Have you ever met someone who ALWAYS seems to be in trouble, facing challenges one after another...some of them remarkably bizarre? I'm not talking about the kind of trouble that invites the attention of law enforcement officials (well, not on this particular day). I'm talking about out-of-the-blue, "I never saw this coming", "what have I done to deserve THIS?" drama. Well, that's my life. Some might argue that I've brought a lot of circumstances on myself, and in certain cases they would definitely be correct. But a lot of these "mishaps and misfortunes" are just too bizarre for even me to comprehend (and I have a pretty wild imagination.) To give you an example of what I'm talking about, I'll provide you with a synopsis of the past five years of my life:
December 2008: Knocked down a flight of stairs in Charleston, SC by a two large dogs who were walking their owner. (Dogs and owner left me lying at the bottom of the stairs with a leg injury.) January 2009: Leg, which is miraculously not broken, is not getting better. Doctor orders more tests, antibiotics. February 2009: Leg wound starts to drain. I am admitted to the hospital with a life-threatening staph infection. April 2009: Two months, three surgeries, four different IV antibiotics and a wound vac later... I am finally released from the hospital and return to work. May 2009: Son complains of pain in his side. Rush him to the hospital, where he has an emergency appendectomy - one week before high school graduation. September 2009: Son collapses during a college basketball practice. Small tumor is discovered in his nasal cavity. Has surgery to remove tumor, which turns out to be benign (thank God). December 2009: Four days before Christmas, husband says he isn't feeling well; thinks he may be having a diabetic reaction. Check his blood sugar. It is normal. He says his stomach and elbow are hurting. I call 911 and tell them I think he's having a heart attack. He thinks I'm crazy until EMS arrives and confirms my suspicion. He has surgery and two stents put in his heart. February 2010: Son has major surgery for shoulder injury, ending his freshman college basketball season. April 2010: Son finishes freshman year and returns home to help me care for his father, who is still not feeling well. May 2010: Son and I notice that husband is unusually winded. Take him to the ER, where he's admitted with a blockage in one of the stents. Has a second surgery. August 2010: Son heads to school in another state, daughter to her freshman year of college in NC. Husband calls while I'm moving daughter in; son's new school has overbooked dorms. He is in a makeshift room with 12 other athletes. No closet, no drawers, all personal belongings locked in his car. Finally gets into a dorm a week later. September 2010: Son is miserable at new school; packs van after three weeks and comes back home to work and attend community college. December 2010: While getting out of the shower a week before Christmas, I notice what I think is a piece of black debris in the middle of my back. Go to scratch it off and it bleeds. Call doctor, who gets me in that day. He removes a large black mole from the center of my back and sends it off to be biopsied. He calls two days after Christmas to let me know the mole is being "sent out of state" for further evaluation (not good.) January 2011: Doctor calls to tell me mole has tested positive for melanoma. See a dermatologist, then a surgeon. February 2011: Have surgery to remove additional tissue from my back. Post-surgical complications mandate overnight stay, and make healing process very uncomfortable for several weeks. Foot long scar on back is extremely painful, but after six weeks I return to work. May 2011: I start a lengthy journey to explore treatment options, landing in DC, where my best friend & freelance business partner lives. Daughter moves back home because we can no longer afford to pay for college. She and son attend community college here and work to help support our family. My immune system continues to weaken, work becomes a challenge, but workload increases throughout the summer. June 2011: Have two separate vein surgeries in my bad leg to help improve blood flow & reduce swelling. Surgeries help some, but are not completely successful. September 2011: Lose job, lose house in foreclosure, move to rental home, start first of several treatments. October 2011: new, small melanoma discovered on my back and removed. December 2011: Suspicious growth discovered on left femur. New treatment begins. February 2012: Third suspicious mole removed for biopsy in NC, upon my demand. It ended up testing positive for cancer. Had surgery to remove additional surrounding tissue on my chest two weeks later, and transferred all care to Washington Cancer Institute in DC. Got in to see amazing melanoma specialist, who still follows me. April 2012: My beloved dog/friend/caregiver Gypsy becomes ill and we have to euthanize her. May 2012: Son gets a personal training job two hours away and moves back out. Turned 50, and spent one of the best weeks of my life at Topsail Island with friends and my daughter. Returned home at the end of the week with tremendous back pain, but attended my 50th birthday party in Salisbury. Continued monthly trips to DC for treatment throughout the summer, continuing to battle intermittent headaches and pain issues in my back. June 2012: Husband quit job in neighboring city in order to start company and be at home to help take care of me. August 2012: Discovered mass on back of head. Scanned and referred to surgeon for biopsy. Had allergic reaction while in the physician's office, passed out in the bathroom, hit head and rushed to ER. Daughter surprises me with a new puppy named Lilly. September 2012: Have surgery to remove mass on back of head, which reveals bad infection, but no metastasis. A group of childhood friends start a charity to benefit our family, as we are financially destitute. October 2012: Emotional ups and downs, med changes and financial woes worsen. Left side back pain increases. November 2012: Ultrasound confirms small mass in left kidney. Start new treatment & meds. January 2013: Start next phase of treatment. February 2013: First round of tests show no changes. Husband starts feeling poorly, ends up in hospital for third heart stent surgery. March 2013: Complete treatment for kidney mass, which is a success. Start receiving food stamps and basic medical care at free clinic in town. April 2013: Unable to pay rent on existing residence, we move to a smaller house around the corner. We are forced to give up one of our cars because we are unable to make the payments. I decide to take a treatment "hiatus" until June and get my immune system back on track. Two friends - one of them close - enter the final stage of their cancer battles, and I want to be there for them. I'm feeling worn down...but NOT out. I will survive this. And I will do it with laughter and a smile on my face. Why? Because that's how I roll!!!
