Columbus OH

This is another post for those among our readers who are either masochists or relatives.

There is both bad news and good news. The bad news is that on Friday (the 9th) Bobbi's mother and all three children went to the oncologist. He examined mother again, reviewed everything, and finally recommended that it was time for mother to enter hospice. Mother reacted with the classical Kubler-Ross signs. Bobbi came home devastated and of course tearful. I have not seen or spoken with her sibs, but one must presume that they are severely affected as well. Obviously, with this turn of events, we are unlikely to leave Columbus (where it is still raining most of the time) for some months.

The good news is that Paul has become a real trooper through all this. Basically, he has pulled 2 1/2 shifts per day caring for grandma, and done a wonderful job. Not that he hasn't taken a drink, and not that hasn't seen some of his enabling friends in the short time he has off -- but he has had so little time for that life, that overall he is vastly improved. And strangely enough, despite the severe stress of what he is doing, he seems almost to thrive on it.

And today was Lew's first stint as an "Extraordinary minister of the Eucharist". He got through it without either falling over his feet or dropping the chalice.

Stay tuned.