Help is on the Way

One of the things that has made this last week so hard is the lack of live-in help. I really thought that we could manage on our own. However, it's been very stressful coordinating after school care for the boys when our days at the hospital don't end until 5:30pm or 6:00pm instead of the 4:30pm that we though would be more average. Starting next week, though, that will change. Tim's sister Julie arrives next Wednesday for week. Then his sister Amy will be here for a week. My parents have the last two weeks of the year. I sincerely hope and pray that by then the chemotherapy will have moved beyond the truly awful phase into the merely unpleasant.

I continue to remain grateful to the school, church and cub scout friends that have stepped up in our time of need. Just to let you know, our freezer is full at the moment, so we don't need any more frozen dinners. Desserts, however, are another story. :) Playdates or other activities for the boys are also very useful, especially on weekends.

Unless I call you, I prefer to arrange such assistance by email. I am less prone to making mistakes that way. I am also less likely to snap at you just because you happened to call at a bad time. (I apologize to the two people who caught me making dinner this week. Hunger makes me cranky.) I often forget to check the answering machine when we get home. If I'm in a bad mood, I occasionally forget on purpose. So email is definitely the way to go.

If I don't respond to your email (or your phone message), I'm either a) too busy, b) too tired or c) don't need any help at the moment but am too busy or too tired to write and tell you so without writing something that might be a) rude or b) insulting or c) both. If I do respond, I don't have to worry about being caught in a game of phone tag. So email is the way to go.

If you have an urgent request, call my cell phone. If you don't have my cell phone number and you would like it, send me an email and I'll mail it to you. If you are willing to be a sympathetic ear at odd moments, send me your cell phone number. I have been know to go through the contact list on my phone looking for someone to talk to about my day.