From haldeman at earthlink.net Sun Nov 1 17:51:56 2009 From: haldeman at earthlink.net (Joe Haldeman) Date: Sun, 1 Nov 2009 17:51:56 -0500 (GMT-05:00) Subject: 11/1 Sun update Message-ID: <23284023.1257115916286.JavaMail.root@mswamui-chipeau.atl.sa.earthlink.net> How did it get to be November already? I missed October somehow? Joe is feeling much better. The good news is he doesn't have the flu. The bad news is he has an infection somewhere. Sigh. Much blood drawn and tests taken today, no fun. Change of antibiotics. He hasn't been out of bed since Friday, so he'll have lost a little ground there. But that's the way it works, they tell me. Love, Gay From haldeman at earthlink.net Mon Nov 2 20:48:36 2009 From: haldeman at earthlink.net (Joe Haldeman) Date: Mon, 2 Nov 2009 20:48:36 -0500 (EST) Subject: 11/2 Mon update Message-ID: <31731441.1257212916688.JavaMail.root@mswamui-chipeau.atl.sa.earthlink.net> Joe goes back to Bethesda North Hospital tomorrow for more surgery, scheduled for Wednesday. They'll drain the fluid around his pancreas and check for anything else that might be causing his fever. So this is our "one step back" we knew was coming. We're trying to take it in stride, but it's difficult. Wish us luck. Love, Gay From haldeman at earthlink.net Tue Nov 3 20:42:59 2009 From: haldeman at earthlink.net (Joe Haldeman) Date: Tue, 3 Nov 2009 20:42:59 -0500 Subject: 11/3 Tues update Message-ID: Joe went by ambulance to Bethesda North Hospital. The doc came around and said that everything looked better than he'd thought. He'll probably only have to do a needle procedure, rather than opening Joe up. It won't be tomorrow after all. Not sure when yet. We're relieved. Also tired. I went over to Guy and Becca's for dinner, where I helped Becca pull fresh carrots and lettuce from the garden to have with dinner. Cat petting was good for me. Love, Gay From haldeman at earthlink.net Wed Nov 4 22:28:06 2009 From: haldeman at earthlink.net (Joe Haldeman) Date: Wed, 4 Nov 2009 22:28:06 -0500 (GMT-05:00) Subject: 11/4 Wed update Message-ID: <3044656.1257391686798.JavaMail.root@mswamui-andean.atl.sa.earthlink.net> Joe was in the best shape he's been since September 19, the day this whole thing started. He walked across the room without help, got himself in and out of bed several times, sat up for a long time, ate well, talked about the future for the first time. Several doctors consulted and decided not to do anything invasive yet. He's on a new antibiotic that seems to be making him feel much better. They'll keep him on it in the hospital at least through the weekend. They'll do another CT scan in a few days. I went to dinner with the CFG and had a lively conversation with Mike Resnick. Love, Gay From haldeman at earthlink.net Thu Nov 5 21:52:57 2009 From: haldeman at earthlink.net (Joe Haldeman) Date: Thu, 5 Nov 2009 21:52:57 -0500 (GMT-05:00) Subject: 11/5 Thurs update Message-ID: <6712325.1257475977268.JavaMail.root@mswamui-andean.atl.sa.earthlink.net> Another good day. Joe walked with a walker with me and later with the PT lady. He sat up for every meal. He enjoyed visits from Steve Leigh and Joel Zakem. He got his first full shower since September and loved it. Love, Gay From haldeman at earthlink.net Fri Nov 6 22:58:26 2009 From: haldeman at earthlink.net (Joe Haldeman) Date: Fri, 6 Nov 2009 22:58:26 -0500 (EST) Subject: 11/6 Fri update Message-ID: <15694343.1257566306411.JavaMail.root@mswamui-andean.atl.sa.earthlink.net> Yet another good day. Joe was up all day and walked with a walker. The doc said he was doing well; the antibiotic is clearly hitting the infection. Another CT scan tomorrow to see if there's still something going on inside. Keep your fingers crossed that there isn't. Love, Gay From haldeman at earthlink.net Sat Nov 7 21:29:57 2009 From: haldeman at earthlink.net (Joe Haldeman) Date: Sat, 7 Nov 2009 21:29:57 -0500 (EST) Subject: 11/7 Sat update Message-ID: <6906866.1257647397202.JavaMail.root@mswamui-andean.atl.sa.earthlink.net> CT scan says Joe's pancreas is functioning well. Yay! He'll stay on IV antibiotics in the hospital until at least Monday. Then probably back to the Drake Center for more physical therapy. We were hoping to