Report of 26 August 2012
Good evening!
Raspberry chocolate-chip gelato: mmm mmm. Who knew these flavors would mix? What the heck is gelato, other than Italian ice cream? It is very good, and my resolve to give up sugar, as Naren does for days at a time, vanishes into the umpteen cavities in my teeth.
The week was good, and exhausting by the end of it. I felt a virus coming on and slept and slept. It turned out to be a stomach bug and my annual U.S. food-poisoning episode has come and gone. Actually, it is usually due to overeating, and overeating salad; who said food poisoning is the exclusive preserve of Third World countries? The "First World" has it, too.
Work is magnificent. We have a patient, a young man with a devastating stroke that has affected most of his functions - speech, mobility and several others. His wife is holding up very well. She is young, intelligent, dynamic and - best of all - is able to prioritize issues. She and I had a long talk the other day, sitting in the beautiful garden maintained by oh-so dedicated RHI volunteers, and I think this lady and I will be in touch for a long time. Annually, a patient and family and I find a chord, some commonality - and then we stay in touch, to my great delight. There are folks who get this blog who have gone from patient families to family friends; I wonder if there is a law against this. Probably not.
The weekend was busy shopping for a young man about to return to college. Navin needed a couple of basic things (shower caddy) and a ton of canned food: he is on a cheaper, reduced meal plan at school and plans to eat at least one meal in his apartment. So, to Aldi we went. Navin is also paying for himself through college and shopping pretty savvily. Both boys have historically enjoyed shopping at Goodwill and I love that store as well as the cause: sell donated merchandise and help rehabilitate physically or mentally challenged folks, among others. So off to Goodwill we went and I found a dress or 2 as Navin browsed. Today was spent doing laundry and packing up a lot of things. We did manage to have b'fast at Cracker Barrel, asked to be seated in the older waitress's section and we told her Navin (who was showering and meeting us after that) would leave for college soon. Navin showed up a few minutes later and sat down: in that position, his face was level with the waitress's and she kissed and hugged him and wished him well. I love it when the boys get blessings in unexpected places.
We Skyped with Naren today. He is in a play and looks forward to it. The job-hunt is on. This prompted discussion with our friend, Craig, who now insists that parents of college-going kids help them choose employable majors. Liberal arts has historically not generated immediate employment. Scott stated that the best-run companies had liberal arts degree holders as CEO's. Both boys know the importance of working and earning and saving, and we hope that their employment courses enable this.
We saw "Premium Rush," which was excellent. Joseph-Gordon Leavitt is an actor par excellence and I held my breath for almost the entire movie. Navin and I went to see "Step up Revolution," as both of us enjoy dancing; Scott excused himself as dancing is just not his bag. There was no real plot to the flick other than the standard arts vs. big money conflict and a romance between eye-candy lead actors; the dialogue was also unremarkable. But the dancing - ahhh, that was there.
I talked to my Dad today and he is well. He heads to a conference in November in Lucknow. Vandana sent news that the Banyan won the Jindal prize - hooray! It is time for me to go home. It has been months since I have seen my father, and the pull of desperately poor people in search of medical care is starting to seep into my bloodstream.
Unw -
R
Raspberry chocolate-chip gelato: mmm mmm. Who knew these flavors would mix? What the heck is gelato, other than Italian ice cream? It is very good, and my resolve to give up sugar, as Naren does for days at a time, vanishes into the umpteen cavities in my teeth.
The week was good, and exhausting by the end of it. I felt a virus coming on and slept and slept. It turned out to be a stomach bug and my annual U.S. food-poisoning episode has come and gone. Actually, it is usually due to overeating, and overeating salad; who said food poisoning is the exclusive preserve of Third World countries? The "First World" has it, too.
Work is magnificent. We have a patient, a young man with a devastating stroke that has affected most of his functions - speech, mobility and several others. His wife is holding up very well. She is young, intelligent, dynamic and - best of all - is able to prioritize issues. She and I had a long talk the other day, sitting in the beautiful garden maintained by oh-so dedicated RHI volunteers, and I think this lady and I will be in touch for a long time. Annually, a patient and family and I find a chord, some commonality - and then we stay in touch, to my great delight. There are folks who get this blog who have gone from patient families to family friends; I wonder if there is a law against this. Probably not.
The weekend was busy shopping for a young man about to return to college. Navin needed a couple of basic things (shower caddy) and a ton of canned food: he is on a cheaper, reduced meal plan at school and plans to eat at least one meal in his apartment. So, to Aldi we went. Navin is also paying for himself through college and shopping pretty savvily. Both boys have historically enjoyed shopping at Goodwill and I love that store as well as the cause: sell donated merchandise and help rehabilitate physically or mentally challenged folks, among others. So off to Goodwill we went and I found a dress or 2 as Navin browsed. Today was spent doing laundry and packing up a lot of things. We did manage to have b'fast at Cracker Barrel, asked to be seated in the older waitress's section and we told her Navin (who was showering and meeting us after that) would leave for college soon. Navin showed up a few minutes later and sat down: in that position, his face was level with the waitress's and she kissed and hugged him and wished him well. I love it when the boys get blessings in unexpected places.
We Skyped with Naren today. He is in a play and looks forward to it. The job-hunt is on. This prompted discussion with our friend, Craig, who now insists that parents of college-going kids help them choose employable majors. Liberal arts has historically not generated immediate employment. Scott stated that the best-run companies had liberal arts degree holders as CEO's. Both boys know the importance of working and earning and saving, and we hope that their employment courses enable this.
We saw "Premium Rush," which was excellent. Joseph-Gordon Leavitt is an actor par excellence and I held my breath for almost the entire movie. Navin and I went to see "Step up Revolution," as both of us enjoy dancing; Scott excused himself as dancing is just not his bag. There was no real plot to the flick other than the standard arts vs. big money conflict and a romance between eye-candy lead actors; the dialogue was also unremarkable. But the dancing - ahhh, that was there.
I talked to my Dad today and he is well. He heads to a conference in November in Lucknow. Vandana sent news that the Banyan won the Jindal prize - hooray! It is time for me to go home. It has been months since I have seen my father, and the pull of desperately poor people in search of medical care is starting to seep into my bloodstream.
Unw -
R
posted by Renu Weiss at
3:26 PM
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