Dec 7 - Update by Marjie

Well here it is early Thursday morn of our 2nd round of chemotherapy and Dave has not had the energy or the stomach to update the post. He has been feeling miserable these past few days, taking this round of chemo harder than the first, but actually it is to be expected. Nauseous, no energy, achy, just an overall sick feeling and as it continues he gets crankier and more critical of everything - the clutter, the dirt, the smell of the dog, which blanket he is using - so we are having fun. On the positive side, he is eating. Yesterday's consisted of cinnamon toast and orange juice for breakfast, toast and ham for lunch, and chicken, mac & cheese, and garlic bread for dinner (he left the veggies on his plate), had a couple of Popsicles and a chocolate milkshake for snacks. Not the most nutritious, but as long as he continues to eat we are doing well.

The NASHVILLE returned to Norfolk yesterday, so I had to reluctantly leave Dave by himself for a couple of hours until David got home from school. I checked back in off leave, talked with the CO and XO, and met and talked with the new CO (Change of Command is next Wednesday). Over all consensus is that I should probably put in for a HUMS (temporary duty for humanitarian resons), and looking over my duties, there is going to be too much conflict between work and taking care of Dave, especially on weeks like this one. And I don't need to split my loyalties, when the Navy has programs like HUMS to help, and actually the HUMS is written for just our type of situation - short term (less than 6 months) that can not be fixed with just emergency leave. I have to go back to work on Monday to start the process on the ship. We have already submitted the paperwork for Dave to be in the Exceptional Family Member Program (EFMP) and now I just have to submit my letter of request, and call my detailer again. Overall it is best for all parties - I get the time to focus on Dave and the ship will get another Operations Officer. Once Dave is through the treatment and on the mend, I'll get assigned to another ship as a Dept Head for 12 or so months. I will end up with three short (9-15 month) DH tours vice the traditional two 18-month or one 3yr, and since I am ahead of my year group, by over a year, there is no negative career implications to this 6-month hiatus.

Back to Dave - Even though he is pretty much down for the count for right now, his brain definitely isn't and David and I get to take care of all the other little things that he would like to do or thinks that needs to be done. He keeps us hopping.

Speaking of David, he has been the perfect son, extremely helpful, up beat, and doesn't complain a bit. David and I are finished up the Christmas decorating last night, primarily finished decorating the tree and rearranged the Christmas stuff to minimize the clutter. New house, higher ceilings, different nooks and crannies, definitely a challenge to get things right, or at least acceptable to Scrooge. First challenge was the Christmas tree height - an 8 ft tree in a room with 10-15ft ceilings looks a little small. So with a little improvising, a couple of boxes, and a white sheet, made a nice hill for the tree to stand on, now the tree stands at 10 ft, a much better fit to the room. So last night we finished with putting the ornaments on it, and I think we are done in the living room for Christmas - on to the dining room.

Well, the sun and David are now up, I need to close this to eat breakfast with my baby, and get a couple of things (floors, laundry) to take care of before Dave gets up. Hopefully he will feel like updating this with his own thoughts, mine are just observations. As always, thanks for the thoughts and prayers, we are taking this one day at a time. Smiles :)