Another Exciting Episode of …

…The Cherry Pits! Yes, my loyal followers, it’s been like a soap opera during the past month for the Cherry Clan! Let’s see, where shall I begin? It seems like we’ve spent half of our summer in doctors’ offices.  Dorothy met her health insurance deductible for the year in February when she was in the hospital. She is not working this summer, so she took the time to go to a physical therapist and other doctors to have her body checked out from head to toe. After all, it doesn’t cost her anything for the rest of the year! I often went with her. Since I am a retired physical therapist, I attended all of her therapy treatments, twice a week for four weeks. It was interesting. The treatments for back pain have changed since I last practiced thirty years ago. I learned some new techniques for myself also.

               Al had his teeth cleaned but the dentist office called him back in because they saw something suspicious on the x-ray. One of his eye teeth, one that anchors a six-tooth bridge, was decayed. He spent three hours in the dentist chair having the decay cleaned out, rebuilding the tooth, putting in a post, and then when the dentist made the impression for the crown, the post came out! So he had to wait two weeks for it to heal and then go back. On the Friday before the Monday that he was to return for further dental work, he fell. He got an ugly wound on his knee and sprained his back. We dressed the wound, but he could not take anti-inflammatory medication for his back because it increases bleeding time. The dentist had instructed him not to take such medication for a week before his dental procedure! So he was limping around the house, propping his leg up, using hot/cold packs on his back, taking Tylenol, and feeling utterly miserable! I had to be his caregiver!

               On Monday, July 29, we went back to Al’s dentist. He had arranged appointments with a periodontist and an endodontist. So in six hours we saw all three dentists – and went back and forth to three different dentists’ offices four times! (Al had to see the periodontist twice on that day!)

               No sooner had we arrived home when we heard a loud clap of thunder! It sounded like it was right over our house! It took out our land phone line, our internet, and our television. All three are bundled with the same company, Comcast Xfinity. So Al called them; they said they could not send a repairman until Saturday! Yikes! Six days with no phone, internet or cable TV! They said they would notify us if there was a cancellation. In the meantime, poor Al, the political science major, city civic volunteer and local community activist, had no 24-hour news programs to watch! He could not even go on the internet to catch up on the news! But the biggest problem was the lack of a land phone line because that is the one we rely on for our doctors to call us. Al called Comcast every day to check on the status of our repair request. Each time he told them that I was being treated for lung cancer and he was in the middle of dental surgery. Of course, we had our cell phones, but they are not as reliable as the land line. One never knows when the battery will run out.

               To make a long story short, Comcast did move us up to 3:00 on Friday. And somehow we got through the week without Cable TV or internet. Just before the repairman was scheduled to show up, I told Al, “This time, I am going to act sick. You did tell them we needed the land line to keep in touch with my doctors.” So I got an ice pack for my head, leaned back in my recliner, put five prescription bottles on the table beside me, covered myself with a blanket, and closed my eyes. The man arrived, spent an hour fixing our televisions, and then announced that he did not have the equipment to repair the internet or phone, which is hooked into the internet. However, he informed us, Al could take the non-working modem to the Comcast office the next day and they would swap it out for one that works. I was incensed! The repairman wanted Al do his job!! So quiet, timid little me spoke up loudly and said, “What do mean you don’t have the right modem for us??? My husband has been calling Comcast every day this week and screaming and hollering to them that we need our land phone line to keep in touch with my oncologist office!!! I also get emails from my oncologist’s office!!! And you came out here without another modem for us when they knew our situation???? Just wait till I get the customer satisfaction survey on this call!!!!”

               The man became very quiet, and then said, in a small voice, “I may have something in my truck to help you.” After another hour of working on the computers, we had internet access and land line phone service! And, by the way, we had five new messages on our land line answer machine. One of them was from Comcast, confirming the Saturday service call!!!!So Comcast is calling on a phone that we reported to them as dead, to confirm a service call to repair it!!!!! That makes no sense, but it does reveal something about their business practices. Their left hand doesn’t know what their right hand is doing!!!

That evening Al went to visit friends at a local café. However, after acting sick all afternoon, I really did feel too tired to socialize, so I went to bed! Hmmm, it’s true, after all! If you act sick, you’ll feel sick, and you’ll be sick!

For this blog, I thought pictures of the weeds in my garden would be appropriate. Please note that the last picture shows my ribbon of faith, belief, and God’s truth. The weeds cannot hurt my flowers and the cancer cells cannot hurt me. Both weeds and cancer cells have been bound on earth and in Heaven. Also, the dollar weed is the plant kingdom’s version of the cockroach. It can survive in a drought when all other plants die. It has roots that extend eight inches underground and they have large nodes filled with water!

Weed in the red lava rocks

Weeds in the marble rocks

Dollar weed surrounding planter of heather

Weeds growing in paver stones
(The frogs posed for this picture)

Weeds in the mulch with Ribbon