the girly who shall end all girls

due to circumstances beyond my control, i have made so many hats this year. when i talked with Mom on Mother's Day, i nattered on about what i've been making (as i often do, it's a great thing to have to talk about with someone who is also crafty). apparently she passed that info on to Dad; the phone rang while i was waiting for the shuttle to work the next day, with a request for a hat for Dad. it started out being a request for a surgeon's cap like i'd been doing recently (a resized version of this pattern) and rapidly turned into a consultation about designing something completely different. *sigh*

but i did kind of love how Mom was describing what they wanted: "one of those pillbox hats like Muslim men wear". fortunately, Dad's head measurements are just a 1/4" smaller than C's head so i at least was able to do fitting. i mostly improvised. i have my paper pattern for the top of the head and notes. it's quilting cotton on the outside and recycled flannel inside the brim for softness. it's since arrived and the fit is perfect. they're waiting for it to run through the laundry there to report back on how it holds up and if they want more on the same model.

today my sister-in-law sent me a video of dad walking down the hall in his support harness. he's been steadily improving all week. Mom is going to try to get me a phone call with him tomorrow. he can talk on the phone.

it was freaking 75F here today. I took mom on a the level route I found to Fifth/Forbes (the two one-way arterials that are the heart of the Oakland neighborhood's business district) and bought her Thai for lunch and then went to Dave & Andy's for ice cream. my favorite flavor happened to be in rotation today, so that was pretty great.

Dad was bright-eyed and chatty (for him) when we arrived at the hospital this morning, but his occupational therapy session of placing blocks and pegs with his bad hand tired him out completely. like, that session was great. and apparently he was great before we got there - his morning OT starts with "ADLs" (Activities of Daily Living) like washing up and getting dressed. but then he was groggy for his speech therapist and for his physical therapist. *sigh* his PT was very understanding and put him down for a nap before his next session. (I feel a little odd saying it that way, but it does take two people to get him into bed.)

last night he got a beard trim and a shave (needed; Dad has had a beard all of my life but he keeps after his cheeks and neck) and today he was wearing jeans and a polo shirt and his socks. Mom knits his socks. they were admired by all.

my sister arrives tomorrow. fingers crossed.

at the inn, running laundry. mom had a brainstorm about having me run errands during the day when we weren't both knackered. I have enjoyed the chance to have a long phone call with C and generally be introverted.

Dad came through the surgery fine. He now has skin from his left leg on the right side of his head. ( medical details )

***
I like to fall asleep to an audio book. Last night I was so tired I forgot to set the sleep timer. Woke at 1:30am to mom waving the phone at my face asking how to turn it off. fortunately it turns out that my response to a shadowy figure menacing me is to scream rather than to, say, hit them.

We've been laughing about that all day.
***

I found a gentle path from the hospital (through some connected buildings) to a block with Indian and Thai food. I'm hoping to get mom to go out for dinner (the burgh is very vertical; Seattlites can imagine we're on Pill Hill). If this laundry ever dries...

we are in Pittsburgh and I survived driving my parents' car that takes control of the wheel when it thinks you're weaving too much.

I like our residence inn, in spite of it being not the one I thought it would be. it is near the hospital, but not walking distance. At least we have a view of the Cathedral of Learning.

we had very good Chinese delivered for dinner (pretty sure the eggrolls were house made but it's PA so there was still duck sauce) and it cost $20 including a tip that the delivery guy thought was generous. the more I think about it, the more I hope Pittsburgh doesn't get HQ2.

backdated to the right place in the narrative. i had this written and never posted it.

Dad has meningiomas, which grow back to impairment size every 7-10 years. see the braaains tag for some backstory.

i'm heading for PA pre-dawn on Sunday. ticket is booked, ride from the airport is set, i finally knuckled under and bought a real laptop bag.

we're choosing to plan as if dad will survive surgery, so i'll be the one with mom at the hospital.* care rotation is set up with A and D; i'll hand off to A (after she's cleared to travel post-surgery on her eye), A will hand off to D (allowing him to go on his planned vacation). B lives in the area and will pinch-hit as needed.

currently i am most concerned that i could get sick. i feel rough, but i am so emotionally wrecked with worry for my parents and pre-missing C and father-in-law D getting some ugly screening results that i'm not really able to tell the difference between allergies and viruses and stress chemicals.

***
making things to hold back chaos:
i've been obsessing over packing knitting for the trip. i think i have myself down to three projects: the sweater that will be good chart work for the plane and a nearly mindless project as soon as i get into the body, the very portable socks in the prettiest yarn, and the very portable cowl that is so soft. i quickly talked myself out of packing my wheel (the sidekick is wee enough to possibly be a carryon, but i would have to check the rest of my stuff) or a spindle (the mindlessness is good, dropping and damaging my purpleheart spindle because of stress butterfingers would be bad).

clothes:
when i do one of these trips, where shit could go horribly wrong, i always debate about whether to wear favorite clothes or not. am i willing for this item to be the thing i was wearing when dad died? vs shouldn't everything i bring give me joy and make me feel confident?



*my siblings are half-siblings; their father died of cancer when they were kids. i'm not discounting their relationship with dad (mom remarried while they were still pretty young and he is beloved) but i do what i can to keep them out of the hospital. i'm also the most fascinated/least squicked by medical stuff.

i never would have chosen to go to Disney World on vacation (and i still won't) but when someone else is paying for part of it and i get to see my family it's very nice. i get it: they hold your hand from the moment you step off the plane until you get back to the airport on the way home. our agenda was to visit with the family, and maybe ride some rollercoasters. anything else was a bonus.
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kudos to my sister-in-law for putting it all together. she made a handful of group meal reservations (not even daily) but otherwise we were free to break into small groups and self-schedule. we took a lot of afternoon naps, i took a lot of baths, i still rode rollercoasters with my Dad and the Haunted Mansion with my niece, and we all saw the Wishes fireworks from the top of the Contemporary Resort after dinner at the California Grill. awesome.

so i talked to both big brothers today.

Doug is married and it was beautiful. Yay.

more importantly, i had a good talk with Bill about Bovine Spongiform Encephalitis. he explained to me about why animals get fed animal remains. when beef remainders (all those prion-rich things like brains & spinal cord that we're not supposed to eat) go to a rendering plant, the major product is not fertilizer, but "blood meal" and "meat & bone meal" which is sold by the ton as a feed additive. this is the most profitable use of those last cow bits. animal feed is based largely on corn, but this doesn't provide enough protein for the kind of muscle growth we need for meat. for example, hogs need 15% protein to grow well, and corn only supplies 12%. adding the animal meal also kicks in complete amino acids, unlike other protein sources like soy. so i said, but they're all ranches out here, why would they be feeding them at all? supposedly the process is that ranched beef come in for "finishing" just before they go to market and are fed a more nutritive higher protein feed for a brief time.

"but i thought that feeding animal products was banned several years ago? "

"there's a loophole in every one of those laws, kind of like how the PT Cruiser, which is a Neon with a different body, is considered a truck and brings down the average gas mileage for all the Daimler-Chrysler SUVs."