get him out into the real world, but he's still pretty weak. He says he doesn't feel quite so much like he's walking around on Jupiter any more, but it's still hard work. He had another shower today that he enjoyed immensely. I stopped for a beautiful pair of deer to cross the road. Joe said I saved some doe and passed the buck. Love, Gay From haldeman at earthlink.net Sun Nov 8 20:30:55 2009 From: haldeman at earthlink.net (Joe Haldeman) Date: Sun, 8 Nov 2009 20:30:55 -0500 (GMT-05:00) Subject: 11/8 Sun update Message-ID: <9597776.1257730255627.JavaMail.root@mswamui-andean.atl.sa.earthlink.net> Joe slept long hours last night, unusual for him. I was able to get him outside in the 70-degree sunshine for a half hour in a wheelchair. He walked twice, once by himself. He may go to the Drake Center for rehab work tomorrow. Wish I could take him home. Love, Gay From haldeman at earthlink.net Mon Nov 9 20:56:08 2009 From: haldeman at earthlink.net (Joe Haldeman) Date: Mon, 9 Nov 2009 20:56:08 -0500 (GMT-05:00) Subject: 11/9 Mon update Message-ID: <22258669.1257818168879.JavaMail.root@mswamui-andean.atl.sa.earthlink.net> Joe is still in the hospital, still feeling pretty well, though weak. He's off the IV antibiotics, on to pills. Stay tuned? We were talking about whether we have winter clothes here, since we arrived in September. Joe asked if he had a tie. Why? "In case I win a Nobel Prize." He said he and Rusty were going to run the very slow marathon?twenty six miles in a year. Love, Gay From haldeman at earthlink.net Tue Nov 10 20:48:49 2009 From: haldeman at earthlink.net (Joe Haldeman) Date: Tue, 10 Nov 2009 20:48:49 -0500 (GMT-05:00) Subject: 11/10 Tues update Message-ID: <24265814.1257904129655.JavaMail.root@mswamui-andean.atl.sa.earthlink.net> Joe's out of the hospital! I talked to the doc yesterday about the pros and cons of the rehab hospital. He let me take Joe home to the condo today! Joe did tell him that he'd be willing to go to Drake, but they might have to put bars on the windows. I think he'll do much better at home, where he can cook, paint, write. We had a very long day, waiting for all paperwork, etc., to be finished. We found out for sure he was leaving the hospital at about 9AM, but didn't leave until 5PM, exhausted. He's escaped! 52 days in the hospital. Love, Gay From haldeman at earthlink.net Wed Nov 11 16:32:47 2009 From: haldeman at earthlink.net (Joe Haldeman) Date: Wed, 11 Nov 2009 16:32:47 -0500 (EST) Subject: 11/11 Wed. update, from Joe Message-ID: <29829942.1257975167204.JavaMail.root@mswamui-andean.atl.sa.earthlink.net> Joe here. New paradigm starting, as they used to say back in the nineties. It's beyond wonderful to be rid of the hospital room, the IV drips, the wretched immobility. Not to mention the scorns that a meritorious patient from th'unworthy take. The condo that Joel Zakem has graciously loaned us is comfortable as can be, and has a nice woodsy view out back. Speaking of woods, I'm not out of them, quite. I get tired walking across a room (but I can do it, without the walker). I have the clumsy ileostomy bag for another six months or so, and some pretty serious surgery in store then, when they reattach my large intestine. (They removed about 18" of it, including the appendix as a little bonus.) And of course there's pain. I have a tube stuck in my upper abdomen, about the place where guys used to get shot on TV. A nice .32 caliber hole ? feh! Ladies' gun ? with an alarming plastic tube slithering into my innards, sucking out pancreatic fluid and dead tissue into a vacuum bulb. They're pulling the tube out a couple of inches at a time, which sort of establishes a lower limit for returning to Florida. I have to go back to the hospital two weeks hence ? outpatient! ? to get a CAT scan before they pull the tube out another inch. Then more scanning as they slowly work it out. So it will be closer to Christmas than Thanksgiving when we get back to Florida. I couldn't have picked a better place than Cincinnati, to fall over almost dead. We have an army of friends here from science fiction fandom, who have been as dedicated as an army. The city itself is rated #2 in the country for pancreatic medicine. And when