Day 176 - Last Day At The Clinic

Today was anything but fun. I was pretty much in tears all day. Partly from the lack of sleep, partly from the emotions of finally seeing my husband after a lonely 3 months & partly from the goodbyes I would have to say today. I snapped photos of the friends I'd made over the past few weeks, exchanged addresses & said my farewells. I cried when I said goodbye to Emily & Mika, cried when I said goodbye to Maria, cried when I said goodbye to Karla & Rossy, cried when I said goodbye to Nora & Adrian… You get the picture. It was messy. I promised to see them shortly & I know I will be back before too long!


I made another trip to the Post Office to send away the final two packages. Nothing like packing your bras & underwear in front of the massive queue at the local Post Office! Talk about airing your dirty laundry! (Mine was clean, don't worry!) :o) The gals at the Post Office were very nice & didn't mind taking the time to process my lengthy list of contents. 1.5 hours later, I was back at the hotel. I had to zip to Las Americas & return a few things.


Of course there would be time! Waiting for the bus, still waiting, still waiting, oh crud! I'm going to be late! I still had to finish packing, shower, do the dishes & send away all my food & cleaning supplies for Elaine. To top it off, I couldn't find my new scale, so I had no idea what my luggage weighed! Oh, I hate being rushed for the airport! Marcos, the taxi driver, was right on time.


Did I tell you about him? Last time I was here, Laura, Mom & I were renting a car for the day to drive to Palm Desert. Marcos was the taxi driver who took us to the rental place. He then took Mom to the airport, then Laura & then me. Strangely enough, one day at the trolley station, there he was! What a small world! I said hello & then made arrangements for him to meet me at the hotel to take me to the airport. This time around, I was outside with Valentina when I saw him pull up to take another couple to the airport. I said hello & told him I would get in touch with him to take me to the airport this time. As my days dwindled, I had put off calling him, as I didn't want to pay for the call at the hotel. I walked out of the border crossing one day & who should be parked out front, but Marcos! It was 2 days before I was due to leave, so I told him the time & my room number. It was time & he was waiting patiently for me!


We visited all the way to the airport. He told me of another Doctor in Tijuana who helped a lot of people. I really didn't put too much into it, as I was feeling pretty let down at the time. We'll see what he says when I'm back home. He dropped me off & left me in the capable hands of a really wonderful guy, whom I have no idea who he works for or what he does, but he was very helpful! He put all my luggage onto a big trolley, took it upstairs, let me check in right away & then took Valentina to be inspected. While I was checking in my luggage, guess what!? It was overweight. One bag was 6 lbs over & the other bag was 15 lbs over!!! What gives!?!? I took out 15+lbs of meeds & decided I'd have to take them as carry on. The young man was kind enough to find a cardboard box & check the box at no extra cost for me! Wow! Lucky me! They also wanted to charge me $200 to check Valentina, but when I explained that I had called in earlier, there was to be no charge, as she is a Service Animal & the only reason she couldn't travel in the cabin with me was due to Barbados Agriculture Regulations. Phew. Saved $400 right then & there!


The lovely young man then let me take Valentina for a potty break, one last time! She had no clue what she was in for! Poor girl! Our next stop was her inspection. A nice lady came out to see that Valentina was healthy & somewhat ready to fly. My poor little pooch had no clue what she was in for! The lady gave her the stamp of approval & they took her away. Sob! I prayed she would arrive in Barbados not too traumatized!


I made my way to security, which wasn't too bad at all! My new silver bracelets set off the detectors, so I had to take them off - note for future scans! I found my gate & decided I should try & get some food in my belly. It had been awhile. As it was nearly 2200, not much was open. A sports bar was, but all they had were hot dogs. I walked back to the main area & the ONLY place open was McDonald's. Great. Are you kidding me? I ordered some garbage & then added the apple slices to try & make it a little bit healthier! Much to my disgust, my 'apples' were skinless & didn't expire for 10 days! Admittedly I have never tried to 'package' skinned apples for 10 days, but I have a sneaky feeling that they wouldn't keep or at least brown for very long! All that boosting I did at Castillo's, now suddenly penalized by a trash dinner! My bill was $13.13 - great numbers when you are about to hop on a plane!


