Tom's Diary

Today’s Activities

• Shower.  DONE.
• Cat duty.  DONE.
• Pay 10 pending bills.  DONE.

Log

08:25 AM: I’m up.

08:30 AM: I was living in Philly on this day nine years ago, and recall that as soon as folks fully understood that we were under attack, people downtown, both democrats and republicans alike, started chanting USA USA USA USA.  That tragedy seemed to unite them more than any other in my life time.  Sad, that that’s what it took.  But for the rest of that day and in the months that followed, we truly WERE one nation, despite our deep divisions today.  How soon people forget. 

10:50 AM: Wrote out ten bills and completed my   weekly web site system backups   for today.  

11:45 AM: Leaving to visit Mom and have lunch.  Back later.  Details of that visit   here.

01:30 PM: Heading to Hoss’s steak house with sisters Christine and Diane, and my very special friend [Emmy] to grab some lunch. 

03:00 PM: We’re home.  Beautiful day to be out and about. 

08:00 PM: Spent the rest of the afternoon and well into the evening watching movies and documentaries about 9/11 on the History channel.  We were deeply moved by the surreality of it all.  Indeed, it still feels like it never fully happened; too horrible of an event to be real yet too impacting to be ignored.  People’s heroics (firefighters, first responders, et al) that entered the buildings in the WTC immediately after they planes crashed into them, were spellbinding.  I’d like to think that I’d do the same if confronted with a similar situation, and I think I probably would; especially if I saw someone begging me for help.  But I hope I’m never put upon to make such a difficult choice if it means putting my own life at risk.  Those first responders were among the first fighters in the war on terror, yet every bit as heroic as the warriors are who continue fighting to this day. 

President Bush really shined on 2001-09-11 with his calm and considered handling of the attack, and the measured responses that came in the weeks following.  When he first appeared on national television a few hours after the last plane went down, I felt reassured that things would be alright; though I remember having difficulty sleeping that night in my Red Lion Road apartment in Philadelphia.  Today, I felt that same sting of helplessness and horror as I again watched the footage.  It all seems to have happened only yesterday, and I fear that the hurts I acquired that day still have not completely healed.  That’s probably a good thing though because I derive real appreciation for how good I have it from those pains that resurface every year at this time. 

But I’ll probably view each new film or TV special they create in the years to come, as I did today, to remind, to remember, to honor, and to give thanks for all my blessings and the people whose deaths have made my basically care-free life possible.  Thank you all. 

But after five hours, I had to stop watching, as  I began experiencing 9/11 burnout and feel a trifle guilty for that.  But I did set the DVR to record the rest of the shows tonight and will watch them in the coming week. 

The shows we took in this afternoon were:  Countdown to Ground Zero,  and   9/11 State of Emergency. 

It’s so easy to hate the people who did this to us.  But I won’t hate them, because doing so will only wreck me further, and I wouldn’t want to risk my hatred spilling over on to similarly faithed yet innocent people.  I will not hate someone for the deeds of another.  Specifically: I’ll not blame all of Islam for the actions of a crazy few.  

09:20 PM: Added more content from my journals to the   911 Attacks   piece. 

10:50 PM: Headed to bed.  More tomorrow.  Good night. 

Tom Hesley

Received Mail and Shipments

• Dental bill for Mom from Pittsburgh. 
• Insurance offer from Unison advantage.  Not at this time, thanks.
• Invitation to attend the  Hillside community church.  Not at this time, thanks. 

Related Posts

• 911 Attacks
• Mom’s Status: 2010-09-11
• Today’s Diet: 2010-09-11
• Weekly Backups: 2010-09-11
• Weight Loss: 2010

Summary

Mom had the day off from her physical therapy today.  Her voice now sounds as animated and energetic as it ever did when she was healthy.  In fact, one couldn’t tell that she’s still sick just by the sound of her speaking.   She still has anxiety, but we took her some birthday cards and gifts this afternoon.  We did not take her outside but did wheel her down the hall to the social area where they have a big-screen plasma television that was showing the History Channel.  A psychologist stops by to see her regularly now and she seems to suffer from fewer anxious moments as a result.  She seemed happier today than at any time prior during this incident. 

