New Year's Eve

I am hoping for a quiet New Year's Eve tonight, though that may be optimistic...on Christmas night, at 10:30, the neighbors started shooting off major fireworks, high in the sky booming and sending a rain of something (sparks? ash?) on our house so that I thought someone was spraying a hose at the window next to where Manford was sleeping. After listening for some time, I went over in my pajamas and asked them to be quieter (there was a party going on, also), and got a rude reply, but they did get quieter...so we will see.

The kids are at the Quaker Summer Gathering in Ngarauwahia, just north of Hamilton. I went up yesterday to take Joseph to lunch for his birthday, and it is a really nice camp with lots of activities, and they seem to be having fun.

Manford had a subcutaneous pump installed on Monday, after some advocacy, which is what we call begging and cajoling, right? on my part. I kept asking "what is the downside? are there clinical risks? why NOT do it?" because he was having to take 20-something pills a day, with increasing difficulty using a straw, and I was afraid he would choke. On Friday, when I first asked this, the big nurse in charge (in the sky, who I have never met) said no, because he could still swallow. No one could or would tell me why not do it if it could make him more comfortable, as I learned it had for our friend who is in similar straits. Then on Monday the nurses came and actually listened to me when I said I was afraid he would choke, and they may be in trouble with the big nursie at home, but it was a holiday and they didn't have to ask her. I have since gathered that the drawbacks are resourcewise, since they now have to come every day to load the pump. I didn't know this, and no one would say. Anyway, it has been helpful, as he quickly seemed much more comfortable and settled, though he slept much of the first couple of days. He was a bit more up and down yesterday, but still better than before.

Sarah left on Tuesday, and I hope is home by now...it was really good to have her.

Happy New Year's Eve Eve, for those on the other side of the dateline...
Carrie