Yesterday was a crazy busy day for me. I woke up- got Max out of the house and ready to go to daycare, then showered and walked up to Cafe Nell (about 1 mile) in Nob Hill for the amazing $5 breakfast special which is two eggs, garlic peppered home fries and thick delicious seven grain toast. I ordered an iced latte and read my book (The Ballad of West 10th Street) for an hour. At 9:30, I walked back down to the Pearl (my neighborhood) and gathered up some magazines, and items to be altered into a bag and then walked 1.9 miles to my friend Fleur's house (we were going to visit Karen in the cancer ward at OHSU).
You probably do not know this but I am INCREDIBLY scared of any type of air tram 15 years in NYC and not one time did I ever take the Roosevelt Island tram. There is something about being suspended in the air and moving on a cable that scares me. here are two ways to get to OHSU - The streetcar to the tram or the number 8 bus. I haven't taken a public bus since 1998 - there was never any need and the only reason I took the bus at the time was because I was living in the east villae on 5th street at 3rd avenue and my weekly therapy appointment at the time was on 83rd and Madison. So much easier than the train. relaxing - only took 20 minutes.
So Fleur and I took the bus to OHSU - we waited maybe 5 minutes for it, its $2 and the cool thing is you get a ticket good for three hours - so we could not only take the bus back for free - but any other type of Tri-Met transportation. It was an interesting way to see the city - as the bus climbed the amazing hill where OHSU is located. This hospital looks over the entire city with views of Mt Hood and Mt St Helen AND let us off right in front of the Kohler building where Karen was.
I have never visited someone in the hospital that was this gravely ill, it was a bizarre experience. I almost didn't know how to behave or act - I didn't want to be too melancholy - but I didn't want to talk about all the fun things I had been doing either. Karen was great, she had cut off all her hair and donated it as she was going to start losing it in chemo anyway, but she looked ethereal - beautiful. The short hair cut brought out all these great features in her face - high cheek bones, her eyes. We told her how great she looked, but Karen's hair was her pride and glory, and I think that may have been one of her hardest things to part with. She got some good news - which was that the Leukemia hadn't spread to her bones, and she seemed to be doing better, but she was in so much pain. I brought her the new In Style, Allure, Glamour, Lucky and Portland Monthly hoping she could relax and read but she told me sometimes the pain is so bad she gets double vision. We stayed an hour - and Fleur and I promised to return next week, earlier so we could stay longer than 45 minutes (Karen had physical therapy - she somehow got TMJ from her Chemo- all the teeth grinding).
Afterward, Fleur and I grabbed the bus back downtown and got off early so we could have a good walk. I took a Mayle blazer to be repaired (photos to come soon) and the black Gia cami in the size 8 to be taken in. Then I ran over to the museum for a meeting with Caroline (I was late - who knew - my IPhone battery died), then ran home charged my phone and finally at 2PM went to have lunch.
At 5 I went to the grand opening event that my friend April was throwing for the new Leed certified Marriott (amazing event) then rushed home to make Jon dinner, try to do some writing, watch the fashion show (so unhappy Recco was kicked off) and then bed.
Today is another busy one - playgroup in 30 minutes, then a walk with Kathryn, then out to Tigard to build a bear to get Bryce's bday present then a goodbye party for someone from Nike who is off to Amsterdam for 3 months (oh how I wish it was Jon and I - I could take the train to Geneva and buy some Mayle I could TRY ON)
More Later....
No comments:
Post a Comment