Dangerous

We almost lost Jim today and it wouldn't have been cancers fault. It was a beautiful day, sunny but very windy. Jim was wearing his baseball cap. On the way home from Central Park his cap flew off his head and started rolling down the middle of the street. It was 6:00, prime traffic time. Actually it is always prime traffic time. We were near Times Square so it was particularly crowded. Well Jim decided to dart into the street and retrieve his cap. Cars, mostly cabs, were zooming and honking around him. He had his arm out as if he were a traffic control officer and just as he approached the middle of the street to bend down and pick up his cap a yellow cab ran it over. After yelling a few expletives Jim made it back to the sidewalk with a bruised but intact cap. He spent the next block or two looking for that cab driver...Jeez.

Central Park is never boring. We always find a part of the Park we have not seen before. It was even more crowded today than last Saturday when we went. After walking for about an hour we stopped and had lunch on a secluded bench with the squirrels and birds. There was a suspicious man that walked by us twice and he kept looking back at us. Jim thought he might want to rob us so we decided to pack up. Later we saw him sitting on a bench with three homeless looking men. There were lots of people out on the water in rowboats. It was such a beautiful day.

We were drawn to one area near the water because we heard music. There were two musicians playing nice jazz music and a family of geese were taking naps very close to the water. They did not seem bothered by all the people walking past them taking pictures, neither did the red-eared slider basking in the sun.

By the time we left the park it was close to 6:00. We decided it would be faster to walk the half hour home instead of taking a cab. We walked six miles in all today. I'm really glad Jim didn't get run over while chasing his cap.

Wet Wednesday

Free day today. We both slept in and waited for the kitchen to clear out before we went in to make breakfast. I made oatmeal topped with pecans and apples and a very special treat for Jim, cinnamon rolls. Little piggy ate THREE! That's ok since I can't have any. The delicious smell from the just baked buns wafted into the hall. When opening the can of cinnamon buns I had to laugh thinking back to the disaster I had with them back in April, refer to blog post April 26th.

http://looking4thesilverlining.blogspot.com/2016/04/woke-up-on-groovy-tuesday.html

When I get back to Virginia I am going to find a recipe for homemade gluten free cinnamon buns to make.

Today we had a thundershower. Right in the middle of the day it rained for a couple of hours and some nice cool air blew in. I even saw a little lightening accompanied by thunder. We have been spending a lot of time in the small sitting room on our floor. I have never seen anyone in here. I'm not sure why because it is quiet and secluded. Quiet if you keep the window closed but the noise of the street doesn't bother me anymore. I don't even get up to look out the window when someone below starts screaming. That is common here on West 32nd Street. This room is where I go with my yoga mat in the morning to stretch. Call me stiffy but the stretching does help.

For those of you who have been reading my blog for awhile saw that on May 18th I wrote about a woman in the room next to us named Shirley. I said I preferred not to be in the kitchen with her because she gave off bad energy. That may have sounded a little harsh. Now it has been three weeks since I made that statement and I still do not know much about Shirley. I have engaged her in brief conversations but she is very private and prefers to eat looking down at her cell phone when in the kitchen with others. I have yet to see anyone visit her. The deal is she also is a transplant patient. I think she is about one month ahead of Jim. Apparently she had a hired caretaker when she first got to the Hope Lodge but she told me she couldn't stand it and eventually let her go. She just never mentioned it to the HL staff or her doctor. It is a requirement that all transplant patients have a caretaker for the first three months post-transplant. I have been concerned because the past 3 or 4 days I have not seen Shirley. We usually overlap times in the kitchen. We also share a pantry and the top shelf of the refrigerator. Jim mentioned he saw her briefly the other day which made me feel better but I don't think she is eating or coming into the kitchen often. Today when I opened the pantry I could see and smell 4 very ripe bananas. One had oozed out onto the shared shelf and dripped to the bottom shelf accumulating around her olive oil bottles. I took the initiative to throw the bananas away and clean her side of the pantry. Obviously something is wrong. She may have ended up back in the hospital. Right before dinner I called 1101 on the house phone. It connected me to her room. Shirley answered. I just told her it was me and that I hadn't seen her lately and I was concerned. She said she hasn't been feeling well but was better. She didn't want to talk further. We hung up and I never told her about the bananas. Hopefully we will see her out of her room soon.

Tough Stick, Tough Guy

Early to rise and on the shuttle by 6:30. We are getting into the groove of the early morning appointments. It reduces the wait time so we are back to the Hope Lodge usually by lunchtime. Today while Jim was having IV fluids there was a nice third year nursing student from Villanova who was working alongside Jim's nurse. Her name was Chloe and she was a real pleasure to talk to. It took three tries before they were able to start an IV on Jim. We jokingly asked Chloe if she wanted to try. Starting an IV on someone without adequate veins is really an art. Even the oncology nurses who are proficient in sticks can have their challenges. Jim is one of them. The nurse will try two times and then they will ask a colleague to try. Hydration was finished just in time for us to hustle through the hospital and catch the 10:15 shuttle back. The shuttle was starting to break down so race car Lou took it to another MSK office complex where we all got off and waited for about 10 minutes for a replacement shuttle. No big deal.

