Peanut butter on jelly

To separate plasma out of blood, a centrifugal force is used. It's called blood fractionation if you'd like to sound sciencey.

This past week I have identified a lot with the blood....spinning, and spinning, and spinning.

I received a message asking for an update, and realized I've not shared anything in a while. It's easy to sit and write in the solitude of a hospital. Though we were never alone, I could disappear into the woodwork, because no one was actually in the room to see me.
The miles I've journeyed are adding up figuratively and literally. No one drives and types. At least they shouldn't.

This ride is wild enough all on its own.

Sam's visit is coming to a rapid end, and I guess we're going to end our time together in a crescendo. I'd been feeling maudlin that she's going to have to leave us...and then my brother and his wife and daughter arrived and it's been non-stop.

Dom and I, as I've mentioned before, live in a teeny little house. We love being snug. We have a hide-a-bed loveseat that sleeps one, and a single bath room located in the bedroom. We've all been able to rub elbows in this small space with nary a problem.
We have our quiet rhythms and ways.

Then.

The Hess family arrived.

My brother is 6'6".  Somehow, we're all squeezing in together.

They have a large trailer and they're camping nearby, but they come to the house because Dominic really shouldn't be hanging around a campground just now.....

Before they arrived, our friend Elena came by with all the smiles and the treats to give us a good dose of happiness and positivity. So the party atmosphere had begun. (Now you won't believe me when I say we're really limiting our people exposure, but Elena really is our guru in this process.)

The night before our day of visiting was really rough. Dom couldn't even take his pills that night. I'll spare you the details. I was particularly bummed for him, because not only was he sick, but I'd made tacos just for him. He mentioned on the way home that day that he'd really love tacos. So I dropped him home and went out for taco ingredients.  He was napping when I returned and I immediately went into taco preparation. Sam and I imagined he'd wake with an appetite. No such luck. Sick, sick, sick.
So imagine my surprise the next morning, after he carefully tested the waters with some rice pudding, he said he would really like tacos. For breakfast. A big plate of tortillas, rice, beans, scrambled eggs, salsa, chicken and guacamole was presented and devoured. We just go with these things.

More yumminess was had with Elena, because the food magician cannot come empty handed.

My family got to meet Elena, and we basically spent a day in the living room snacking and visiting. I've been so long in hustle and hurry mode that I've probably forgotten the art of conversation.

I think my niece has a new favorite Auntie. Sam is really not her aunt, but those two took to each other like peanut butter on jelly. It may help that Cassie is adorable and clever.

The Hess family trip had long been on the books, and when this new wrinkle appeared, I had long conversations with my brother about our limitations and he decided to make the trip come what may. He was prepared to visit in Sacramento, should that be the case.

But, as it shakes out, we're mostly home.

He dropped my niece off yesterday morning, so she could be with us. Since we usually go on adventures together, I was at a momentary loss as to what to do. So, I lugged out the sewing machine that I could not figure out how to get the bobbin on correctly. I thought just maybe Cassie could figure it out, as she has sent us sewing projects in the past. Sure enough, she got that bobbin on, and before we knew it, she'd done a little sewing on something Sam wanted tailored. Now, I'm not saying if you inspected the article, it was expertly tailored, but I am saying we're pretty impressed. Project accomplished. Mom showed up about half way through with a bag of thread from my Gramma's stash that I somehow wound up with, and then Mom somehow wound up with... (Oh yes, I had high hopes of being able to actually thread a bobbin.) Some of the thread was on original old wooden spools, and it was fun picking through the time capsule.

I was so happy our two families just came together. I have a history of that happening though. I grew up with cousins that weren't technically cousins. It's really lovely to just embrace people.

We decided we'd all trek up to Healdsburg for the best bread ever. It was Dom's idea, as Sam hasn't really seen any sights since her arrival. We've been all business. And we've had some stressful business to be sure. Dom stayed home for some rest, and off we went. It was the first time he's been at the house alone in over a month. It was the first time he'd been alone....I can't even imagine. No one taking blood, no one poking, no wife looking at him with concerned face, just home in the quiet.

En mass, we arrived to Shed in Healdsburg, with the ginormous loaves of Country Sourdough French bread.We spent $14 on bread. We walked down the street to another bakery where my Mom bought yet another loaf of bread, because her loaf had to come from that bakery. Then we walked around the square and laughed at the prices of things and ate chunks of bread and walked into yet another bakery where Mom bought my favorite sticky buns.

I enlisted my brother to BBQ dinner, so we divided an conquered for that. Sam and Cass went for a swim at the neighbor's, Mom chopped veg, Jason BBq'd, Susan and I made sure the chips tasted okay and a we prepared for a feast.

The big news Sam brought to the dinner table was quite interesting. We'd been noticing coyotes around the house recently. My bushy tailed cats alerted me one morning when Sam and Dom were at the hospital. I peeked out the window to make eye contact with a coyote quite close and another one on its heels. Sam was quite proud of herself on Tuesday while Dom and I were in Sacramento. She'd noticed a coyote studying the neighbor's goats quite intently, and went out on the porch banging wellies overhead and being as inhospitable as possible.

We shared this with Bronwyn who promptly began researching local experts to figure out how best to deal with coyotes and keep the goats safe.

She wound up on the phone with a scientist who tracks cougars in our area. She gave him our address, and while they were talking, he entered our address, and low and behold, a cougar was visiting the ranch at 2 am that morning, wandering around the trash cans and the garage.

We tempted fate after dinner by letting the goats out of their enclosure and watching them frolic. Frolicking is always good.

So. What does this have to do with cancer? Nothing. Life goes on. It goes on with excitement and twists and turns. We battle the cancer in Sacramento, and nature does her thing in Santa Rosa.  We'd repeatedly told Sam not to worry about the coyotes when she walked between our house and the barn in the early mornings. Worry about the cougars though. Do worry about those!

We're trying not to worry about anything else. One foot in front of the other. It does feel like things are speeding up. We're beginning to look for a place to stay in Sacramento. We're hoping to be matched with a donor asap. Nick will be tested on Monday, and the search is on in the database. It's good that we're having all this family love time. Things are going to change even more dramatically soon, as we leave our beloved teeny home and settle in Sacramento for the last battle to get his body to embrace the new marrow. I'm hoping his body and the new marrow act like our two families, and just come together. Like peanut butter on jelly.