A Daly Christmas Card in May

 You’ve not had to put up with an annual family Christmas card from the Daly’s all these years but you might have to struggle through one today!  I want to tell you about my first string support team….my family,  

We had a fantastic Mother’s Day yesterday so I will start with the one and only Willie Daly.  The majority of you know my Mom Willie but for the uninformed, here’s the lowdown.  She is the rock of what’s left of our nuclear family.  She is 91, lives on her own, drives a Mustang, and has a little Hollywood dog named Suki.  She is fiercely independent and ultimately capable.  This is not to say we don’t worry about our Mom but, even we are impressed at her ability to never age.  She still won’t move to Sun City because old people live there.

Her stamina and endurance is amazing considering who’s gone before her.  We lost my Dad in 1973 so she has been a widow for nearly 50 years.  She lost her youngest son, Patrick when he was 36.  She lost her youngest brother, Bumpy around the same time.  The coolest thing ever, is she still has two younger siblings, sister Patsi and her brother Bobby (who turns 90 this week!)

So, this is one of my biggest motivations to beat this cancer.  I can’t bear the thought of Mom losing another son (especially me!)  Her strength is my inspiration.

Sister Melissa is in town frequently and is here this weekend for Mother’s Day.  She too, is one tough cookie and loves me very much.  She is on standby as my “patient advocate.”  She’s like a dog on a bone when it comes to navigating inefficient medical teams!  

Of course the other mother in my life is the mother of my daughter, and the love of my life, Diane.  She is the reason my attitude is so positive.  We have been married 41 years and retired for 11 of those years.  That’s a dream scenario!  I did not think we could could be any closer than we have been these last 11 years of Snowbirding.  Until, that is, something like this comes into our lives.  She is my spiritual beacon and our faith is growing by the day during this journey.  She is also my “Tiger Wife”  She guards my time ferociously, she loves me daily, and she feeds me like, every :15 minutes!  (I’m down about 10-12 pounds and she is not going to let me go lower than that!)

And the youngest member of my First Team All-Americans is our daughter Rachel.  She is Diane’s rock.  She checks in with Diane nearly every day and has become my personal nutritional expert.  She spends time on the internet researching everything from recipes to cancer-fighting food, even finding important documents against Ari-Zonolite, the company that exposed me to asbestos.  

No Post is complete without an update on Me!  Today is day 13 from the first chemotherapy session.  I had a few days following the session where my stomach was reeling and I was eating very slowly.  I did not lose any taste buds, but food felt weird when it landed in the stomach.  I never felt like I needed to vomit so I assumed it was not nausea.  After a few days of that it was suggested to try the nausea pills to see what happens.  Well, I did and felt better..  So, I took those pills for two days and the nausea went away.  

So, for the last 5-6 days I have felt as normal as could be.  I’ve avoided big crowds, expect for Diamondback games (I just don’t touch anybody!). I did however, make my first Major League catch at Friday’s game.  We were in the first row of the third level and this foul ball was headed right for Mike Quirk’s chest and I snagged it out of the air!  For non-baseball fans, this really doesn’t happen too many times in our lives.  

In summary, I feel pretty good about the first session and can only hope it gets better each time.  What this is beginning to show us is there might be a good chance that we’ll be able to take short two week trips out of the desert heat between sessions this summer.  Again, thanks for consuming my ramblings.  If you get bored, I understand.  But take comfort in knowing that this writing is good for me and so are your thoughts and prayers.  Cheers to Mothers!