Diary of a Brain Tumor Patient's Wife

Jan. 13, 1999


Renette Davis

We're having a good day here, so I thought I would write to all of you with some cheery news for a change.

Yesterday, we had a visit from the Hospice nurse's aide, who will be coming twice a week to bathe Paul, etc. He had taken a shower with me that morning, so she just sat and visited awhile so he could get to know her a little bit. She asked if she could play something for Paul on our piano, and I said sure. She played a couple of hymns, and he really liked it.

That gave me the idea to ask some other people to come over to play for him, so I called a few of the pianists from church, and they said they would be glad to. This afternoon our former organist, and her husband, who has a beautiful tenor voice, came over for awhile. (He sings professionally at one of the other churches, so he's not in our choir.) She just played some hymns and we sang along. I think Paul really enjoyed it.

Last night Paul's friend Bob came over and stayed with Paul so I could go to the support group meeting at St. James Hospital. It was a small group (2 plus the leader), but that was good because we were both new and it gave us a chance to really get to know each other.

Tonight we're going out to eat with some of the bicycling folks. They always go to a Mexican restaurant after their Wednesday night club rides, and now even though their rides are short (zero miles in January) they are still going out to eat. I think Paul will enjoy that.

Another thing I've been doing that Paul really seems to like is telling him some of my memories of when we met, our courtship, early years of marriage, etc. My memory is actually better than I thought it was. I'm up to right before Philip was born now. That's something that those of you who are coming to visit Paul might also like to do. I've been trying to get him to look at old pictures with me, but he doesn't seem to be interested in that.

He's not able to work on puzzles anymore, but seems to enjoy having someone else sitting by him and working on the puzzle. He's pretty good at taking it apart after you get it put together (sometimes even before you get it put together). I just let him take it apart and then I start putting it back together again if he wants me to.

Continue to: Jan. 19, 1999

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Created: June 7, 1999
Last updated: July 20, 2010