Monday, All Day

I've been drinking a lot of tea lately and recently I found a creamer that is dairy free and so delicious.  It is coconut cream and almondmilk combined made by Califia. Today the saying on my tea bag label said "to be calm is the highest achievement of the self". I think I have been doing pretty good about remaining calm throughout Jim's ordeal here in New York. Yes I lost it once or twice (Trader Joe's incident) but overall I have practiced being calm and not getting too fearful. I believe HOPE and FEAR cannot exist at the same time. I choose HOPE.

Meredith and Scott are on our floor. Jim and I spoke with Meredith tonight for a long time. She is very stressed and worried about her husband. They are our age with two boys in college. They have been married 32 years, are fit, don't smoke and they eat a healthy diet. A couple of years ago Scott was diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma of the tongue. Unfortunately it has spread and the doctors have been trying to get it under control for the past year or so. Things don't look good. Meredith said he is in a lot of pain and sleeps most of the time due to the pain medications. I am glad she opened up to us in the kitchen tonight. I could tell she needed to talk to someone. It is so sad.

It is time for us to get out of here. Jimmy is getting a cold but luckily we see Dr. Sauter tomorrow so he can decide if it might be sinus related. Hopefully Jim hasn't picked up the newest virus Val has. Jim doesn't even want to go in the kitchen for meals because it is so easy to pick up germs in there. We are not supposed to eat in the rooms but occasionally I will sneak a meal to him so he doesn't have to expose himself to Val and Larry if they are in the kitchen. Tonight I made a yummy lentil dish with salmon. I'll also be glad to get back home where we can grill the fish out as opposed to cooking it on the stove and smelling up the kitchen. Oh the simple things I took for granted. We'll be home soon Virginia.