Tee wore her bright pink boa and hat out the front door of Providence and landed herself a spot in a hot new red Prius for the drive home. Kudos to the superlative nursing care at Providence, sans one, and all of the friends who came to visit and just be. Tee truly enjoyed walking into a warm sunny home and flower thanks to Jeannie’s and Bernie’s efforts to pack up the room and get things home.

Tee’s first event Tuesday afternoon was to open cards and read the wonderful notes and wishes so many of you have sent her. Then she built a fire, for enjoyment as much as heat (her home has a heat pump), and I was instructed in the use of tin cans for air circulation and just how to bank a fire.

Hospice visits took up time and tired Tee a bit on Wednesday, but after a nap she was up enjoying a walk and eating chocolate cake with tofutti. Bernie planted seeds in the garden, and Charlotte tired out and went home.

Tee is spending time completing her latest work, being alone, and enjoying time with friends. She has an appointment with our favorite local naturopath today, and Brenda did her wonderful work with Tee yesterday evening.

Today was an uneventful day.

tee’s not in tiny room 3036 any more. she’s bunked up in 3065, which has the same layout as her first accommodation at providence arms.

so that’s the room to ask for on the phone, and that’s the one to bring floral offerings to. and titles for your books…

tee’s feeling *much* better today. they’ve cultured a bacteria out of her blood, and are pumping her full of the appropriate antibiotics. and antinausea meds. and a lovely little thing called dilaudid, which eileen the kickbutt er dr says is better than demerol. she’ll be in at least until monday, depending how long it takes to get the bacteria under control. or eradicated.

charlotte the statistician has unearthed a fun fact: there are only 600 cases of tee’s cancer (cholangiocarcinoma) in the u.s. per year. we knew how special she is, but that’s even more special than we thought.

and in late-breaking news, tee was talking to her 96-yr-old aunt ruth today, and made her laugh telling cancer/dying jokes. (a special privilege for people who have or are doing it. only really cool people know to laugh.)

this may be my last post for a week. i’m going to go float in the healing waters of harbin hot springs. be back the first monday in april. the torch is (temporarily) passed. be kind.

oh, and the subject: tee’s going to be having up and down. we need to treasure the perky when she’s got it, and not expect it to last forever.

they’ve confirmed an infection in tee’s blood, and the soonest she could possibly come home is monday.

the good news, i guess, is that this gives her more medford-centered tribe opportunities to rally round, give her footrubs, take notes when medical persons come by and say things, generally make themselves useful.

yeah, it’s not *very* good news, but it’s what i’ve got.

so they clamped tee’s drain a couple days ago. wanted to see if her body would reabsorb the bile on its own. (the body needs bile to digest food, and keep the electrolyte levels synchronized.) tee’s body did not like it at all. when i got home from my own medical adventure friday (2.5 hrs in urgent care to be told there’s nothing they can do about tick bites, come back if you have symptoms), i took tee’s temperature and it was normal. but she’d just had a glass of water. five minutes later, it was over 100(F). called the nurse, who said call the doctor. dr. sue said “take her to providence medford ER. now.” sue doesn’t usually take that commanding tone, so i snapped to. tee wanted to negotiate. five minutes later dr. sue’s nurse called to be sure we were being compliant.

we were out of the house in twenty minutes (forgetting several crucial items, which marianne brought the next morning, bless her), and in medford in a little under an hour. then we sat in the ER waiting room for awhile. the triage nurse agreed tee should have a bed in ER land, but several ambulances had just pulled up, and the contents were filling all available beds. tee curled up on a two-seat chair, with a third chair pulled up to put her legs on. we covered her with a blanket and put the soft pillow from jeanne’s car under her head. after an hour or two, we were ushered into ER proper.

where we waited a very long time for a doctor. i quite enjoyed introducing myself as tee’s personal dragon.

long story short, it was 11pm before she was in a bed in the oncology wing, and after midnight before they unclamped the drain and started the IV antibiotics. the oncology wing is booked solid, sadly. telling times. they gave her two kinds of antibiotic one after the other, and in the morning tee was feeling pretty perky and expecting to go home today.

by midmorning, though, the fever spiked again. so she’s in until they can get a handle on the infection. at least a couple of days. the room’s very small, and visiting should be kept down to one or two at a time, and spaced out. she loves you all, and loves to see you, but she really mostly needs to concentrate on sleeping so her body can heal herself.

keep holding her in the light, dear ones. and get to work on your books.

tee is using her medical condition as a bludgeon. if you’ve ever taken one of her writing classes, she’s going to want to see your book before the benefit which will be held april 22 at the sunny valley town hall. that gives you four weeks to put it together.

it doesn’t have to be big. it doesn’t have to be perfect. but it has to be done. extra credit: tell her what the title is beforehand. you have no idea how it cheers her up. you can do the standard chapbook size, an 8.5×11 piece of paper folded once. you can do a very short edition. but you have to do it.

and you art students: don’t think you’re exempt. tee would certainly be delighted to see an artist’s book from you as well.

pay heed, students of tee. the day of reckoning is four weeks away.

provide your own shift. k, here’s the deal: jean, deferring to the nonnegotiable demands made by her back, will be spending the night in sunny valley. tee needs people to come sit with her tonight in medford in two (or three) hour shifts. jean will return by noon saturday. arrange scheduling by calling tee’s room, but be sure to check the blog and comments before you call, in case all the available slots have been filled. 732-5000, room 3036.

tee is settled into room 3036 for the night. jean is staying in the room with her, and visitors would be welcome tomorrow (though y’all might have to draw straws for who gets to go in; the room’s pretty dang small.)

sleep peacefully and dream beautiful dreams, everyone.

tee is on her way to the emergency room at Providence Medford Medical Center, 1111 Crater Lake Ave., Medford, OR 97504, 541.732.6400

she has a fever, evidently related to having the drain tube clamped off yesterday, and her doctor wanted her to be seen right away. therefore she and jean will be hanging out in the ER.

if local medford-ites could go over to the ER and entertain/amuse/distract Tee and/or Jean, that would be very helpful. depending on how long they have to wait there, Jean might also need some dinner (Tee probably will not feel like eating).

– sarah the pirate queen (jean’s housemate in oakland)

hoping we won’t be completely inundated with duplicates. whoever can get it to us first wins.

tee was enjoying a recent cd of duets by holly near and cris williamson. while she was in the hospital, it disappeared out of her life (it had been a loaner). it’s called “cris and holly.”

anybody got it? post to comments, and also email. thanks, all.