Yesterday we had more bad news about my dad - the worst, the very worst. It wasn't exactly a surprise but still was most difficult to hear. A lot comes down to him not eating, losing weight and strength. His oncologist told him that, hungry or not, he HAD to start eating or the alternative was hospital/feeding tube and that he wouldn't recover if it got that far. He has some doubt that Dad can recover now, the weight loss being so extreme that he might be past the point of no return. When Bo asked, Dr. Carter said that it's still possible that if Dad eats and gets stronger, they can do another course of Sutent and it may work better, that in a stronger physical state he could better withstand localized radiation, but either of those will take time, which if Dad keeps this up he doesn't have much time.

Although that dire prognosis was dreadful, last evening I had some hope nonetheless. It seemed like Dad finally "got it", realized that he needed to eat meals and drink milkshakes whether he felt hungry or not, whether he enjoyed the taste or not. He insists that he is not giving up and that he will do what is necessary for his recovery. He ate some of a hamburger, some milkshake and a good dinner yesterday. But then tonight I checked in with Mom who reports that he's slept all day, has not eaten anything whatsoever and blew off his radiation appointment because his back hurt and he "didn't feel like going". *cue primal scream*

I shall quit dwelling upon horrible things I can't fix and return to some blog levity. A while back I posted about Alan's handwriting puzzling me, particularly on the grocery list. Tonight was a prime example. There is one entry on the list indicating that we should purchase "Calcutta". Now, it's true that his new job is going to pay better than his old one and I got a raise at the beginning of the year, but still I felt that Calcutta as an expenditure was pretty extreme. It seemed more prudent to start with a smaller, less populous city and work our way up to Calcutta. Moreover, I understand that Calcutta has considerable problems with pollution and traffic congestion, which could be avoided if we were to purchase, say, Des Moines. Calcutta just seemed altogether problematic, so I asked him if he was certain about this Calcutta purchase and he looked at me like I was the one who was nuts and said, "Calcutta?!? That says cat litter."

I took some pictures as proof of the Calcutta entry, but they aren't very good. If I took the picture with the flash, all I got was a pinkish white blob, but on my digital camera (maybe it's this way with all/lots of them, but on mine at least) turning off the flash also turns off auto-focus and image stabalization. So if you twitch even the teeniest, tiniest bit, the picture is so blurry that it's unrecognizable. I tried, though (click on pic for larger version):
Lastly, I shall leave you with the absolute archetype, the quintessential embodiment of Computer Geek: surfing on two Macs at once.I find the uber-geekiness most endearing. I love my husband.