I started chatting with the gal in line next to me. Turns out she's a yoga instructor who had rectal cancer. When she got the cancer, her husband & her got divorced as she found out he was a pedophile! Oh My Stars! She is now a workaholic. In fact, she said she worked all through her cancer. She had a day off, so she was flying to Washington to go to a museum. The saddest part of all was that she had no idea if the cancer was gone, because she couldn't afford the aftercare scans & medicine. IF ONE MORE PERSON TELLS ME SOCIALIZED MEDICINE IS RUBBISH, I'M GONNA… Well, I'll give 'em an earful if nothing else!!!


Once on the plane, I settled in to my seat. I was seated behind the Attendant's Station, so I had decent leg room. Seated next to me was a handsome young chap. I got to 'probing' him & what a story! I hope he emails me! Photos at least! He had just completed Marine Corps Bootcamp! He told me how they slept on the outside of their covers, because it would save time in the morning. Bedtime was 2200-2300 & mornings started about 0400! He had to 'hump it' (backpack with gear) 80+ miles for three days & three nights without food or sleep! I asked if they holler at you like you see in the movies. He said it was much worse! Oh dear! He told me a particular movie to watch to get a better understanding of what it's really like, but I can't remember the name of it for the life of me! If you know of some good ones, send me a comment & I'll see if it jogs my memory!


His Mom, Grandma & cousin had come to meet him & also to attend his graduation. He hadn't had contact for 13 weeks. No email, no tv, no phone, nothing! I asked him what the first thing he was going to do when he got home. Pet the cat? Mom's cooking? Drum set? He told me he was trying not to think about it, as he didn't want to get too excited. Hmm. Okay.


He later proceeds to tell me that he has a fiance at home. WELL NO WONDER HE WAS TRYING NOT TO THINK ABOUT 'IT'! I asked if they had set a date for their wedding, as he had told me he would only be home for 10 days before he headed elsewhere for Special Ops or Combat Training. He tells me they are getting married in 4 days! FOUR DAYS!!!??? Again, NO WONDER HE WAS TRYING NOT TO THINK ABOUT IT!!!! Holy smokes! That's so exciting! I asked if that would even be enough time to get a tux - he looked at me like I was crazy! He'd wear his Marine Corps Uniform, Silly!!! Wow! What a calm, cool & collected guy! I wonder if his fiance was as excited as I was! I hope he'll email me a photo of their big day! Crazy & exciting times ahead!

We both fell asleep & groggily woke up at 0600 in Atlanta, Georgia. He was off to Michigan to start the rest of his life, I was off to Bridgetown, Barbados to see the Man of My Life.
xxxxx
Maria & Valentina (well, hopefully she's okay down there!)

Elaine & Ann. Elaine is from Saskatchewan & I phoned her about a testimonial before I came down this time. She also reckons I was their photographer on one of their cruises! Of course, I was their favourite! ;oP

 

Eleanor & Donna, my shopping buddies!

 

My fellow Albertans - from Whitecourt & St. Albert!

 

My last treatment & Ann, my friend from Jamaica!

 

The Pharmacy crew - Nora & Adrian, as well as the Bread Man & another gal I didn't catch the name of! :o)

 

Maria & Dr. Navarro. Maria is rockin' a super sexxy new hairdo from my last visit!

 

Mika - one of the nurses who takes fabulous care of everyone! Mwah!

 

Karla & Rossy - the gorgeous receptionists!

 

Karla, moi, & Rossy - I miss them already!!!

 

Okay, so funny story about this picture. As I leave Customs, I see these two old bitties sitting on the bench. They were both dressed to the nines with dark sunglasses on. The one in the red shirt still had her hair roller stuck in the front of her hair. It struck me funny. I approached them to ask if I could take their photo & they were quite excited. But they had to 'prep' for the photo, which meant taking out the roller & removing the shades. :o( Oh well, I can still smile about it!
 

Day 147 - Nodular Sclerosing Hodgkin's Lymphoma, Stage 2B

Yes, it's official. Today was the day I received the pathology report stating that yes, you do indeed have those nasty little cells in your body we like to call 'Cancer'. 


I started the day off by having a little jaunt on the treadmill & I even managed to run for 10 minutes of my 30 minutes! Mom was impressed at how long I could run for. I didn't think 5 minutes at a time was much to write home about, er, much to write on the blog about, but here I am! My brother showed up half way through the workout & commented on how I wasn't getting anywhere. Ha ha. He was impressed when I put Valentina on the treadmill & he watched her trot away...


Jeff came over to help Mom with one of her new projects. They chit chatted while I did my best to get ready. I'm so not used to this. How do 'normal' people do it? I workout, get food ready, get supplements ready, shower & it takes me 4 hours! And no, I didn't even talk on the phone!


