Cancer Journey- Part 8

Wow! I forget how busy and mentally draining it is to move! We are now in Washington and enjoying much cooler weather than Texas is having. Most of all we are enjoying being with family and friends and getting our property back up to par after 6 years of renters.

Let me back up and get you up to date as to what has been going on.

If you would like read from the beginning click here, or to read part 7 click here.

Good-Byes

My father-in-law was able to join us for Sister’s graduation. The following Tuesday, he and the kids flew up to Washington. The fewer the people in the house the better when it comes to moving prep and deep cleaning. The kids got settled in at his house and the older two wasted little time putting in applications for summer help. It wasn’t long before they started work.

June 2nd was my last day at work. I know I’ve said it before, but I loved my job and the people I worked with. I was getting tired and had to leave early most days, so by the time my last day came I was ready for a break. It still wasn’t easy saying good-bye though.

People were asking if I had been applying for jobs back home yet. The answer to that was, “No.” I never know what days I will be wiped out and I don’t want the stress of trying to power through at work. Once everything settles down from getting my house in order and the kids are back in school, I may look for places to volunteer. We’ll see.

Last Appointment in Texas

June 9th was my last time being seen in the Texas clinic. I have had a hard time deciding whether I should tell the whole story about this visit. There was an issue that happened. On the one hand I don’t want anyone to think poorly of my doctor because he is an incredibly wonderful doctor, but on the other hand it may help someone understand why they need to pay attention and ask questions.

I had done my bloodwork the day before my visit. The doctors can see the information before I can by a day or two. All that is required of the visit is the doctor looking over the numbers on the lab work and deciding if everything is good enough to continue in the course of treatment. The nurses look at what medications are prescribed and then administer them.

I got called back with a nurse I hadn’t seen before. She had a pretty thick Eastern European accent that was hard for me to understand. She said that she had two of my shots ready but was waiting for the third one. I only get two shots. I thought she misspoke and was saying that she was waiting for my pills, which always take a long time for the pharmacy to release. She said again that that the third shot was taking a while to be released, but we could go ahead with the two. I looked at the box that the shot came in and I didn’t recognize the name. That’s not saying much, because I refer to them as belly shot and arm shot.

She said she could start with the one in my back side. We were having a back-and-forth conversation that was going nowhere. Ben spoke up and told her that I was confused because I have never had that shot before. She went to the computer and checked. She reassured me that the doctor had ordered this shot. We told her that I hadn’t seen the doctor, so we didn’t know it was being added to the lineup.

Ben has done a ton of research into the drugs that are prescribed for my cancer and why they are needed and what the side effects are. He knew exactly what that shot in that box contained. It was the second line of defense when the first drugs fail. He warned me that it would be painful. Our normal nurse was in the station next to us and told him to stop scaring me. Ben told her that he didn’t want me to be surprised by what was going to happen. Which I was thankful for.

Since we had no way of seeing my lab results, we could only imagine that things were not good.

The nurses went on to say that they could give me the shot then have the doctor come in to explain what it was for. That didn’t set well with either of us. One of the nurses said that Dr. B was with another patient, but she would check with him about the shot. She came back and said that he would be in in just a few minutes.

A few minutes later he came in and apologized. Turns out there are two of us with lobular breast cancer that he is treating, and he put her meds on my chart. He said that’s why he’s thankful for nurses that double check when things are not normal. We didn’t bother to tell him they were going to just give me the shot and it was Ben and I that questioned the meds.

At the end of it all I had my two shots and picked up my two other daily meds and went home thankful that my tumor markers were down a little bit and the rest of my blood was slowly going in the right direction.

June 13th the packers started tackling the house. They were a good crew. Just three of them came and had it done in two days.

Saying Good-byes in Louisiana

June 16th we made a trip to Louisiana to see friends and get in some amazing church time. The church there has been praying for me and my family from the beginning of my diagnosis, so everyone knows the story. We haven’t lived there for ten years, so there were a lot of people that we didn’t know. It didn’t matter if they knew me or not, almost everyone in those seats came up to pray over us. Not only did I receive prayers, but words of encouragement. I needed both.

I was a sobbing snotty mess by the time I sat down. I turned to Ben and said, “This is why I wanted to come to Louisiana.” He said, “I know.”

Moving Fun!

Tuesday, June 19th, the movers showed up to load the truck. It was a different crew than before. They messed around with some boxes. Left. Came back. Messed around with some boxes. Sat around. Wrapped some furniture. Broke my coffee table. Sat around some more. Another crew showed up and then they started working. This was hands down the worst crew we have ever had. They were so slow that they had to work until after 10pm. Ben turned our truck’s headlights on so they could shine in the back of the semi. At the end they just started throwing our furniture in with no wrapping. 10:45 pm the driver pulled out and said he would be to our house by Friday.

Ben’s brother has done these military moves plenty of times also, so he knows how it works. He agreed to be a receiving agent for us since we would not be there in time to receive it.

We spent the next few days really deep cleaning the house. Probably cleaned more than was required, but hopefully the next tenants will appreciate it.

Ben got a call saying that the driver was going to be to our house on Thursday, so he got ahold of his brother and made sure he could be there.

Thursday, June 22nd, we were supposed to have our inspection. We did the last-minute cleaning and ate the last two popsicles in the freezer. We got a call from housing saying that the woman doing the inspection would be quite a bit late because she was stuck in a meeting. While Ben was polite on the phone, I think she could tell his annoyance because the housing inspector called a couple minutes later to say that we could just go and she would do the inspection when she was done with the meeting.

So, we hit the road and headed north with the cat and two mice. That day we saw Texas, and more Texas, but finally we finished the day still seeing Texas.

While on this single state tour we got a call from Ben’s brother saying that the moving truck never arrived. The unloading crew showed up, but no one could get ahold of the driver. The crew, the moving company, no one could find him.

Friday was spent with many phone calls back and forth between Ben and the moving company to keep us informed on the search for the missing moving truck. We finally got news in the afternoon that they found the truck. He had dropped the load in the company’s lot. Once they found the trailer they opened it and saw the awful way that our furniture had been packed. The crew lead on this end took pictures so that if anything was broke (which it was) it would be documented that it wasn’t him and his crew.

It was arranged for our household goods to be delivered on Monday. Ben cleared it with Jay once again.

We made our way out of Texas and through New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, Idaho, Oregon and finally on Monday the 26th we made it to our home in Washington.

The movers were there (excellent ones this time), the trucks with our stuff were there, Jay, my father-in-law and two of our kids were there. The rest of Jay’s family showed up with cake.

My parents came up the next day and helped. My dad worked the garage with Ben, while my mom and I tackled the kitchen. They got us up to a functioning level. I’m so thankful for our families.

We are getting settled in, though there is still a lot to do. I have met my new doctor here. He is super nice and very thorough. I’ll write more about that next time.

Thank you for reading along and for all your prayers and support. It means more to me than I can express.