General

Mom’s funeral was today. One good thing about this is I got to see a lot of family I haven’t seen in years. This time I hope to remain in touch with them. Some of my friends & neighbors who didn’t really know my mom also came & I was very glad to see them. I’ve been trying to decipher my mom’s address book and copy the names into my computer’s address book. In the last few years her handwriting became nearly unreadable because of her arthritis, so it’s been quite a chore.

Mom just died this evening around 9PM. Thankfully I got to see her a last time just two hours earlier, along with a good friend who came with me. I told her not to worry about me and that everything would be OK even though she didn’t wake up. She also didn’t wake up when I was there earlier today. I’m thankful for the great friends I have who I can depend on for support.

My mom seems to have taken a turn for the worse. She’s now getting hospice care & they’re trying to keep her as comfortable as possible & relieve her pain rather than treating her cancer. When I saw her today she slept the whole time and didn’t seem to realize I was there. Yesterday she was awake and talking to me.

Today my mom looked & sounded better than she has in a while, but the doctor is suggesting hospice care. He doesn’t think aggressive treatment for her cancer will do much good, so the best thing would be just to keep her as comfortable as possible. I don’t know how her doctor missed the cancer all along so it’s now in such an advanced stage. Her health has been deteriorating badly in the last few months. Until April she was living in her own condo (which she recently sold), although she needed someone to help her during the day. When her home care wasn’t renewed, she moved into an assisted living facility. In the last few months she started having more trouble breathing until she went into the hospital around the time of hurricane Wilma. That’s when the (new) doctors discovered her cancer.

I’ve been thinking a lot about my father’s unexpected death during Macworld Expo in 1991. That’s one reason I’m not going.

PSP Web Browser

Originally uploaded by mike3k.

I just got a PSP. I’m not really into games, but I love it as a video & music player, and I love having a hand-held web appliance. It’s a lot more useful than my old Palm Zire, which lacked internet access & had a much smaller screen. The PSP’s 16:9 screen is beautiful for playing movies & viewing photos.

I’m still waiting to get my GP2X fixed. Both the GP2X & PSP have their pros & cons. I like the GP2X’s ‘hackability’, but it really needs wireless capabilities.

I’m selling my bricked gp2x on eBay for anyone who’s able to unbrick it or use it for parts.

I finally went to get a passport today, which I should have done long ago, so I’ll be ready the next time I have to go to Vancouver. It was a lot faster & easier than I expected.

My mom is back in the hospital. This morning I got a call that she was being sent to the ER with possible congestive heart failure. I started freaking out because that’s what my father died from. I was at the ER around 10AM and they wouldn’t tell me anything or let me in until about 12:30. When I finally got to see her, she was awake & alert, so I asked how she was and she said “my backside hurts from laying here”. Thankfully it wasn’t life threatening, but they had to drain a lot of fluid from her lungs. She’ll be in the hospital for a few days. The last few weeks have been very difficult & I’ve been spending most of my time doing errands for her.

My Gp2x arrived today, so don’t expect me to write too much for a few days 🙂

My mom has lung cancer. She just had to move into a convalescent home where she’ll get 24 hour care and she has to have oxygen at all times. Because of her age & general poor health, the doctors can’t do much. Today I brought over a lot of her clothes and other items. Visiting her empty apartment and going through her stuff is very depressing.

Tomorrow will be the first Thanksgiving (and it also happens to be my birthday) when we won’t be able to go out to a nice dinner together.