I'm in a little better shape, I'll hadj over to Skyline Chili and get a bowl of the weird cinnamon spaghetti sauce that they call chili here. My heartfelt thanks for everyone's good thoughts and prayers. Even a lifelong atheist can recognize the healing power of love, in whatever form it's sent. Joe From haldeman at earthlink.net Thu Nov 12 18:54:41 2009 From: haldeman at earthlink.net (Joe Haldeman) Date: Thu, 12 Nov 2009 18:54:41 -0500 (GMT-05:00) Subject: 11/12 Thurs update Message-ID: <20121634.1258070081392.JavaMail.root@mswamui-andean.atl.sa.earthlink.net> Boy, Joe writes so much better than I do. I'm so glad he's at it again. I'm the detail person, though, so here's my report. He got up and made his own eggs for breakfast yesterday (and again today) before I even knew he was up. We had a consultation with a visiting nurse, who thought we were doing fine with dressing changes, etc., I'm proud to say. Joe'll get PT three times a week, too. Joe and Rusty took their walkers and walked to the end of the block and back. My very own Veteran's Day parade! We'll be here for at least another three weeks. Joe needs another scan in two weeks. Then we'll know what happens next. Joe's out of bed and moving a lot, much better than he would be in a hospital. He does take cat naps and seems to be sleeping well at night. His appetite is great (he likes his own cooking). So far, so good. Love, Gay From haldeman at earthlink.net Thu Nov 12 18:57:54 2009 From: haldeman at earthlink.net (Joe Haldeman) Date: Thu, 12 Nov 2009 18:57:54 -0500 (GMT-05:00) Subject: 11/12 Thurs update, from Joe Message-ID: <23525148.1258070274423.JavaMail.root@mswamui-andean.atl.sa.earthlink.net> Having a pretty good time being inactive. Watched the zany Liz Taylor version of "Taming of the Shrew" on teevee, and last night there was a charming corny 1938 movie with Hedda Hopper as herself, "Hotel Hollywood." Mainly sleeping and eating a lot. Doc said several small meals would work better than three regular ones, and heavy on protein, which I take as a License to Kill Cheese. I can stand at the stove now for more than five minutes at a time, and have a chair right behind me for periodic rest. So tonight I'm cooking up pork chops with sliced apple and onion, and Gay's gotten me some salmon and beef to play with. Gay was on the phone all morning, arranging my medical appointments, trying to shorten our stay here. Once this tube is out, I'm sure I'll be able to ride to Florida, though I don't think it would be smart for me to drive. Too many meds. I haven't missed alcohol and doubt that I will in a serious way. Between the ages of 17 and 67 I drank about twenty thousand bottles of wine, and that's probably enough. Joe From haldeman at earthlink.net Fri Nov 13 21:24:48 2009 From: haldeman at earthlink.net (Joe Haldeman) Date: Fri, 13 Nov 2009 21:24:48 -0500 (EST) Subject: 11/13 Fri update, from Joe Message-ID: <16737932.1258165488472.JavaMail.root@mswamui-andean.atl.sa.earthlink.net> Lunchtime, we screwed our culinary courage to the sticking place and struck out for the nearest Skyline Chili. (They're as ubiquitous as Burger Kings in another city.) I got a bowlful of everything but the spaghetti, watching carbs, and have to say it wasn't bad, even if (as has been reiterated here a few times) it wasn't chili, either. Greek hamburger stew, a good lunch. Judith Clute protected the reputation of British trenchermen by getting a jumbo five-way, and almost finishing it. I read a bunch of books while I was languishing in the hospital, mostly unmemorable light stuff. An Elmore Leonard I didn't like, surprisingly (The Hunted) and a Western I thought was super, Elmer Kelton's Joe Pepper. Enjoyed two of the Alexander McCall Smith "No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency" series. Yeah, I should have been reading cutting-edge science fiction. Rather write it. This afternoon I started easing into writing again, reading the first chapter of the current book aloud to Gay and Judith. Holds up pretty well. Joe From haldeman at earthlink.net Sun Nov 15 12:15:27 2009 From: haldeman at earthlink.net (Joe Haldeman) Date: Sun, 15 Nov 2009 12:15:27 -0500 (EST) Subject: 11/14 Sat update