Whew, what a week! It started quite rough with me beginning Monday laying on that bathroom floor just trying to stay alive. Luckily it went up from there! LOL Sommer came over to help me put my house back together and I let her! I was thankful she was here, sometimes it gets almost scary. Sunday there was no way Hans was leaving me, but we weren’t expecting me to still be like that Monday. It’s hard when we can’t let people in are home because of my immunity, a lot of the responsibility falls on Hans to be here instead of at work.
We had a busy week and of course fighting for my life for so many days in a row made me behind on some work I still can’t seem to catch up with. Even with staying up working until almost 5 am Friday morning.
Wednesday I really started feeling like a human again. My twin came for a quick surprise visit which was AMAZING and we safely saw each other from 10 feet away & had a nice but too short visit! Then I met with my oncologist and they checked my blood counts. The good news is I’m now fully recovered from all the issues I had from my stay at the timeshare Venice Regional Medical Center. I saw someone yesterday call it the Crap Hole Hospital, not sure if they changed the name of it or what. The bad news was I had one very lonely white blood cell. So, the super painful shots began again as planned. I was instructed to go home, don’t touch anything (flowers, produce, pets, and don’t do anything dangerous like get a paper cut) don’t eat a slew of items, and stay away from the human species, even the ones I live with.
I go back for another shot tomorrow. Hopefully by Monday I can pet the dogs again and maybe if I’m really feeling wild and crazy I’ll even chance life and eat a grape or something. The dogs haven’t really been listening to the drs orders much. Tank loves to sit on my feet, weirdo and Shadow is always coming to put his head in my lap. But, we do the best we can.
We got Hans’ truck fixed which was a big YAY and I have to give a huge shout out to
Dallas Council
at AA(beep beep)MCO Transmissions & Total Car Care. He really made it possible for us to fix the very expensive issues and get it back on the road. We would not have been able to do that right now without his help. It was Hans’s first truck and it’s not like he was ever getting rid of the damn thing, but since he has let Jasper drive his newer car we did become to rely on the old thing. We were just about to buy him a new one when I was diagnosed. With him taking so much time off to take care of me we just decided to put it on the back burner until I’m done with treatments. And again, if you know Hans, he ain’t gettin rid of that old truck! LOL Dallas even gave us a warranty on the transmission so Hans feels like he’s got a brand new truck without a care in the world!
Also Wednesday we had a meeting with Jetty’s school which my doctor wouldn’t let me attend so Ron went and called me to attend by phone. I was worried because I think all kids regressed a certain amount after being out of school from covid & him starting at a school that teaches weird things like cursive writing. The school of course had the entire team at the meeting and I thought they were really going to give us some bad news. I’ve been suffering with the fact that my kids are suffering through all this cancer shit too. It impacts all of us. It’s not just me going through this. We all have our own journey down this path with different hurdles for each of us. I know I’m not giving Jetty the attention he needs when it comes to his school work many days. His guidance counselor began by really applauding us for handling things the way we have which of course made me feel good. There is no training to be a parent and certainly none on being a parent with cancer. She’s heard about the sloth
going to chemo and she has said many prayers with Jetty for me on days he feels sad or worried. I have so much respect & appreciation for everything his school has done for him And remain so grateful he’s able to be there through this. Jetty’s teacher then stated the reason she called the conference was because how much Jetty has been struggling, more specifically with language arts. She went on to say that since she called the meeting(a couple weeks ago), she felt like she has had a different boy in her class. She explained how sweet and kind he always is, but he wasn’t really motivated to stay on task. She ended up seeing so much improvement in the classroom she gave him an assessment test. He took it at the beginning of the year and was on a late 2nd grade level in reading which increased to him basically being on grade level. This is awesome news because Jetty has always struggled reading and has rarely been ON grade level. Then she went over the math portion and he went from grade level at the beginning of the year to now testing at the middle of 5th grade level
He went to being closer to the bottom to the top of his class! I can’t begin to tell you how happy this made me!
AND MORE BIG NEWS, guess who’s hair came back!!!! Everyone that showed up to cut it, YALL DID A PERFECT JOB!!!! Jasper and I opened it together the minute it came and I thought we were going to both cry happy tears! Lol We were in awe of how amazing it was to have MY hair back! I can’t thank you enough for those of you that showed up with no warning and made this happen for me! Those of you that may not have been here but convinced me to do it and those of you that helped cover some of the cost to make it affordable, there are not enough words to explain what it means to me. I had no idea it would make me so happy! I especially can’t wait to wear this biotch bar hopping to celebrate I am free of cancer and not look like a cancer patient still!
While, the week started off with me physically feeling like I was dying, it’s been a GREAT week! We continue to be blessed by all of you and while I still haven’t been able to properly thank you each individually YOU are making this journey doable. We wouldn’t be laughing and smiling this week nearly as much if it weren’t for the meals you provided through the meal train or the texts of encouragement when I was at my worst or the financial contributions you’ve made to ease that pain. Having you all continue to show up and not give up on us is literally pulling us through this quicksand we were so worried about falling in as kids.
I do need to take care of some housekeeping questions I keep getting asked about. I will post the ways to help in the comments as I keep getting asked to confirm the best way to help us. Yes, Gofundme does take fees, but they aren’t that bad. Those funds are going towards my deductible which will all be due my first chemo in January and other upcoming medical costs which is a huge help. Contributions made to Venmo are going towards uncovered medications I keep getting hit with multiple times on a weekly basis. It’s always a weird symptom, oh here you need this pill TODAY, oh insurance will take 3 weeks to approve so I either pay (and so far have not been successful at getting reimbursed because it wasn’t authorized at the time of purchase) or suffer even more which is hard to grasp that even being possible! I can’t always do that as this week one of those was like $3659.00 and the other one was $490.00 but if it’s around $150 (that’s the typical cost) and I really need it, I do feel I have no choice but to pay most times. My doctor has been amazing at figuring out the cheapest option possible. He wanted me to take a minimum of 3 months off work but he wouldn’t let me send him all my bills! BUT, he has gotten creative and searched out coupons for drugs to send me! LOL He called me tonight around 7 pm very excited to let me know he found me a great coupon and alternative medicine for one of the expensive ones we’re fighting for approval on. Instead of paying $240 he found it for $99 if I shared a code he text me!
Zelle & PayPal funds are filling in all the other gaps that come with cancer life. And, last but not least, the meal train, restaurant gift cards, DoorDash, Grubhub, etc. is Legit keeping us fed right now. Especially me. If you haven’t noticed I am beginning to look like I’m withering away. Now, I did my best to go into this with plenty of reserves! Eating is SO DAMN HARD. One day I can eat something and the next day I can’t. The old way of cooking for the week all day on Sunday, I did religiously for years just doesn’t work. Obviously I don’t have the energy and I don’t know what I’m going to be able to eat from one minute to the next. You guys have SAVED me from starving with your donations. We never used to go out to eat or order out but it’s the only way to eat now. We don’t do it every night, but when I can eat we do order whatever it is I can eat that minute. I had no clue how hard it would be to eat. For me! I’ve always been an eater and a cook which is why I went into this with reserves! Between the mouth sores, tastes, different restrictions that change from day to day, being able to order what I can eat without worrying about spending money we don’t have has been an absolute Godsend and in part is keeping me alive!
We love you all and I can’t wait to hug each one of you soon! I MISS HUGGING my friends
