Another Trip to Chicago

A speech therapy appointment at Northwestern Memorial Hospital was the focus of this day. Son John drove us into the city for an 11:30 appointment. Traffic was lighter at that time of day, but still, construction reigns all over the region, especially on the doorstep of the city itself.


After days of heavy rain, the sun dawned bright on a chilly morning - 58 degrees, light breeze and a diminutive cloud or two. Clear blue skies with amazing hues. A lovely day to venture out.


Speech comes slowly with Rocky. The Electrolarynx (buzzer thingy) needs to be placed just so under the mouth in the crook of the next. Then mouthing words with great exaggeration and lip movement helps form the block of air in the mouth cavity. The buzzing does the rest and lo and behold, words are audible.


Sometimes, that is. It helps if you are facing him and reading his lips for verification. Otherwise heads turn to me to help them understand! I’m as much in the dark as they.


So, we advance day by day, week by week. Rocky’s medical condition is very good. He has healed from surgery. In a couple of weeks we will visit the surgeon again and he will maybe tell us if radiation therapy is needed just to be sure the cancer is gone, gone, gone. We think it is vanquished and hope radiation won’t be necessary.


Meanwhile, 32 pounds were lost and maybe 8 regained. Color is back, activity simmers within. Rocky appears to be the Rocky of yesteryear. That’s the good news. The bad – or maybe negative – is Parkinson’s is more vigorous and hampers walking, stride and exercise. The physical therapy sessions ended last week but Rocky is still prone to freezing up in mid step and then falling.


He has returned a bit to cooking. Much appreciated. We still go out for cheap fast meals. And we nosh on snacks to push meal times farther down the clock. Saturday, we feasted on roasted chicken from the supermarket; it was super good. We had missed that menu for many months. Stuffing and Brussels sprouts accompanied the bird and were delicious. We dined that evening!


I have yet to return to the stove as I had many years ago in early divorce era. I still think of those menus and how good they were. Rocky, however, needs softer foods to chew. A pork chop might take too long to be of any value! But the rice and sauce would be great, but then he doesn’t care for mushroom soup sauce!  Maybe that supper menu should remain in hiding.


Meanwhile we do enjoy a good hamburger from whatever joint is handy. Not good for the physique (!), but lovely for the tongue.


Ah!


September 24, 2019