Pending Objectives

• Order podiatrist for regular checkups on Mom’s feet.  IN PROGRESS.  I’m going to call her regular podiatrist on Monday and ask him if he can stop in at the facility to treat Mom’s feet. 
• Track Mom’s extreme weakness and loss of feeling in legs. IN PROGRESS.  This has gotten notably better over the past week or so.  We still feel that the nerve damage is reversible.  She’ll continue full PT workouts (including   standing   exercises on Monday). 
• Monitor Mom’s overall pain status.  IN PROGRESS.  Her pain continues to lessen so that now, she has little in her legs when she’s laying still.  So the static pain seems all but gone.     
• Track the dissipation of Mom’s pelvic hematoma.  IN PROGRESS.   Can’t measure further progress on this one until Mom has another EMG test next week. 
• Locate Mom’s living will.  IN PROGRESS.  Her attorneys called a couple days ago, and want me to visit their office.  I’ll try them again next week, and hopefully, they can come to the hospital for Mom’s signature on these papers if needed.  Or at least, they’ll be able to FAX me the living will.        

Completed Objectives

Log

12:10 PM: Sisters Christine and Diane, [Emmy], and myself arrived.  Details of the visit follow:

• 12:20 PM: Mom was  in great spirits, and she talked to us with the same energy level as I remember her having when hearing her talk to friends in the kitchen some forty years ago. 
• Sister Mary Ann is visiting later and bringing the Keri hand lotion Mom wants. 
• We brought Mom some emery boards, her favorite spoon that she likes to scratch her back with, and some cards that arrived in the mail over the past few days.
• She’s not tired for once, and her voice sounds just like it does when she’s completely healthy.
• However, she’s developed a callous on both sides of her left big toe.  Must be due to all the exercising.
• That long-time sore on the sole of her right foot needs attention; as it appears more calloused than usual.  I’ll call her long-time podiatrist on Monday and see if he can stop here and check it out sometime next week.
•  She gleefully opened her presents, which consisted mainly of clothes; she’s gained some weight since this ordeal began, which is a good sign over all.  But unfortunately, her older clothes no longer fit.  So, the twins bought her some bigger shirts and pants.  She was thrilled.
• 01:10 PM: Mom is getting dressed so we can take her out for a walk around the halls.  We kept busy while we waited, weighing ourselves on this big platform scale we found near the social area.  Then, we watched some of the 9/11 footage on the History Channel.
• They raised Mom’s coumadin daily doses to 7.5 MG for the weekend.  I asked about this, as it may have been excessively thin blood that caused her internal bleeding last month.  But the nurse assured me that her PCP had reviewed her blood values and believes this to be an appropriate action based on what he read.
• We updated Mom’s emergency contact information, unofficially, with the floor nurse.  She advised us that to assure that this becomes permanent, we should call the main office on Monday and talk to the facility’s official record keeper.  I’ll do that next week.
• 01:30 PM: We’re leaving now, and Mom is staying in the hall for a while to socialize and just to get out of her room for a little while. 

Tom Hesley

Related Posts

• Today’s Business: 2010-09-11

Weekly backups of all my blog sites completed.  Backups were not taken the past few weeks as I was out of the office. 

• Databases size: 14.8 MB.  That’s an increase of 200 KB from the last measurement of 14.6 MB last week.  The record database size is now 14.8 MB. 
• Total data backed up: 97.0 MB.  That’s up 2600 KB from 94.4 MB at last backup.  Note that this figure includes all databases, site code, static pages, and log files. The record amount of total data saved in a weekly backup remains at 98.0 MB. 

Tom Hesley

Related Posts

• Today’s Business: 2010-09-11

I keep this food diary to stay aware of just how many calories I’m eating daily, with the hope that it decreases the likelihood that I’ll overeat.    It seems to work, so here we go with another day…

Today, I consumed the following items:

• Herbal tea and diet pop throughout the day. 0 calories.
• 02:15 PM: 1 bowl of New England clam chowder.  300 calories.
• 02:20 PM: Several pieces of garlic bread.  500 calories.
• 02;40 PM: 2 bowls of soft-serve ice cream with fudge.  800 calories.
• 07:00 PM: 1 peach.  50 calories.
• 10:00 PM: 1 large bowl of cream cheese Jello, raspberry flavored.  800 calories.

Total calories: 2450.

Tom Hesley

Related Posts

• Other Food Diary Entries
• Today’s Business: 2010-09-11
• Weight Loss: 2010