At noon Jim took advantage of Healing Touch Therapy. This is a private session that promotes relaxation and restoring balance to the body. It works to strengthen the body's innate ability to heal itself. This is one of the many classes volunteers offer. There is a sign up sheet on the 6th floor and most classes fill quickly. While Jim was in class I walked to CVS and Trader Joes.

We had the kitchen all to ourselves tonight which was nice. Most of the residents went down to the Dinner and Entertainment Night hosted by another volunteer group. We never stop saying how wonderful people are to volunteer their time and money to make someone's day a little brighter or a little easier. Many of the residents find it hard to cook or even grocery shop. Not to toot my own horn but I am lucky I know how to make nutritious appealing dishes. Most of the folks on our floor choose to eat frozen dinners, hot dogs and sandwiches. Jimmy had panko crusted pork chop with roasted beets and cauliflower. I had the veggies mixed with rice and arugula...Delicious.

One last thing I want to mention is today is a special day for two very important people in our lives. It is Jim's parents 64th wedding anniversary.
Happy Anniversary Jim and Denise!

Monotonous Monday

Our time at the Hope Lodge is becoming monotonous. Jimmy is still going to the hospital twice a week for maintenance which generally involves blood work, vital signs, meeting with the NP and sometimes Dr. Sauter, and then IV hydration if needed. Other than that we are at the Lodge. Because of the location it isn't easy to step outside and take a pleasant walk. The crowd of people and filthy sidewalks we have to walk through to get anywhere is off-putting, especially to Jim who has to wear his mask and gloves. I guess you could say we are becoming a little stir-crazy. Thank goodness the girls are coming to visit on Friday. They will be taking the bus up from Virginia and are staying two nights. Unfortunately they will not be allowed to visit our room but we can spend time with them on the 6th floor and we can go to their hotel room to hang out.

I did not blog yesterday. We did not go anywhere. It was a boring day so not much news to report. It rained off and on. In the afternoon Jim and I were sitting in the kitchen and you could see the rain blowing sideways. Looking down from the window I could see all the people scurrying along to and from Penn Station. It's difficult to keep umbrellas upright when the rain is blowing sideways. The Hope Lodge provides free internet however the other day it was shut off all day due to maintenance. Ever since, it has been spotty. I tried to watch a show on my computer last night while Jim was watching the basketball game and it kept cutting out. It was so frustrating. Then once again I have to remind myself how lucky I am that we have the Hope Lodge to stay at for these three months. I have to remind myself not to get frustrated over the little things.

Early afternoon Jim and I took the granny cart and walked to Whole Foods. Jim stayed outside on a side street while I maneuvered the crowds inside trying to ascertain where things were. I follow a list for the most part and try to plan at least two meals at a time. I do not have enough refrigerator space to buy more than a couple of days worth of food. I try to be considerate of the shared refrigerator space. The shared space is the side door, 2 bottom crisper drawers and the freezer. Right after I put the groceries away Little Boy Larry (of the Val and Larry duo) came into the kitchen with two bags of groceries. He is so nice but such a little kid. He told us he can't pass up a bargain. Although he already had a large ketchup taking up room in the frig, plus one unopened one in his pantry he still bought a jumbo one today. Larry has used up  more than half the side door, half of the freezer space and one of the crisper drawers.                      Ai yai yai!
While in Whole Foods I glanced down and saw a little dog poking his head out of this woman's purse. People bring their dogs into Starbucks and the drugstore so why not Whole Foods?

One last thing. The lease for our post office box will be running out soon...yes it is coming up on 6 months since we have been in New York. We will be able to receive all mail at the Hope Lodge. The address is:

Beth and Jim Riddle
c/o American Cancer Society Hope Lodge
132 West 32nd Street, Room 1102
New York, NY 10001

Central Park on a Saturday

Saturday and the weekend is here! No appointments or commitments. We can do as we want, within limitations that is. This morning Jim had a big breakfast of cereal, three waffles and 2 pieces of veggie bacon. We hurried to catch the 9:30 shuttle to bring us to the hospital so that we could walk to Central Park. We poured our coffee and tea into our Yeti tumblers and dashed to catch the shuttle. Sometimes you never know which shuttle it will be, how many people will be waiting for it or who will be the driver. It was the smallest van so far. We got the last two seats of the 7-seater vehicle. Stunt man Lou was behind the drivers seat with the heat blaring. The minute I sat down I asked if he could turn the air on. One of the ladies turned around at me and smiled. I could tell she was hot too by the way she pulled her hair into a bun on the top of her head. Lou took off and we swayed and bounced our way to the hospital. Jimmy said to me he felt like his breakfast was just put into a blender and turned on high. We made it to MSK safely.

