I enjoyed the awards ceremony at Pinelands Regional (H.S.) last night, but it was a l-o-o-n-n-g evening. About two hundred organizations and individuals donated scholarships; the vice principal (or somebody) announced the donating entities, the name of the presenter, and the winners' names, then the students came up to receive their awards to great applause. I was presenter for the Sunrise Bay Women's Club and the sweet girl who won the $500 scholarship gave me a big hug and "thank you." Barb wrote down her name and I'm going to call the school today to see if I can get her e-mail address. I'd like to contact her to find out where she plans to go to college (or some other form of higher education), her course of study, and so on, so we can inform the members. Unfortunately, neither Barb nor I can attend the meeting this Sunday (B. and Ray are going to NYC and I'm going to Jen's shower), so I'll give the info to co-president Susan to announce. It was after 8:00 when the ceremony was over, and we decided not to stay for refreshments. Got home in time to catch the last part of "The Roloffs," but missed Zach's operation. That's okay, as I know they'll re-run it several times, so will see it later.
On a nutritional note: I skipped dinner, thinking we'd eat something after the awards ceremony, but neither Barb nor I were anxious to stay, so just had my usual wine, popcorn, and two FF Popsicles when I got home. I had had half an acorn squash and some broccoli about four o'clock. It's not the Weight Watchers way, but it sure ain't the worse kind of cheating, either.
Earlier, I finished clearing out the side of the study where the built-ins are going, except for the furniture (two high bookcases, the desk, and a small table), and the computer, fax, and printer.
It continued to rain like a bitch for several hours, but stopped in the afternoon. Went to Home Depot and got several gardening items, including rose food for the beautiful miniature roses Ellen sent for last Mothers' Day. Unfortunately, although they're in bloom, the roses have "black spot," and I got a spray for that. After the torrential rains, I thought that dead Scotch Broom bush would be easy to get out, so tried, and couldn't budge it. I'm going to have to hire somebody or ask Alison and Mike.
This morning, I take Pat to the pulmonologist. I don't expect anything to change in treatment. Depressingly, his disease is described as "end stage," meaning there's nothing else to try. Marge's husband, Fred, send me an article on experimental treatments for emphysema which I'll show the doctor. However, it seems unlikely that first, she doesn't already know about them and second, that Pat would be a candidate, considering he already had Lung Volume Reduction Surgery 8 years ago. Having had a third of his lungs removed, he probably doesn't have enough lung tissue left to allow for further invasive or semi-invasive procedures.
Tomorrow, I'm going to AGA, the gastrointestinal group where I had my colonoscopy last year. I saw an ad in the paper for people who take minimal doses of aspirin and are over 65 to be research subjects for a new combined aspirin/acid reflux pill. I thought it looked interesting and might participate after I find out more about it--notably, what's in it for me. More about this tomorrow.