Day 102 – Changing Habits

Keith starts back to school this week and today was Jeff’s first day on his own.  I arranged to go into work a little late so that I was sure he was hooked up to his IV before I left.  Jeff was in such a hurry to prove that he could do it himself that he plugged in the IV when I left the room for a minute.  I was surprised that he did it so fast.  Some things should not be rushed!  He said, “Uh-oh.”  I said, “What?”  He said, “There are still three syringes on the table.”  There should have been two but he forgot to flush the line with saline before starting.  Oh, well.  Nurse Susan was expected later; she could use the saline syringe for the blood draw.

My brother, Harry, visited Jeff this morning.  He reported on the family reunion that we missed this weekend.  He and Jeff talked cars, trucks and other guy stuff.  That certainly helped Jeff pass the time. 

Jeff said he wished he could do more.  He is starting to talk about small projects he can do.  I like to think that means he is feeling better.  Whenever I ask him whether he does feel any better he says, “I don’t know.  I still don’t feel right.”  It’s a mystery.  Friday’s biopsy should tell us something.

After dinner, Jeff suggested we go to Talbots to spend my birthday gift card from Kerry and Theresa.  I selected a beautiful silk floral blouse.  As we drove out of the parking lot, I realized I hadn’t checked the care label to see if it was “Dryclean Only.”  Jeff thought it probably was so he fumbled in the bag to check the label and confirmed his suspicion.  Since Jeff’s first career in the family drycleaning business is the likely source of the solvent exposure that lead to his disease, I try very hard to avoid buying garments that need to be drycleaned.  Jeff thought it would be possible to handwash the blouse but we returned to the store to make sure.  The sales lady said she runs her silk blouses on the gentle cycle in the washing machine and said I could return the blouse if I had any problems doing the same.  She also told us about organic drycleaners that are popping up.  No chemical smell, she says.

The rainy weather is expected to last all week so Jeff suggested we hit the mall for a little exercise.  For some reason, his stomach feels better after we walk and he was in need of some tummy relief.  We thought the mall wouldn’t be too crowded on a rainy Tuesday night and we were right.  We left my purse in the car so that we wouldn’t be tempted to shop.  We parked at Sears and walked through the store.  As we walked by a shoe display, Jeff instinctively picked up a pair of kids’ sneakers to see whether they were the crazy new ones with spinners he’d seen advertised.  As soon as he picked it up he groaned, “Probably 2,000 people picked up that shoe before me.”  He’d been careful to sit on a chair at Talbots without touching the arms of the chair and then POOF! all that care was forgotten by long-held habit. One hundred days is long enough to establish new habits but, perhaps, not long enough to change 52-year-old ones.