Jim Dowd The one and only Jim Dowd

It's February 2021.
Jim has missed a pandemic and a coup and an insurrection and Biden being elected but he would not miss the  Facebook challenges.
I thought I'd give this blog up. Or transition it. Or something.
So much for New Years resolutions. I need smaller more succeedable goals. (Why is succeedable not a recognized word? 
No wonder we fail when simple things are hard.)
Here are two things I cannot fail at:
1. Post occasionally and with increasing irregularity on Caring Bridge. 
2. Clean the cat box more often than not.


It's October 19, 2019.
Last year at this time Jim had gone through surgery and was just starting chemo and radiation.
When Jim died on June 5, 2019 it was hard to know what to do with myself or this Caring Bridge site or anything.
Loving someone and losing them sucks.


Many of you have asked me to keep writing about it so I am.
It's supportive to know you are out there in the ethers. 
I'll keep posting on Jim's caring bridge site until the first anniversary of his death.
I miss his snark.
If I write something funny don't be afraid to make jokes.
Thanks.
Bo






August 2018:
We wanted, collectively, to fill everyone in on some news about our beloved snark-meister, Jim Dowd, and a serious health development.

What we know: On Friday, August 24, 2018 Jim experienced what appeared to be migraine-like symptoms and was taken to Beverly Hospital where he experienced a grand mal seizure. Two hospitals and several MRI’s later he learned he has a mass/lesion of some sort in his brain and will be having surgery on Wednesday afternoon, August 29, at Mass General Hospital. Once the surgery is complete, doctors will have a better idea of what it is and how to proceed with any post-surgery treatment. Jim is awake, lucid, pretty annoyed, anxious to get back to work, and maintaining an appropriate level of humor and snark.While this is serious, Jim is in the care of an exceptional team of neurologists, neurosurgeons, nurses and techs in one of the best facilities available to treat him.


What we don’t know: Exactly what this is and the kind of long-term treatment that will inevitably follow. Doctors have a good sense of what they are dealing with, but until they actually do the surgery, they won’t know specifically whether it is a tumor, an abscess of some sort, or a breach of Jim’s Star Wars trivia containment field. Speculation on our part is not helpful, though Jim has requested that, if they should come across it, would they please remove the entire sixth grade from his memory.


Jim, Bo, Rebecca and Treely have an amazing, far-reaching, loving, supporting community in all of you. This is going be a long haul of treatment and recovery. They are going to need each and every one of you in some capacity in the coming days, weeks and months. There will, in time, be a need for all sorts of things - for instance, because of the seizure and subsequent seizure medication, Jim is prevented from driving for six months. There will be a need for meals, walks, dog walking, house cleaning, lots of hugs, rides to doctor appointments... all sorts of stuff that will aid in Jim’s recovery.


But, what they need at this moment is some quiet, focused attention on the task at hand which is getting Jim through Wednesday’s surgery.We are asking that people refrain, for the time being, from calling Bo, Treely and Rebecca, for updates or well-wishes.  While it is deeply moving to know of the tremendous support there is for their family, it is emotionally exhausting to field multiple calls every day.


Updates will be posted when we have things to update. You are welcome to share this link with friends of the Dowd’s.


We know Jim literally has a brain the size of a planet, that it has been contained in that head of his for this long is nothing short of a miracle. We also know he is resilient, tenacious, and with The collective strength of his family and his community will kick whatever this alien invasion is, in short order.
May the force be with him.