2-15-25 Cancer
Retired Life. Sunday.
Happy Sabbath! Here, have a Jesus Picture!
Sacrament Meeting. Men's Meeting. To the Old Folk's Home to take the Sacrament to Hanna's Mom.
And then the party began! Justin and the grandkids arrived, the ton of food and snacks was put out, and the game began. 100% of us cheered for the Eagles, so everyone had a happy day. Extremely happy!
Because the foodies always want to know: Steak bites, Mac N Cheese, Lil Smokies, Shrimp Cream Cheese Dip, Ruffles and Dip, Doritos, Tortilla Chips with Salsa, Lots of Dew in the form of Code Red Zero, and we made a batch of homemade Strawberry Banana Ice Cream.
The Ice Cream Maker gave up the ghost though. Sad. It has faithfully made us ice cream since 2013. We had a backup hand crank that we had to use. Took turns. And soon the goo was ice cream, delicious at that. Effort and teamwork almost as good as the Eagle's!
And you know what is nice? We can put off clean up until tomorrow. Or the next day. Or even the day after that. Because we ain't going to work tomorrow, even though it is tax season. Gonna sleep in, get up when we darn well feel like it, and clean up if and when we feel like it. Ahhhh.... Retired Life.
Some called the game boring. Hmmm..... I may just watch it again tomorrow.....got nothing better to do! #FlyEaglesFly
Retired Life. Monday.
It was Revlimid Day. The monthly day when we have to be grounded to the house so we can sign for Hanna's Cancer Meds when they arrive. So it was. I didn't leave the house except to get the mail, put the trash out, and take Frivvy for a walk. It was about 20 degrees out when we went, but no wind and very sunny, so it wasn't too bad.
Frivvy figured it was a good day to stay close to the fireplace and take naps. I joined him for a few of those.
The Revlimid did finally arrive via FedEx, but not without medical drama. Hanna has graduated to Medicare Coverage now, so everything had to change. Different Pharmacy. Different Protocols. Fun times. As Hanna advocated for herself this past week (to make sure she gets her meds and stays alive) she had one pharmacist tell her the pills were already shipped by someone else and "you are very confused." Hanna knew she wasn't confused and didn't let it go. The pharmacist finally called the local cancer pharmacy and they set her straight. So this monthly order now involves the doctor and his staff, the local specialty pharmacy, a mail-order pharmacy in Louisville, the Pharmacuetical Company, a Medical Insurance Company, and the Medicare People.
Then the FedEx app showed two shipments coming. What the heck? Then someone from FedEx called and told her the pills would not arrive because they had been damaged in transit. And then they did arrive, not damaged.
And then we got two pieces of mail from the insurance company. The first one said that they don't cover Hanna's particular drug, but did this time as an exception. (The Medicare website has it listed as covered. Sigh.......) The second piece of mail told her they had approved her drug, but for this one time only. She will need to get approval for all refills. Huh? The doctor's prescription isn't approval enough?
Life sure was easier when the government wasn't involved...
That's why we all have to retire. Because us old people require a lot of drugs. And it takes a lot of time to take care of them like this. Good thing we are retired....
Retired Life. Tuesday.
Usually we go get groceries on Tuesday. But because we're leaving town in a couple of days, we didn't go out. Another cold day out, a good day to take naps on the couch and read.
Frosted trees looked cool. And I made a batch of my Southern Fried Chicken for dinner. (Watch out Colonel Sanders!)
I did knock some things off my project list. (INDOOR projects) Networked our 2 computers together. Or at least tried to. I did get it so Hanna can now print on the color printer. Changed the lightbulbs in the office so it ain't as dark and dreary in there now. (This required climbing a ladder as the ceiling is about 10 feet i[/ O did not fall...) And...cleaned out and organized my bookmarks in Google Chrome. I never had time to do that sort of thing when I was working. No time to sharpen the saw, right? Crazy.
Sadly, this will be our last "chill" day for a couple of weeks as things start to go crazy busy again tomorrow.
Retired Life. Wednesday.
Run to town day. And being old folks, it almost always includes a medical appointment.
Started at the Chiropractor's Office. Hanna got a massage while I got a back and neck decompression and an adjustment.
Then to the bank.
Then, after taking Frivvy for a short, freezing cold walk, we worshipped in our temple.
After that, we met up with Del to give him Annie the Cat. She will be staying with Del and Ella while we go on our next trip. Yes, that means we left both critters alone together in the truck. They behaved and no fur was torn out.
