new buddies.  We’ll call them Adam and Josie for blogging.  I’ve only been writing to Adam for about six weeks and to Josie for about two weeks. 

12. I had another buddy finish this week, so I’m back on the waiting list for a third buddy.  I seem to stay at three buddies pretty consistently.  (I would be allowed to have more if I wanted to, but more than three gets to be hard for me to keep up with.  I’ve had four before when there’s a real shortage of volunteers, but I prefer to stay at three.) 

As I’ve said before, I learned about Chemo Angels when Bijoux and Betty shared their experiences on their blogs, and I’m so glad they did.  Volunteering with them feels like the perfect fit for me.  Now, though, I am especially grateful to them for sharing their experiences because I have a friend going through chemotherapy, and I told her about Chemo Angels.  She signed up as a recipient and absolutely loves getting her angel mail.  Seeing how much joy it brings her has definitely made me want to continue volunteering with them indefinitely.  

Thursday 13: Catching Up

Since I haven’t posted anything since March, a Thursday 13 seemed like a great way to catch up on what has been going on since March.

1.    A cat picture is always a good way to start one of these, so enjoy this one of Mortimer.

2.     We have hot water!  The water heater installation was finished on time, and it has been worth every bit of disruption.  Showers that don’t become progressively colder are so much more pleasant!

3.    We did a lot of decluttering while we were getting the house back in order after the water heater installation.  We reorganized some things and got rid of a lot of stuff. 

4.    Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures of the process, but here’s one of Theodore in one of the storage cubes. 

5.    Speaking of Theodore, he had a vet visit for a cough last week.  After x-rays, they determined that he most likely aspirated some fluid while coughing up a hairball and developed a slight infection.  He’s on Laxatone for hairballs and got an antibiotic shot for the infection.  He goes for a follow-up in two weeks, but has already stopped coughing and seems to be feeling fine.

6.    Part of why I haven’t posted in a while is that I was working on a big project at work.  It was the second part of the December project.  Our deadline got moved up by about six weeks, so everyone had to put in a lot of extra hours for a while.  It is finished, though! 

7.    As usual, Caroline felt the need to be heavily involved in my work. 

8.    I’ve learned not to say I’m expecting any kind of break from projects with tight deadlines!  There isn’t one at the moment, but I’m expecting at least a couple more this year. 

9.    It hasn’t been all work during my blogging break.  We have done some fun things, including going to Greenville to see a performance from the Greenville Gay Men’s Chorus.  It was a great show!  I haven’t been able to find a video of the show, but here’s the promo video.

10.   The groundhogs are back!

11.   There are at least three baby groundhogs this year.  I just love them so much.

12.   I’m working on catching up with everyone’s blogs, so I’ll be visiting you soon.

13.   A cat picture is always a good way to end a post, so enjoy this one of Charlie.  

Thursday 13: Cold Water, A Hole In the Wall, and the Mess That Keeps Growing

I almost didn’t write this Thursday 13 because what we have going on is basically nothing in the grand scheme of everything happening in the world right now.  But I didn’t post one last week, and I don’t want to skip another week. 

Most of my Thursday 13s are about whatever is going on in my little corner of the world, so I decided to go ahead and post.  I just want to preface by saying I know that these are very much first-world “problems,” and that we’re still pretty fortunate.  And I’ll try not to whine too much.

1.    We’ve known for a while that replacing our water heater is on the horizon.  It’s about 13 years old.  It’s also in the crawlspace, and we’re fairly certain all of the flooding didn’t do anything good for it.  So, while it was frustrating and unpleasant that the water heater finally gave out for good on Monday morning (why does everything happen Monday morning?!?), it wasn’t at all surprising. 

2.    Our current setup is an electric water heater and natural gas heat.  We’ve wanted to change to a natural gas water heater for a while now, but it’s a fairly complicated process.

3.    The “crawl” part of describing our crawlspace is extremely accurate.  It’s short!  The current water heater is a low-boy.  That wasn’t an option for natural gas.  (From what we can tell, the low-boy gas water heaters have gone on and off the market for years due to fire safety issues.)  So, switching to a natural gas water heater meant moving it out from under the house. 

4.    After meeting with the company, we decided to go with a tankless natural gas water heater.  Unfortunately, the tankless still has to be in the house due to our climate.  They also have to run more gas lines and more water lines. 

5.    The project started yesterday morning.  They told us ahead of time that we had to move some furniture and empty out one cabinet. 

A box of stuff from the cabinet is on the bench in the living room.

