#383 - It Could Always be Worse, Much Worse

My apologies for not having posted in a week. My life got in the way.

Friday was a grand day, one of the happiest in months. Jo Anne completed chemotherapy. She was in great spirits, and me too. Her hair, though quite short, is rushing back. She gave up the wig for scarves, then gave up scarves for hats. Now the hats are gone. Because she no longer colors it and because of all the gray hairs she has earned over the last six months, it’s coming in salt-and-pepper gray. It looks great, like Jamie Lee Curtis’s hair. The drugs and lack of energy have caused Jo Anne to put on some weight but she has a prettier face than Jamie Lee Curtis and almost as good a body. (Almost: Jamie Lee Curtis is pretty unbelievable.)

And I meant to write to tell you that. So many people have sent so many good wishes that I wanted you to know that things are looking bright and happy and they’re expected to stay that way.

I also wanted to tell you about some exciting changes coming for the blog. In fact, I’ve even written it up in long-hand. 

The first problem, one that has consumed me since early last week, is that I’ve become debilitated by allergies. It’s a wimpy thing to be laid low by allergies but even the allergist’s staff were alarmed by how red my eyes were. I couldn’t sit, I couldn’t write, the results of my online poker sure as hell proved I couldn’t play poker. All I could do was rub my eyes, blow my nose, and lay on my back moaning. I went to the allergist last week, got a big bag of medicines, and it did nothing.

The last couple years, I’ve been in Las Vegas for most of Scottsdale’s short, intense allergy season. I was thinking of spending a couple days there this weekend ….

But my daughter Ellie had gotten herself in so much trouble that we had to pull her out of school. Online school started as early as Monday so I couldn’t afford to be away long.

So I went to a high-elevation/low-pollen town named Show Low. The town was won in a card game and my hotel was on the main street, which is named Deuce of Clubs. It did no good. I was miserable with allergies and I had murderously bad luck playing poker and drove back home late Sunday night ….

To discover that Ellie had run away. She stole my car - the difference between “took” and “stole” being that she made off with the title and the spare keys - and obliterated information about the car in my address book that would have made the car easier to track. (In addition to taking the car, its title, and all its keys, to balance things out, she also took a giant can of corn beef hash but no can-opener or cooking utensils. And if you don’t count all the matches she stole, no means of cooking it.)

Plus I had to go back to the allergist Monday because I was in no condition to drive, much less mount a Taxi Driver-style rescue of my daughter.

With one exception, it is possible that it all has a happy ending. First, I tracked Ellie down and, though she is in way more trouble than the whole-lotta-trouble she was already in, she voluntarily came home. Second, maybe someday things will be better. I apologized to Shannon Elizabeth for not watching her on Dancing With the Stars and explained why. She sent me a nice note saying “please let me know if there’s anything I can do.” I told her she could allow me to tell people she’s thinking of playing Ellie in the movie. “I don’t really pass as 16 anymore-but okay.” (I offered to let her audition for the role of Jo Anne but haven’t heard back, so I’ll take that as a negative.) Third, the allergist gave me another bag of medicine, telling me that an undiagnosed sinus infection probably made things worse and, once cleared up, the allergies may not seem so bad. Fourth, Jo Anne’s eyebrows are racing back to her forehead.

The only losers, I’m afraid, are you readers of the blog. But there’s always tomorrow ….