Message-ID: <17024334.1258305327337.JavaMail.root@mswamui-andean.atl.sa.earthlink.net> Yesterday was pleasantly uneventful. Weather almost springlike, so I got out a bit on my walker. Went to a nice Indian restaurant for lunch, the New Krishna. I read a couple more chapters to Gay and Judith, and then they went off in search of a ready-broiled chicken for dinner. None to be had, so they got a raw one and handed it to me. Not much work at all. I did it country French style, slathering it in butter and then squeezing lemon juice all over it. Put it in the oven and then Judith did the rest of the work while I rested. My energy level seems to hit a maximum around midday, and then I wear out slowly until after dinner about all I can do is sit in the recliner and enjoy painkillers and television -- a nice anachronism last night, a Jack Benny TV show. I lie awake until one or two in the morning, and then sleep till about seven. (I tried sleeping pills in the hospital, and they just make me groggy.) I'll probably straighten out once I can get more exercise. Right now I do a set of simple PT moves, about 10-15 minutes, that hits me like running a mile used to. Give it time, I know. But time is all we have. Joe From haldeman at earthlink.net Wed Nov 18 17:40:17 2009 From: haldeman at earthlink.net (Joe Haldeman) Date: Wed, 18 Nov 2009 17:40:17 -0500 (GMT-05:00) Subject: 11/18 Wed update Message-ID: <23401533.1258584017558.JavaMail.root@elwamui-norfolk.atl.sa.earthlink.net> 11/18 Wed update Joe's doing pretty well out of the hospital. He painted a couple of pictures and he's gone back to writing on his novel. He's still weak but better each day. We've lost our internet access at the condo, so it's harder to do updates. Glad it didn't disappear earlier. We'll check in periodically if there's news. Love, Gay From haldeman at earthlink.net Thu Nov 19 16:21:13 2009 From: haldeman at earthlink.net (Joe Haldeman) Date: Thu, 19 Nov 2009 16:21:13 -0500 (GMT-05:00) Subject: 11/19 Thurs update, from Joe Message-ID: <27310220.1258665673236.JavaMail.root@elwamui-norfolk.atl.sa.earthlink.net> We've lost WiFi, because the folks we were slaving off had the gall to move. Got up one morning and there was a moving van down the street and no "linksys" on the computer. So this will go out whenever Gay finds a node. I've been doing comfort food. Chicken and dumplings, meatloaf. A culinary nesting instinct, perhaps. But yesterday Gay got me a tin of garam masala (from an Indian salesman at the huge grocery store Jungle Jim's); I'll do up some tangy Indian fish or chicken. Still improving physically. I can walk without the walker for several minutes. Various pains are decreasing; I can stand upright without discomfort, which I couldn't have done a week ago. Going to see the surgeon this morning for a checkup. Spent six hours over three evenings trying to make sense of _The Prisoner_. Very diverting if confusing. Otherwise we've been mostly watching old movies on Turner, without commercials. Writing on the novel almost every morning and some afternoons. Still low on energy, but I don't think it shows in the writing. I haven't put any characters in the hospital or had a pancreas give out. Joe From haldeman at earthlink.net Sat Nov 21 14:38:35 2009 From: haldeman at earthlink.net (Joe Haldeman) Date: Sat, 21 Nov 2009 14:38:35 -0500 (GMT-05:00) Subject: 11/20 update, from Joe Message-ID: <24316942.1258832315724.JavaMail.root@elwamui-norfolk.atl.sa.earthlink.net> Not much new going on here. Added a "long" walk, ten minutes, to my exercise regimen. Walk ten minutes, rest thirty. But everything is progress. From haldeman at earthlink.net Mon Nov 23 15:07:25 2009 From: haldeman at earthlink.net (Joe Haldeman) Date: Mon, 23 Nov 2009 15:07:25 -0500 (GMT-05:00) Subject: 11/23 Mon update, from Joe Message-ID: <15231240.1259006845223.JavaMail.root@elwamui-norfolk.atl.sa.earthlink.net> A few days ago Stephen Leigh brought by a guitar for me to play if I was in the mood. I tried it once and found it too difficult -- my main guitar at home is a nylon-string classical; the only steel-string I play regularly has ultra-light-gauge strings. These were regular gauge, and they hurt my fingers too much; I