Find You

I have been trying to hold on to the good hours, moments, or even a day at a time now. I'm getting better at it, to a degree.

I made it through Hannukah, and had a really nice Shabbos this past week with my cousin cooking and singing.

As it gets closer to Christmas though, I keep thinking about the few we had together. All the ones we had imagined we would have in the future.
How much I suspected but dreaded that last year might have been his last Christmas and winter holidays with me; and how true it was.

I keep trying to remember the happy moments. How the awesome folks at ThinkGeek were to send him/us those gifts; they gave us his last Christmas.
I've been thinking about them lately, how kind they were to him, and us. My grief takes my words now sometimes, so I cannot figure out how to describe how thankful I am to them. Still.
His last one was a happy one.

I take comfort in that, though it still brings me to tears.

The house seems so much more lonely. I have been keeping the television on downstairs because just hearing a bit of extra noise makes me feel a bit better right now.

I took down the inflatable (twin) guest bed, and Leto is not happy about that. Somehow in the last few months he has outgrown the catbed I bought a bit ago for him. It is comically small compared to him even when he sleeps in the smallest ball he can. He's been sleeping on the guest bed at times over the last few weeks and I believe seems to have thought that was his new bed.
He lies down in the same spot in the room and will squeak at me.
He has been giving me a lot of comfort these past days/weeks.
He feels like a part of Wash that is still living.

The house gets emptier. Boxes to go out to be mailed to friends, or donated. Still so much more to go through. I manage so far to get through it in spurts.

It's putting me back in that state of shock I felt shortly after his passing; these holidays.
My mind hurts and numbs at the thought of waking up Christmas Eve and Christmas Day without him next to me.
No making coffee or special breakfasts. My family is suddenly so much smaller, that my mind just denies the idea of a "family" gathering without him. I keep trying, but the very act of just trying to imagine what that day will hold, what I would say, do, feel; becomes so overwhelming my brain just tells me it is not true.
I fear being around people who are happy at this time. I fear being the one to "bring them down". To be the reminder now of mortality. To have any of my true emotions come through, to still grieve, while others might be trying to celebrate. So many fears.
My brain says "Would it not be better for everyone else to just stay at home, out of sight and mind so others can have their normality?"
I do not know the answer.

I know there is something to make me smile that day; a nice surprise sent by friends. I will find out in two days.

It is a small thing, but I have a bit of Hope that after the New Year I will have the intense bereavement tide down, with less reminders of the big life events not to happen.

How has a year passed already?

How is it that it will be four months in a few weeks since he passed?

Time seems to be more bendy for me lately.

It passes fast, it creeps by, it stalls.

I've gone from living the last three years of my life in the moment, day to day; never knowing when might be his last with me. Never really being able to have any sort of long term plan; at all.
Now, I have to go back, so far back, and start again.



I am so tired.
So uncertain and scared.

I barely recall what it is like to wake up alone these days, end of December.
Mostly cold.
Full of longing.

I dislike night-time of late.

The good, bad, and great

This will be a short update as it is late, has been a LONG day and I just can't type that much, my wrist has been hurt a bit. More details and photos to come for everything.

The good; Wash's parents and brother came in for Christmas and it was a really pleasant trip. He only had one night of sleepwalking since they have been here and has managed to stay on top of his naps and meds, despite the distractions. He got to spend some good time alone with them, and we all spent some nice time as an extended family doing Christmas and Hanukkah stuff. We did some small gift exchanges and spent time catching up and even getting my backyard and garden sorted out. It was an encouraging trip and I know Wash really enjoyed the time. I know he has been missing his parents and also been really wanting to see his brother, so it was so good for everyone.

The bad; I made a mistake past Friday and went driving without proper ID. We were stopped and I was handcuffed and detained by the police for about an hour. I was only cited for one thing but they towed my car since I did not have proper documents to drive. So my car is in impound. I'll go into details later; I was sober, it was 3 blocks from home, no one was hurt, I was not arrested. I made the mistake to drive the few streets without my purse that night, though I do have very strong negative feelings about being handcuffed as I was not posing any threat or hiding my identification at all, I just did not have the "proper/acceptable" form. I'm going to court tomorrow and with luck will have my car back. This will cost me.

