Thursday, March 23, 2023

Thursday, March 23, 2023

Tonight's picture was taken in March of 2008. Only four months before Mattie was diagnosed with cancer. That day we took him for a walk on Roosevelt Island. This was a place we practically visited every weekend together, regardless of the weather or temperature. The Island will always hold a special place to Peter and me. 

Quote of the day: Successful people demonstrate their resilience through their dedication to making progress every day, even if that progress is marginal. ~ Jonathan Mills

Peter flew to Boston today to visit with his parents for about a week. He tries to do this every other month, like I used to do when my parents were in Los Angeles. It certainly makes life challenging for both of us, as we are pulled in all directions. 

Before Peter left for the airport, he sent me a photo of the pansies in our backyard. We planted them in the fall and they are still glorious!

Peter is the cat whisperer! I never met a cat that didn't like him. Shortly after Peter arrived at his parent's house, their cat (Inky) claimed Peter's jacket. I am not sure Miss Indie is going to like this one bit when Peter returns. 

Though I manage all of my parent's care during the week, when Peter is gone, I have extra responsibilities that he takes on during the week for me. One of which is feeding and giving Sunny chemo. On chemo, Sunny is not always hungry, can be obstinate, and many times will refuse food. Of course eating is important for him because this is the only way we get him to take his medications. So now the games begin between me and Sunny. 

One of the major changes in my life since my parents moved in (putting aside freedom in my day to work and see friends), is my lack of walking, and certainly my inability to have time to walk Sunny. That may not sound like a big deal but it is both a problem for my physical health and also the connection between me and Sunny is not like it used to be. This is very sad, and it is hard to explain to an animal why the changes have occurred. I can only imagine what Sunny thinks! The only solace I take is that Sunny's energy level is not what it used to be while on chemo and he has a fenced in backyard to explore the outside. Sunny absolutely loves checking out the neighbors' dogs at the fence line and being on the look out for fox and deer. 

I am trying to plug away on this course work requirement that I am trying to fulfill in order to participate on a research grant. I am moving through these modules much slower than I had hoped! I am hoping some form of a miracle happens so that I can make some progress on it this weekend. Meanwhile, I received an invitation to review a peer-reviewed article for a psycho-oncology journal today. The article has to do with innovative research using our Standards of Care. I was very honored to be invited to do this and after checking with the editors (to make sure they did not feel there was a conflict of interest, as the Standards were our vision), I accepted the invitation. I certainly can't focus on this until the course work is done, but I find it amazing given my day to day chores, that I sometimes forget that I am a professional. Invitations like this remind me quickly.