couldn't bear down enough to make a decent tone. Today I thought I'd try it again, and when it hurt I bore down harder -- don't be such a wuss -- and after a few minutes I was able to play right through the pain. My fingers remembered "this is the way it always is, coming back from a long absence." I haven't played since August. I strummed around and subvocalized until I found a song I thought I could sing with my hoarsened voice, a high one with not too many notes. When I sang it, Gay burst into tears. Another part of her husband was back. Joe From haldeman at earthlink.net Wed Nov 25 14:27:41 2009 From: haldeman at earthlink.net (Joe Haldeman) Date: Wed, 25 Nov 2009 14:27:41 -0500 (GMT-05:00) Subject: 11/25 Wed Update, from Joe Message-ID: <14007134.1259177261385.JavaMail.root@elwamui-royal.atl.sa.earthlink.net> Nothing of great import to report. Went to the hospital and had a CAT scan, which will guide the doctor[s] in moving the tube that I think runs over the top of the pancreas (and then out through a hole in the upper abdomen to a vacuum receptacle). That will be day after tomorrow. Another schedule shake-up, keeping us in Cincinnati some days more. (Not a big problem, since I'm not yet physically up to a thousand + mile car trip.) Going to have the little "procedure" Friday on the abdominal tube, requiring sedation but no serious surgery. Then a week from Friday I'll finally see the original doctor, out of town for a week, and perhaps get a travel verdict. Maybe have the tube removed. Made a pretty good dinner, all vegetarian, almost all from Becca's garden. She and Gay dug up all kinds of root vegetables. Then Gay cleaned them and I prepared sweet potatoes and carrots as "oven fries," cutting them like oversized French fries and tossing them with olive oil and cinnamon, then baking; on top of the stove I did a big bunch of fresh Swiss chard, just wilted in olive oil with a squeeze of lemon. Avocado and tomato from somewhere south of Ohio. My customers thought it was all great. Read a fascinating graphic novel, _Logicomix: An Epic Search for Truth_, a 300+ page biography of Bertrand Russell and his friends and enemies, wives and lovers. With a bit of propositional calculus thrown in for spice. Well drawn and written. (Authors Apostolos Doxiadis and Christos Papadimitriou; art by Alecos Papadatos and Annie Di Donna.) Wishing everybody a happy T-day. (Tryptophan?) I may be offline for a couple of days, though so far they don't plan to keep me in the hospital. Joe From haldeman at earthlink.net Sat Nov 28 15:22:38 2009 From: haldeman at earthlink.net (Joe Haldeman) Date: Sat, 28 Nov 2009 15:22:38 -0500 (GMT-05:00) Subject: 11/28/09 Saturday update, from Joe Message-ID: <23665203.1259439758877.JavaMail.root@elwamui-karabash.atl.sa.earthlink.net> Yesterday got up at 4:30 to be at the hospital by 6:00 for a routine procedure, removing a tube that drained the pancreas and replacing it with a smaller tube. The predictable happened -- I lay in a hospital bed for hours (having had nothing to eat or drink since midnight) and finally was wheeled into the operating room at 10:30. Wheeled out at 11:30, after a five-minute procedure. Lay in a room for another hour or so, but a kindly nurse brought me an 8-oz. Diet Pepsi and some graham crackers. Gay fixed me a huge leftover turkey sandwich when I got home, though, followed by a slice of Becca's good peach pie. So even though I had a new bag depending from my abdomen, to match the ileostomy on the other side, the world became all right. I mostly slept the day away, still fuzzy from the sedatives they gave me for the procedure. Roused myself around dinnertime for one of my favorite meals -- post-Thanksgiving casserole. Joel had bought the DVD of Sergio Leone's epic Once Upon a Time in the West, the director's cut, almost three hours long. I had a hankerin' for it, as we aficionados say, and because I'm sick the others went along with it. PS from Gay: The doc wants us to stay here another two weeks, bummer. Then I think he'll let us go. Joe really isn't strong enough for much travel yet anyway. Hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving. We did, with much to be thankful for. Love, Gay