Cleaned out

I spent most of today cleaning out my refrigerator.  As you can see, that meant removing and cleaning out numerous bottles, jars and plastic containers - my refrigerator is very low and very deep, so things below my eye level can get stuck in there for months.  I have a strong sense of accomplishment.

I might have done more if I hadn't received a distressing call from Nancy, my college roommate.  Her husband has been diagnosed with an aggressive form of multiple myeloma, a cancer of the bone marrow.  Apparently the disease had been progressing without symptoms until it reached critical mass and he was suddenly overwhelmed with symptoms and had to be taken to the ER.  Their home is an hour-and-a-half drive from Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston, but there is no hospital closer that can provide the kind of care he requires.  Since then he's been in and out of the hospital, his mind is confused, his body is flooded with calcium, and he is nauseous and  incontinent.  He is being treated with steroids and oral chemotherapy, but his disease is so severe and damaging to his body that it's impossible to know what his prognosis is.  

The burden of taking intimate care of him and transporting him, and not being able to take time for herself, exhausts her.  We talked for more than an hour, and I think it helped for her to pour it out to a caring and non-judgmental friend.

You just never really know.