Hello on Saturday

Dear Friends,

This is the start of the 11th day of Linda being at Berkshire Medical Center. Linda and only one other guy have been there the longest. On this floor, people come and go at a rapid pace unless you are fighting a serious infection like Linda and our new friend has been fighting.

The doctors continue to like what they see with respect to Linda's incision / infection. The normal progression goes as follows: You have the Grey's Anatomy doctor and residents poking and prodding Linda's incision area around 6 AM each morning. The infectious disease doctor usually stops in during the mid morning. Linda's surgeon or his partner stops in after noontime. They have all decided to not change their approach in stopping the infection.

The incision is still red, sore, and hard. The doctors say that the hardness could be another abscess forming, but they don't want to deal with a possible abscess until the antibiotics finish doing their job. She still gets pain medication every four hours because she is not pain free.

As I said in a previous email, she can get out of bed on her own. She can take care of personal hygiene. She has her meals while sitting in a chair. She has been taking walks several times per day on her floor. People have been commenting that she looks pretty good tooling around the halls. Linda said that she was lucky that she got a haircut a couple days before the hospital ordeal.

I also said yesterday that her surgeon used the words that they are getting "close to having her discharged" The white blood cell count has been getting better, but it still is not back to normal. Infections are very slow with respect to the healing process.

I think that the length of the stay is getting to her mentally, but she is willing to stay in the hospital until the infection issue is resolved. She doesn't want to go home too soon, and end up back in the hospital.

I hope that I am not contributing to her semi depression because I have been partying or hooking up with friends since Tuesday night. I will continue on with social engagements without her on Saturday and Sunday. I am not sure how many of next week's St. Patrick's events she will be able to attend. It is not the same when I am partying without out her. She does encourage me to represent the family, and I have been doing that very well.

I have four Irish Soda Breads baking as I compose this e-mail. These are for the 40 Shades of Green Art Show on Sunday at the Lichtenstein Art Center on Rennie Avenue in Pittsfield at 1 PM. Our Irish Sister City Committee is running the reception portion of the art show from 1 to 3 PM. It is free of charge. Rakish Paddy, an Irish Band, will be playing for a couple of hours as people peruse the art show. I heard that one lady stopped into the art show a couple of days ago as Judy Gallup, the owner of Pasko Gift and Frame, was setting up the hall. The lady bought one of the art works right on the spot.

Today is the Albany, New York St. Patrick's Parade which starts at 2 PM. Our friends from the Irish Sister City Committee and the Irish American Club will be marching. They will be partying before, during, and after the parade. A great deal of the partying takes place at the Albany AOH (Ancient Order of Hibernians) hall. The festivities then move to McGeary's Irish Pub into the wee hours of the morning. McGeary's is within walking distance of the Crowne Plaza which is where they all will be staying.

After marching in the parade, the Gormalley's are taking a little side trip to Proctor's Theater for a Munnelley Brother's Concert. The Munnelley brothers are from our Irish Sister City Ballina, Ireland. They have played in Pittsfield before, but now the band has reached the big time.
Yesterday Linda slept very well during the day. A friend visited while I was home taking a nap. Linda was fast asleep so the friend left a note.

Linda picked up a roommate around 4 PM. She had a female operation, and she won't be Linda's roommate for too long.

Sports, etc. -- Both the Celtics and the Bruins lost last night. I went to bed unhappy, and without a wife!


Well, I have to finish the morning routine, and head off to see how Linda is doing today.

Have a great Saturday and Sunday.
Talk to you soon. The Curley Lad