Since we will be in the middle of a Delta Flight on Valentine's Day, we celebrated it tonight. Ribs at Longhorn BBQ. We went there for our first Valentine's Day in 2012 and have dined there every Valentine's Day since. This would be #13. Plus they catered our wedding party.
The behind the scenes story to that: On that first Valentine's Day, we were both so busy with tax season that I hadn't thought of doing anything and had planned nothing. One of my employees asked what I was doing for Hanna.......and it was like "oh crap, I haven't made arrangements for anything." I dropped my pile of tax returns and started desperately calling restaurants to get a reservation. No luck. Until, almost 20 calls down the list, I called Longhorn. And they got us in! I called Hanna and told her to dress western for Valentine's dinner that night. She did and we had a great night. Now it's a tradition.
Retired Life. Thursday.
We spent most of our time today packing and getting ready for our trip tomorrow. And then we took Frivvy down to Pullman where Justin and his boys will tend him for us while we are gone. See the blur which is Frivvy in the picture. He was excited! Especially since they bought him a brand new squeaky toy. We said our goodbyes and our "we'll be backs" and he didn't seem too worried.
Drove home in a blizzard. The truck does well in it though.
Now for transparency and vulnerability. Because I trust my FB friends. Today is the six-year anniversary of me being told "you have cancer!!" That was a brutal day. Through lots of prayers, lots of medical opinions, my own research and advocacy, and having treatment options because instead of conventional insurance, I am with a Medical Sharing Ministry, the tumor in my prostate the size of a Lil Smokey was eliminated and I have been cancer free ever since. (We celebrated today by going out for cancer killing Ice Cream at Ferdinand's Ice Cream Shoppe there in Pullman. Very delicious stuff!!)
Right now I hate cancer. I'm in a pretty bad place with it. Living daily life with a spouse that has a very deadly blood cancer, but is in remission, can be stressful and unnerving. Her cancer cannot be eliminated. It can just be slowed. It will be back. I live waiting for the other shoe to drop, which it could at any time. So, I try to live my life with Hanna one day at a time. Not focusing on the disease, but focusing on her and us and doing things we can have fun doing together. And working down our bucket list. The cruise. A few caching road trips in a new truck. Exploring Alaska. Chile. And now a mission. I do well and stay positive most days. But sometimes I don't.
Hanna studies her cancer and its treatments all the time. I ignore that and focus on making sure the medical bills get paid for, she gets her medicine and actually remembers to take it, and shuttling her to appointments. But a bit ago, she told me the genetic code for the gene that has gone rogue and caused her cancer. I was stupid. I did that which the cancer doctors say never to do. I Googled it. And of course, Google dutifully provides always the worse case scenario. That being in this case, that Hanna has the most aggressive, high risk type of Multiple Myeloma one can get. And points out that even with the finest treatment, victims of this cancer usually only last two years after diagnosis. Well. That was an upper! Yup. I needed that reminder. (Hanna is coming up on three years by the way...nothing short of a miracle).
And then this week we learned that one of Hanna's good friends passed away from cancer. We will attend the funeral next week. Another upper for sure. I'm wondering if that experience will strengthen me or depress me.
Anyhow, even with a huge bowl of Cancer Fighting Ice Cream, cancer still really really sucks.
Sorry this is so long. And carry on Cancer Warriors.
Retired Life. Friday.
Today's mission was to get ourselves from Fairfield to Atlanta in one day. Like most of our travel adventures, it wasn't without challenges.
But first, HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!! See a picture of the type of card old people give to their valentines.
See the picture of us standing in line. That's mostly what we do when we travel by air.
You may think that is a picture of a Mississippi Plate. But actually, it is of the baby blue hook. Yes. They gave us a JEEP hybrid. Both the JEEP and I feel imasculated. And the dial says it averages 19mpg, my truck does better than that without the hybrid crap on it.
A picture of what Google Maps says when we left the airport. We will actually arrive at our Airbnb tomorrow.
And, while we are standing in lines at the airport, Frivvy was helping the grandson clear snow from his driveway. Very happy dog!
Retired Life. Saturday.
Before leaving home, we placed a food order with Kroger so we'd have something to eat in our Airbnb. It arrived around 8am. Way too early for old people that were up past 1am. Yup. Went back to bed. And took another nap later on.
Most of the day was spent with grandkids. Had some good talks. Played a couple of games. Ate their dinner. Watched a movie. Wrestled. Fun day.
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