Of course, the battery was dead in Contemplate, so Mom went to get the booster cables. She has boosted the car 3 times now, but still struggles to know which one goes on first, etc,etc. Hey, don't look at me! Red's hot, black's not! She was getting mad because the handles are really tough to squeeze & she couldn't get it wide enough to go onto the post. Yeah, sure... I even surprised myself! I did it! No problem! Must be all that raw food! Ha! 


Contemplate was back in action & Valentina & I were enroute for Tom Baker Centre. Our first stop was blood work. The Lab Tech was surprised to see my black bag moving, until she saw little eyes looking back at her! After Valentina was finished charming the techs, we walked through the corridor to Foothills Hospital. 


Neil, who hosts our weekly prayer group, met a lovely young lady named Alma, by chance one day. It turned out that Alma had Uterine Cancer & she had her surgery on Tuesday. I had never met her, but I did leave her some serrapeptase. I also left her some Winalite pads to get her going. 


It was pretty crazy going to the hospital with my dog, to see someone I've never met before, who has just had intense surgery & just popping in to say hi! In any case, I found Alma's room & WOW! She is drop dead gorgeous! How anyone can look that stunning after having surgery & being confined to a bed, is beyond me! She was in good spirits & anxious to get on with life & heal. She showed me her stitches. Wow! Poor thing! I've never seen such an incision. (I haven't seen many) She is 34 & desperately wanted to be a Mom. They removed her Uterus & Cervix, but left her ovaries. She told me the only way she could have a baby would be through a surrogate mother. If you know anyone!!!!!! :o) Seriously! I look forward to getting to know Alma better & sharing our roads to health & vitality! She enjoyed Valentina & of course, Valentina was happy to have the attention!


Soon it was time for my appointment. My regular Oncologist was away, so I had the 'Substitute Teacher' today. She was nice. She kind of reminded me of Sarah Jessica Parker in a curly haired, slim, fit, same nose kind of way. 


My blood work actually looked really good! Slight anemia, but most everything else was normal. Even my WBC is normal! I'm thinking that is due to the fact that what I'm doing is working! :o) 


The Doc told me I'm up for ABVD. That means my ticker takes a lickin' & my lungs bid Adieu to their scuba adventures. We talked about BEACOPP & CHOP & many other acronyms. She was very patient & answered all of my questions as best she could. 


We all know how I feel about chemo. Well. She told me 6 months of chemo, every 2 weeks. I asked about a scan & she said they would scan me at about 3-4 months. However, she said that the lumps would be gone after the 1st or 2nd round of chemo. ???? Isn't that a bit of overkill? Of course, they want to be sure they have got it all. But then she added, they are doing tests now to see if they can actually shorten the duration of the dosages. Pardon my ignorance, but why would I take 5 more months of chemo if the first month gets it? And then there are the side effects. The metal taste in my mouth - gee, nothing to do with the toxic garbage you've just pumped in? The hair loss - no biggie, please, take the stuff on my legs, arms & face first! And keep it! The nausea - more drugs for that. The dead taste buds, the tingling in my fingers - possibly permanent... the list goes on. I could drone on, but you'll get bored regardless of what you believe. 


They want me to come back in a week. I'm still processing. Don't panic. Don't stress. Don't worry. I'll be just fine. Nothing will change, just because they found a few cells they didn't like. I'm still feeling great & there are no new problems! RELAX! I'll keep you posted!


After I paid $12.25 in parking... in change... The poor kid at the booth knows me well by now. He laughed & asked if I wanted a receipt too! It was mostly dimes today. If I have to keep going there I'll go broke on parking alone! Can you imagine? I would have to go Thursday for bloodwork & Friday's for treatments... That's a killing in parking fees! I'm in the wrong industry! :o)


My next stop was the Apple Store. I dug out my old wireless keyboard & hooked it up. I can sit back & blog... but it's a bummer to have to move & use the trackpad. So, Magic Mouse... it's a pleasure to meet you! I love MAC! The folks at the store are so helpful & friendly. I chatted with the fellow about several different Mac products. Obviously my budget doesn't allow anything more than a mouse, but a girl can dream! I told him about my photography & he even arranged a session with one of their trainers to help me out & learn how to make the most out of my Mac for my business!!! Once you go Mac, you never go back! :o)


Next stop: Community Natural Foods - Downtown - Where I don't get accused of shoplifting! Supplements & groceries... Ouch! Painful bill! But they were having an info-session on green smoothies... Interesting!