6.    Moving the furniture and emptying the cabinet already created a lot of mess and disorder.  The cabinet is the biggest one in the kitchen, and it was full.  The furniture is a big, bulky armoire with lots of things in and on it. 

Kitchen utensils are on a bookshelf in the living room.

7.    As always seems to be the case, existing lines and pipes weren’t up to code or had other problems, so the project has grown. 

8.    The company emptied out two more kitchen cabinets, a kitchen counter, and the bathroom cabinets.  They also had to drill a hole in the kitchen wall. 

Nick ziptied a piece of a cube shelf (the cubes are 13x13 to give you an idea of the size of the hole) to keep the cats from getting into the wall.  If you have cats, you understand the concern! 

9.    So yesterday we came home to a hole in the kitchen wall, the refrigerator in the middle of the kitchen, the washing machine in the middle of the room, lots of stuff moved off of shelves, and more things outside of cabinets than in cabinets. 

10. Today is looking a little better.  The refrigerator and washing machine are back where they belong.  And I did get to clean under and behind where the refrigerator goes without us having to move it.  Tiny silver lining.  Everything else is still in total disarray.  And we still have the hole in the wall. 

11. The company assures us that they’re still on track to finish up by tomorrow afternoon.  It will be so nice to have hot water again!  In the meantime, we both have access to showers at work.  Another thing that I know we’re very fortunate to have.  Yes, it’s inconvenient to pack up everything to shower at work, but it’s also extremely nice to have that available. 

12. Our plans for the weekend are to put everything away, get the house back in order, probably some fairly major reorganization due to the space we lost by moving the water heater inside, and work on figuring out how to fix the hole in the kitchen wall.  And, hopefully, to revel in the pleasure of having a nearly endless supply of hot water.  With any luck, soon I’ll be posting about some of the reorganization.

13. Since it seems like most Thursday 13s involve at least one cat picture (and to keep this from turning into a total whine-fest), enjoy the latest picture of Theodore.  I think he looks very majestic!  

How About A Sunday Sixteen?

Since I didn’t get around to posting a Thursday 13 last week, or the week before, I’ve decided to catch up with a Sunday Sixteen.

1.    The weather since my last Thursday 13 has been everything from snow to highs in the 70s. 

2.    Fortunately, the hyacinth survived the snow, and more have sprouted.

3.    The past few days have been warm.  It was even warm enough for shorts yesterday! 

4.    I know the warm weather isn’t going to last, but I am determined to enjoy it as much as possible while we have it, so I spent a lot of time outside yesterday. 

5.    Since this is time change weekend, we’ll at least get to enjoy more light and longer days even when it gets cold again. 

6.    The daffodils have bloomed.

7.    One lone tulip has sprouted.  There’s no flower yet, but I’m hopeful.

8.    There’s a little bit of green on the hydrangea I trimmed earlier this year.

9.    The forsythia is also starting to bloom.

10. Unfortunately, there is something in the yard that gives me a terrible rash.  It’s not poison ivy, oak, or sumac, but we haven’t been able to figure out what causes it.  It doesn’t even happen every year.  This is a rash year, though, so I’m currently sporting a calamine bandage. 

11. Since we’ve never been able to determine the cause, the dermatologist just always has me double up on allergy medications and wrap it in a calamine bandage.  If it gets too out of control, they’ll prescribe steroids.  

12. At this point, I’m pretty good at starting to treat it before it gets too bad, and we just take care of it at home without the need for a doctor’s visit and steroids. 

13. I know it’s not officially spring yet, but I’ve switched to spring-themed cards and stickers for my Chemo Angels buddies. 

14. Last Sunday, we saw the play Suffs at the Peace Center in Greenville, SC.  It was an excellent show, and one that I think everyone should see. 

15. We had voted in the primaries just a few days before we saw it, so it was especially poignant to be reminded how much so many brave women fought and endured. 

16. Finally, enjoy this picture of Theodore. 

What We Can Do: Write Postcards to Restore Fair Elections in Virginia

In case you haven’t heard, Virginia has a proposed Constitutional Amendment to be voted on in their April 21 special election.  It’s in response to Trump’s claim that he’s “entitled” to more Republican seats. 

Photo Credit Here

Governor Abigail Spanberger does an excellent job explaining it in this video.  (The video is short and definitely worth watching.)

Postcards to Swing States has a postcard campaign going on now to urge people to vote yes on April 21^st.  You can order the postcards in batches of 100 and are expected to mail them between April 7^th and 14^th. 

I’ve signed up to send 200 of the postcards because I think having this measure in place will help safeguard the midterm elections.