Friday, July 2, 2021

Friday, July 2, 2021

Tonight's picture was taken in July of 2009. At that point, Mattie's chemotherapy had ended, his surgeries were done, and we were focused on receiving weekly dosages of the experimental immunotherapy and moving full force with physical therapy. Our hope was that Mattie would regain strength in order to return to school in the Fall of 2009. What a pipe dream. Because by August 5th, six weeks off of chemotherapy, Mattie's cancer metastasized throughout his body. 

Quote of the day: Today's coronavirus update from Johns Hopkins.

• Number of people diagnosed with the virus: 33,691,160
• Number of people who died from the virus: 605,301

Last night was a first! DC had a tornado. The rain and wind were horrific! Fortunately we were home. However, Sunny was NOT happy what so ever. He took to the kitchen for cover. So I sat on the floor with him, under a blanket. 

I opened up the blinds in our bedroom this week, and I was greeted with more graffiti! I just can't take it, nor can I take that the District does nothing about it. I keep reporting issues in our neighborhood, but nothing gets done. 

From my bedroom window I can also see the encampment right outside our building. There are over twenty tents there, along with District supplied port-a-potties, hand washing stations, and garbage receptacles. Yet where do people go to the bathroom.... on our grass. The way the District is managing the homelessness population has become totally ineffective. As supplying tents is not the answer, when people need access to mental health services, rehabilitated, and given opportunities to develop skills. 

Here is the latest at the house! After last night's storm, we landed up with a flood in the basement. The issue is the sliding door. The whole thing needs to be replaced. Our to do list is NEVER ending! Literally Peter and I can spend an entire day triaging one thing to another. 

On top of this, I contacted Verizon today to set up our internet, cable, and phone service for the house. I was expecting to do battle, like we have with Comcast in the past.  On aside, have you ever tried to chat with Comcast? Good luck, you land up interacting with a bot, rather than a person, and it is totally ineffective and frustrating. Today, I decided to try an on-line chat with a Verizon representative. I was on a chat session for 90 minutes, and the person helping me, Patty, was LOVELY. She walked me through the process, we discussed my options, and Verizon comes out a week from today to get us set up. In comparison to everything else, this conversation today was a gift.