After stopping by the post office to collect our mail we headed to the Park. It was crowded but not in a bad way. There are plenty of pathways to walk to avoid a lot of people. At first we were drawn towards a crowd of people and loud music playing. It was a large gathering of people supporting an organization that offers programs to people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. There was a 5K run and music and games. We observed for a moment then moved on.

The next couple of hours we walked through the Park, stopping to take breaks along the way. We ate a little lunch I had packed and enjoyed people watching and there were a lot of people to watch. It is hard to see my pictures in the collage above but we saw a robin happily bathing in a little stream, a very interesting hairdo on a man walking into Tavern on the Green restaurant and two geese with their goslings. On one path we heard the sound of a saxophone and looked around to see who was playing it. Finally we saw a man kind of hidden in a brush area playing. He was getting a kick out of watching passersby trying to decipher where the sound was coming from.

All throughout the Park there are green benches to sit on. Many have engraved plaques. An Adopt-a-Bench program was established in 1986 and has led to the adoption of 4,100 of the Park's 9,000 benches. For a small fee of $10,000. one can adopt a bench and the Central Park Conservancy will personalize a plaque for it. We took a cab back to the Lodge and called it a day.

It Was A Good Day

Today was full of life, sunshine, cool breezes and water. Surprisingly Jim was up before me and went to the kitchen alone and had breakfast. He wanted to get a jump on the day. We had planned on taking the shuttle to the hospital and walking to Central Park. By 9:30 the lobby was crowded with residents waiting to take the shuttle. There are only 12 seats on the blue shuttle and we let everyone else go in front of us. We were the only two not to get a seat. That's ok, we would not have felt right if we had taken the ride to the hospital without having an appointment while leaving someone with an appointment behind.  We made a quick change of plans and decided to walk towards the High Line. Instead of taking the usual trail we walked the opposite way on the High Line until the road brought us to the Hudson River.

Along our walk we happened upon some very nice cars in a lot on the waterfront. Classic Car Club is a private club that gives its members the keys to drive some of the most prestigious cars ever built. We were allowed to walk inside the showroom built on one of the piers overlooking the river. Quite an impressive selections of cars. The little home office inside was a vintage Airstream.

There are piers all along the Hudson River where we were walking. Different business have taken control of some of the pier space. We passed a few restaurants that were inside large boats on the water. They did not open until dinner but I think they take people out on the water after dark.




We finally reached our destination, the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum Complex. The museum is centered on the aircraft carrier Intrepid. The museum also showcases a submarine, the Space Shuttle Enterprise and many aircraft planes. We did not go in due to the crowds but we did enjoy walking around the outside and looking at how enormous the Intrepid is.

When we arrived back to the Hope Lodge it was only 12:30. We were hungry but the kitchen was closing for cleaning between 12:30-3:00. On top of things the housekeeper knocked on our door to clean our room. The room is cleaned once a week. I quickly grabbed some food and we went to the 6th floor kitchen to eat lunch. As it turned out there was a woman volunteering her time offering reflexology to a few of the residents who signed up in advance. When we were almost done with lunch she came over and said she had a no-show and would either of us be interested. Jim passed on the offer but I said yes. It was wonderfully relaxing and I am glad I said yes. Wendy gave me some tips on relaxation breathing and she showed me a quick reference to some areas on the hands that can give relief for different ailments. Our time was short but I very much enjoyed meeting her. It is so wonderful how people come to the Hope Lodge and volunteer their time to the residents and caregivers.

It was a good day.

We Kept It Boring

Not much going on today. We ventured outside to CVS this morning to buy waters. I had been getting 1.5 liter bottles next door at Jack's but they have been out the last couple of days. We packed the granny cart and walked through Koreatown to get to CVS. Koreatown is a short 2 block area but it is booming with Korean run businesses. Once at CVS we bought  a case of small water bottles and lots of 1.5 liter Smartwaters. It's easier for Jim to keep track of how much he is drinking if he has the 1.5 liter bottles. They would like him to have at least 3 liters a day.


After lunch we reluctantly walked across the street to the mall and did 8 laps around the top floor which was a mile. Mall walking is boring but this floor is not crowded and Jimmy needed to take it easy because of the virus he has. At least we got the old lungs moving a little. The rest of the afternoon we sat out on the patio. It was a nice temperature and lots of residents were out. The volunteer ladies offered tea time. They provide tea and a selection of sweets and sandwiches for whoever is interested. A volunteer played the piano and Larry (of the Val and Larry couple next door to us) was teaching origami. I just like to sit looking upwards towards the Gimbel bridge and the Empire State Building. It's a wonderful view.