The Journey Continues

 

My dear ones, at long last I'm returning to the internet on a regular basis; it's been much longer than I'd hoped.  So much has taken place since last I posted so I'll try to give a condensed version by month.

Balance of March:  My brothers, Rick and Ted, arrived in Colorado to move me to Texas.  I thought I had been very creative in packing my stuff but my brothers showed me they know better than I how to pack 100 lbs of stuff into a 50 lbs container!  It was packing at it's finest even though it was very time consuming.  

The road trip itself was very smooth and my kitty never made a peep the whole time; in fact he spent a lot of time looking out the windows.  I rested in the back seat while my brothers took turns driving; other than a few pit-stops they drove straight to Texas.  Once there my "kids" met us and we went directly to the storage facility. (if I thought the creativity of packing stopped in Colorado I was sorely mistaken because it took even more creativity to rack pack and stack my stuff into that storage space.  A trunk and pick-up truck bed of stuff wouldn't even fit in and had to come to the property with us.)

Of special note regarding the road trip was spending time talking with my brothers and getting to know more about them in the now....sure, we are siblings but as adults we've not spent a great deal of time with one another, so it was wonderful to find out more about them.  One thing which hasn't changed over the years is that we all still love one another very much; that underneath our 'gruff' exteriors we are all very loving and sentimental.  The fact they let me interrupt their busy lives to help me move is something I'm very appreciative of.  Even though I live a few hours away in Texas from them I look forward to seeing them more often in the near future...why maybe we'll all go out to karaoke, I'd like that.

For the rest of March, all of April and most of May I spent a lot of time being a grandma so my kiddo and her hubby could take care of business with renovating their new house.  Meanwhile we all stayed in their old house, pretty cramped for 3 adults and a baby but we managed not to completely go bonkers (although we did have a few 'special' moments) 

My health (current to now) improved in some respects because I no longer had the responsibility of trying to manage a rental property.  Emotionally I felt relieved to no longer live in Colorado.  Although I miss my friends, medical team, being able to go barefoot outdoors, crisp dew-kissed mornings and the beautiful  mountain views the truth is I just hadn't felt like Colorado was my home for the last few years and being ill didn't help, either.

Texas is my home now but still I have a lot of acclimating to do.  The heat isn't so much the problem as the humidity; thank goodness my new home has a new, energy-efficient cooling/heating system.  This may sound silly but I keep the temp of the a/c to 77 or up to 80 degrees.  With the heat being in the 90's or higher outdoors I think these indoor temps are just right for me.  I still get cold very easily, which makes my body hurt even more than normal.  In the early mornings there is so much moisture in the air it's visible like a fog and there aren't any fresh scents from any of the numerous, tall pines surrounding the house.  The trade-off, though, are the glorious butterflies in hues of teal which flutter around me and sit on my windows for hours; also the gorgeous cardinals and blue-jays flying about the yard.  And of course it's usually very quiet all day being in the woods like this and on a dead-end road.  No sirens, no blaring car stereos; just the occasional small aircraft and a distant train.  It's rained, A LOT, but I find the sound of it soothing on the exterior of this mobile home.  The neighbors pretty much stick to themselves but there are two I have a problem with.  An old rooster who wants to keep me from passing the property where he lives; he sneaks up behind me and claws me.  The other is a roaming beagle who tears everything up in my yard and refuses to be chased off.  Both are quite annoying and unfriendly; no doubt, they think the same of me.

Just this week I finally got to sleep in my own bed for the first time since leaving Colorado; yippie!  Also with so much going on before the kids moved I simply wasn't able to spend time online so it was great to get my computer hooked up in my new creative space. I'm looking forward to crafting very soon.

In May the kids and I drove to Wisconsin.  The baby and I both handled the road trip pretty well; the baby probably better than I.  The first few days I spent with my dad, whom I hadn't seen since August of 2001.  We had a very meaningful time, which is good as Dad is not well and has Alzheimer's.  I simply am not in a position to stay with and care for him but I wish I was as it would solve a few practical challenges connected to his condition.  Regardless it was special to just be in the same room with him rather than the phone calls we make to each other.

From Dad's we went several hours to the city where my mom, step-dad, sister, brother-in-law, neice and nephew live.  Since my last being in Wisconsin (August 2001) all of them had moved to this city so it was my first time seeing their homes and them, too (except my mom who'd been to Colorado twice to stay with me)  They had really terrific homes but most of all just being with them was beautiful!  My youngest brother and his wife also drove down from Minnesota to spend time with me (again, not seen them since 2001 either)  I cried a lot, happy tears and hugged them all until I knew I wasn't dreaming to be with them.  We all stayed at my sister's home as Mom's place wasn't big enough to do so.  It's a small city so everyone was living very close to one another.  Our time together was so precious to me and helped my healing process even though it was very hard to say goodbye when it was time to leave for Texas.  At least this time I was going back home with family.

Now an update on my health:  It's been a bear to get medical assistance here; even worse than Colorado.  I've already accumulated over $20,000 in medical bills since being here by going to the emergency dept twice.  I also ran out of all my medications and was on nothing for pain for nearly 5 weeks.  The edema comes and goes, but the biggest issue is rectal bleeding.  Apparently the radiation treatments caused this problem with scar tissue affecting my colon.  The bleeding gets worse by the day but transfusions are only going to be done in an extreme situation.

The good news is that as of June 3rd, I was blessed with a new doctor who is doing her best to help me get funding for the colonoscopy I must have.  She also did my second post treatment pap/HPV procedure which was very painful and caused me to bleed vaginally. I'm waiting for the test results. She wrote me a script for pain medication so I was finally able to get some relief from this daily, constant pain.   She will not be my regular doctor; I'll need a new oncology team.  I'm not in the cancer medicaid program in Texas (to be in it I'd have to have a diagnosis of cancer, again...sigh)  But as of 5 PM today a financial clerk with a special spirit pushed the county medical program caseworker to get me into the county program which will cover all of my medical needs (and hopefully dental as well).

Although I'm at a fork in the road with my health I'm hanging in there.  I've faced the real possibility that I may need a colostomy or that I'm no longer in remission.  No matter what I am confident my faith will sustain me, as it does each day.  I'll do my best to keep you posted regularly.

"Joy is untouched by circumstance."