Next Stop: Fishman's Dry Cleaning. Again. I'm in the wrong business. $225 to clean my gown & put it in a box. Not just any box! An airtight preservation box. I told them to clean it first & see if it's worth preserving! 


Next Stop: Costco - returning the blender I bought last week. I didn't even open it, as I decided to get a slightly better one. No, not a Vita-Mix, but a nice Oster one. It reverses. I like that idea. I wandered around Costco, as one does, and end up with things I didn't have on my list, but can still use! Like the MEGA bag of Whiskas cat food for Adios. Saves me a few trips, I suppose! 


Next Stop: Marlboro Mall: Sears. I phoned on Tuesday & it was a task & a half. I called 4 different Sears stores & after no answers, hang ups, disconnects, poor customer service, lack of skill/knowledge, I FINALLY found my blender! And it doesn't go on sale until Saturday, but they gave me 10% off anyways! Thank you very much! I'm so excited to use it!!!


Next Stop: Gas &... Don't shoot me... It was a bad day... Fast food joint. I will be paying for it in so many more ways than just cash. I paid cash. I ate it. I got a headache. My tummy didn't appreciate the garbage. Fair enough. I deserved it. But... The worst punishment - I bought Valentina a hamburger patty. When I gave it to her, she dropped it in between the seat & the console. I can't get it & neither can she. Oh is that going to be rank come mid-July. Gross, gag, puke. So, I hang my head in shame & disgust. 


Next Stop: Home. I pull up to the house & see something moving under the deck. And then the stench hits me. It's a little Pepe le Pew! A little skunk is snooping around under the deck. Hmm. Small problem! How do I get inside? He's not too fussed about high tailing, er, hopefully not! Getting out of the way! I call Mom inside the house & she doesn't answer. I call again. What's a girl to do? It's not as though I can hop out & holler at it & chase it away. And you thought I smelled bad from taking DMSO! We're talking about a whole new level of stinking! :o) I call Mom again & about the time she answers, Pepe scurries from under the steps around the backside of the house. I tell Mom of our friendly visitor & make my way inside. Even unloading the car was potent. I think Pepe must have left us a memory on the deck, as it was a mighty bit strong! Thank goodness Valentina didn't make an encounter... I can't even imagine! Actually I can, last year my cat, Adios, made friends with Pepe. Got him right on his face. 


Have you ever bathed a cat? Poor Adios took it fairly well. The woeful yowls were sounds I've never heard from him before! 


Today was also the 1st anniversary for Jaco & I. Mom bought 'us' a dozen roses & gave us a card. The card was perfect. It had 2 wiener dogs on the front - dog + dog = heart. It made me smile! Jaco - I love you more today than I did yesterday & all the days before & you have made me the luckiest girl I know. Really. I love you & I miss you & I can't wait to see you again! Soon! Very soon!


I had news of a wonderful friend from ships. Sadly her mother was killed while riding a bike. The mother died on the exact same day as the father 13 years earlier. If you have a moment to send some love & healing for her & her sister's poor broken hearts, that would be appreciated. My heart breaks at their untimely loss.


Lastly, as I'm about to go cross-eyed from typing three blog posts in one night... My dear friends, Dave & Michele, got engaged! In Namibia! We think under the same tree where Jaco & I got married! How crazy is that!? I'm so excited for them both! I can't wait to hear all about it! And... my dear friends, Krystle & Ross, who were Bridesmaid & Groomsman, are having a baby is August & on Saturday, they have an ultrasound to find out the baby's sex. They have invited me to go online & see it with them! I'm smiling like a goofy girl right now, but I feel so honoured to be included in their magical moment! Thank you for making me feel special! 


What a day! I'm beat! I'm crawling into bed with my little girl & I will see you tomorrow! 
Maria & Valentina
xoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Blood work about to happen. Note the armband on the floor. Ew. At least the Technician was friendly & she liked my dog! :o)

Dr. Owen's waiting area. I thought the African Elephant was slightly depressing considering it was our 1st anniversary when we married in Africa & here I am, FAR AWAY from my wonderful husband & about to receive the crummiest diagnosis thus far. (Yeah, my pity party is long since over!)

The card & roses Mom gave Jaco & I for our first anniversary. The card had 2 wiener dogs on the cover & said something about the longer couples are together the more alike they begin to look!

Pretty Roses!