Not many changes in Patient Nyel’s situation today.  Another bit of weight gain (Boo! Hiss!).  An increased amount of medication in his IV Drip (Yay!),  Exercise Program proceeding as hoped (more clapping and cheering.)

Meanwhile, I hitched a ride into Oysterville — not literally, of course — and managed to: 1) do a load of laundry and repack my bag with clean clothes; 2) Pay a stack of bills from the past week’s mail that Carol and Tucker had left on the dining room table for me; 3) gather up a few items that Nyel had requested — shaving gear and other toiletries; the last two Chinook Observers; an unread library book; a partial box of dilettante chocolates.

All of this was thanks to the chauffeuring generosity of Michael Lemeshko who thought he might do a few errands in Ilwaco in preparation for the April Walking Tour he will be presenting there.  But, as it turned out, he walked around Oysterville, instead; then visited with Tucker and Carol, toured Tucker’s pinball arcade and won three free games which he “gifted” to Tucker when we left.  By two o’clock we had dropped off the mail at the post office, returned two books to the Ocean Park Timberland Library, and were ordering turkey and cheese sandwiches at Molly’s Station in Seaview.

The day was punctuated by phone calls back and forth with Patient Nyel and by calls from friends “just checking in.”  It was raining in Seattle when we left at 7:00 a.m. and, again, 12 hours later when we returned.  In Oysterville, the sky was blue, the clouds puffy and white, the sun shining.  As they say, “there’s no place like home…” —  except when your most important half is still back in Oz.!