Speaking of cost, also part of the bad got the/Wash's MediCare statement for Sept-Nov. We owe about $550 in costs for doctor visits for him. That's the uninsured part. It's still shocking to me that these are the costs when he is not even on active chemo. These are his mostly "healthy" costs. I've been talking with my mum, I think when he goes on full time Hospice help I'll have no other choice but bankruptcy. Adult pants.

The great; So my In-Laws helped to spend a couple hours in the backyard cleaning and clearing away the crap and making it tidy again. They helped to transport some new plants I bought with my birthday money (Home Depot gift cards, my friends know me) and then I spent more than 3 hours working and planting and transplanting and moving the garden around. There are a bunch of flowers now- I even spotted a hummingbird today! I put in a few more vegetables and seeds, and bulbs, as well as bought a large mature tomato to replace my 3 year old one (destroyed). I also invested again in jasmine and gardenia bushes. The small porch has been cleared and soon we will have our little chairs out to sit and enjoy. I also put in the solar lights I got for my birthday from my mum around, and it looks amazing at night. I cannot wait until the spring.

The other good part, to which I also have photos is that we got some WONDERFUL holiday cheer from www.thinkgeek.com today. Apparently some of the "worker monkeys" read my blog here and know how HUGE geeks Wash and I are (as if his name did not give it away). (Hi friends! You guys rock!) and wanted to do something for us- they did "something" alright.

We got so many wonderful geeky things! New shirts! Chromosome towels! Adipose toys! Mad Scientist building blocks! Toys for my nephew! (he is going to LOVE his food-heavy machines and the jet plane bib, his dad is a pilot) We're going to give the Neuron Plushie to Wash's neurologist when we see her in about 2 weeks. (I bet she will laugh, she has such a sense of humor) I am keeping the Ebola plushie, I frakking admire filovirii, plus it's cute. They also gave us the Blue Sun 'travel' poster SET, which I cannot gorram wait to frame and put up. Nathan Fillion's giant head in our Serenity poster should be jealous. They also sent a treat for the furry legged ones in this house; a 'Cats Attack! Cityscape scratching post. I will have to get a video of Leto attacking it.

We love www.thinkgeek.com and have for years. I've been treating myself and my (step)dad to their toys for years. It's a great company and now I am even more so convinced. Geeks are a special breed and I truly love and admire how they (we) come together as a community. Our season would have been a lot less jolly without their intervention. I cannot even fully articulate yet just how thankful I am to them for this - the gifts and the moments it gave us. These are two happy and so thankful Browncoats.

So, more details and photos to come, but there's the last few days for us. I hope all my Dear Readers have had a safe holiday season, regardless of family, distance, or geekery.

Not worth it

I so do hate the days that take away my loving husband and leave me with a angry, selfish man who does not even see his wife as a human being.

I know it is 90% cancer/tumor/medicine shit, and maybe 10% his old personality, but I hate it all the same.

I get so sad and frustrated trying to anticipate what will set off his ADD like symptoms; he literally can not multi-task. I as a person, as a wife, even as a caregiver always lose out. I get pushed back to second place or further and forgotten.

I lament and I mourn I had perhaps 4 maybe 6 weeks as a newlywed with my husband before the tumor took over. Now I've had two years longer than 98% of his type of brain cancer patients have had with their spouses; I think of that every day.

I don't feel respected, and I don't feel loved. Rationally, I am aware, it is his brain.

But I'm not an android. Even with Asperger's I feel. I hurt.

I wish there was some kind of "happy" we could both enjoy. There does not seem to be much of it lately.

If this is his last Christmas (I can always hope it is not, but the numbers are killjoys), I want it to be a good one, a happy one. I want him to have things to make him smile, to feel joy for. Something to encourage him to just keep living.

At the same time, for me, it hurts so much to know this might be his last Christmas, he can and will treat me however, and I have to just deal with it somehow.

I wonder if it's too much to ask for both of us to be happy.