anxious
fosteronfilm's mom called with a status update. It seems that my DIL is recovering fine from the infection, but he's having even more problems with his breathing. Unfortunately, we couldn't interpret what the details of the situation are from my mom-in-law's explanation. It seems that they need to periodically put him on "the machine" (oxygen? respirator? guh?) because there are times when he can't breathe at all--something to do with a build up of carbon dioxide in his lungs. And he fluctuates between being alert and perfectly lucid, and woozy and disjointed. No big surprise there, as I'm sure it's related to how much air he's getting, and therefore how much oxygen is getting to his brain. My MIL is dealing with it as well as she can, but she's so very helpless without my DIL to take care of her. It worries me. She got panicky driving back from the hospital by herself because she's not used to driving on the freeway, and she got unhappy because a set of sweat-clothes had been left on the floor in a bag (from the hospital, I assume), and so sent them through the dryer so they wouldn't wrinkle (let me tell you how often I stress about wrinkles, oh yeah, that would be never). Unfortunately, she forgot to take DIL's inhaler out of the pocket and sent it through the dryer as well.
fosteronfilm told her to consult the pharmacist before letting his dad use it after that . . . They're both so hidebound in their roles. There's a decidedly charming aspect to it: he takes care of her, and she takes care of him, but without each other, they sort of fall apart. She's never done her own taxes; he's never cooked a meal--that sort of thing. While I'm a huge proponent of healthy co-dependence, I'm very worried about my MIL.
On the laptop front, in a bit of timely vent-ableness, I got a "Customer Service Evaluation" request from HP on my recent experience with their service. I'm looking forward to filling it out . . . mwahahahaaa. Not that I think it'll accomplish much, but it'll be nice to engage in a bit of satisfaction-inducing ranting.
Writing Stuff
It has been brought to my attention (thanks
basletum!) that Escape Pod is having a poll for "favorite story of 2005" and that "The Life and Times of Penguin" is listed among the nominees. I'm honored by the nomination and compelled to engage in shameless vote pimping. So: Vote for "Penguin," yo! And if you haven't listened to it yet, you can download it HERE. And while you're there, check out all the other wonderful podcastic offerings at Escape Pod.
Received:
- 25-day SALE of "Nobodies and Somebodies" to Aberrant Dreams. First sale of the year. Rah!
