Day 5. Making some significant physical progress, finally figuring out pill management . . . still plenty of emotional ups and downs, but I think I really, truly might be able to go home tomorrow. My boyfriend is counting the hours, and that in itself is a high point of every day. He has been sending me photos of my flower garden in bloom, assuring me that we had rain and that everything looks beautiful, updating me about the cat, about the turtles he sees at the pond. Mash notes: that's what they called them in the 1880s.  Just spontaneously he sends these little mash-note texts several times a day. It is the sweetest thing ever.

This morning my nephew is playing in a postseason high school tennis match. He's a very good player, and my mom and I have never seen him on the court before. My dad really wants me to take my mom to see the match, so my older nephew has arranged to come over and hang out and do some jobs here, and my mom and I are going into town to watch. And tonight my dad wants to have a little party--just my sister's family, coming over for pizza and card games--but this will be the first time he's been in a gathering since he came home. So we are focused on arranging nap times, pain management, exercise times, etc., so that he can be at his best when the house is full of people. If we can get through this busy day, then I think we'll be over the hump and the two of them can take the plunge and try out being home alone together.