So...you're not seeing the humor in all of this yet, are you? Well, that's because I haven't shared all of the in-between stuff...the crazy antics that have gone on throughout these trials of mine. It is those events - and the people involved in them - that have kept me moving from one crisis to another, enabling me to get past the ugliness of it all and continue on my journey, where I know I will eventually see a big, glaring light at the end of the proverbial tunnel. My daughter has kidded me throughout this journey, saying that I'm "riding shotgun on The Struggle Bus". But I'm not riding shotgun at all...I'm driving this damn bus! With love, laughter, friends, family and a helluva lot of faith...I am going to reach a destination better than the one I'm in. I'm just taking a few "detours" on the way. But I sure am meeting a lot of great people, learning a lot about life and becoming a better person in the process. Friends and family have pushed, prodded and even insisted that I start using my writing skills to document some of my adventures, and I guess I finally decided to stop procrastinating. After all, this is a very precious life I'm living, and the odds are pretty much against me living to be incredibly old. But who knows what the future holds? This girl is by no means giving up; my job here is not done.
Welcome to The Struggle Bus...Zippy's Tales have FINALLY begun!
December 2008: Knocked down a flight of stairs in Charleston, SC by a two large dogs who were walking their owner. (Dogs and owner left me lying at the bottom of the stairs with a leg injury.) January 2009: Leg, which is miraculously not broken, is not getting better. Doctor orders more tests, antibiotics. February 2009: Leg wound starts to drain. I am admitted to the hospital with a life-threatening staph infection. April 2009: Two months, three surgeries, four different IV antibiotics and a wound vac later... I am finally released from the hospital and return to work. May 2009: Son complains of pain in his side. Rush him to the hospital, where he has an emergency appendectomy - one week before high school graduation. September 2009: Son collapses during a college basketball practice. Small tumor is discovered in his nasal cavity. Has surgery to remove tumor, which turns out to be benign (thank God). December 2009: Four days before Christmas, husband says he isn't feeling well; thinks he may be having a diabetic reaction. Check his blood sugar. It is normal. He says his stomach and elbow are hurting. I call 911 and tell them I think he's having a heart attack. He thinks I'm crazy until EMS arrives and confirms my suspicion. He has surgery and two stents put in his heart. February 2010: Son has major surgery for shoulder injury, ending his freshman college basketball season. April 2010: Son finishes freshman year and returns home to help me care for his father, who is still not feeling well. May 2010: Son and I notice that husband is unusually winded. Take him to the ER, where he's admitted with a blockage in one of the stents. Has a second surgery. August 2010: Son heads to school in another state, daughter to her freshman year of college in NC. Husband calls while I'm moving daughter in; son's new school has overbooked dorms. He is in a makeshift room with 12 other athletes. No closet, no drawers, all personal belongings locked in his car. Finally gets into a dorm a week later. September 2010: Son is miserable at new school; packs van after three weeks and comes back home to work and attend community college. December 2010: While getting out of the shower a week before Christmas, I notice what I think is a piece of black debris in the middle of my back. Go to scratch it off and it bleeds. Call doctor, who gets me in that day. He removes a large black mole from the center of my back and sends it off to be biopsied. He calls two days after Christmas to let me know the mole is being "sent out of state" for further evaluation (not good.) January 2011: Doctor calls to tell me mole has tested positive for melanoma. See a dermatologist, then a surgeon. February 2011: Have surgery to remove additional tissue from my back. Post-surgical complications mandate overnight stay, and make healing process very uncomfortable for several weeks. Foot long scar on back is extremely painful, but after six weeks I return to work. May 2011: I start a lengthy journey to explore treatment options, landing in DC, where my best friend & freelance business partner lives. Daughter moves back home because we can no longer afford to pay for college. She and son attend community college here and work to help support our family. My immune system continues to weaken, work becomes a challenge, but workload increases throughout the summer. June 2011: Have two separate vein surgeries in my bad leg to help improve blood flow & reduce swelling. Surgeries help some, but are not completely successful. September 2011: Lose job, lose house in foreclosure, move to rental home, start first of several treatments. October 2011: new, small melanoma discovered on my back and removed. December 2011: Suspicious growth discovered on left femur. New treatment begins. February 2012: Third suspicious mole removed for biopsy in NC, upon my demand. It ended up testing positive for cancer. Had surgery to remove additional surrounding tissue on my chest two weeks later, and transferred all care to Washington Cancer Institute in DC. Got in to see amazing melanoma specialist, who still follows me. April 2012: My beloved dog/friend/caregiver Gypsy becomes ill and we have to euthanize her. May 2012: Son gets a personal training job two hours away and moves back out. Turned 50, and spent one of the best weeks of my life at Topsail Island with friends and my daughter. Returned home at the end of the week with tremendous back pain, but attended my 50th birthday party in Salisbury. Continued monthly trips to DC for treatment throughout the summer, continuing to battle intermittent headaches and pain issues in my back. June 2012: Husband quit job in neighboring city in order to start company and be at home to help take care of me. August 2012: Discovered mass on back of head. Scanned and referred to surgeon for biopsy. Had allergic reaction while in the physician's office, passed out in the bathroom, hit head and rushed to ER. Daughter surprises me with a new puppy named Lilly. September 2012: Have surgery to remove mass on back of head, which reveals bad infection, but no metastasis. A group of childhood friends start a charity to benefit our family, as we are financially destitute. October 2012: Emotional ups and downs, med changes and financial woes worsen. Left side back pain increases. November 2012: Ultrasound confirms small mass in left kidney. Start new treatment & meds. January 2013: Start next phase of treatment. February 2013: First round of tests show no changes. Husband starts feeling poorly, ends up in hospital for third heart stent surgery. March 2013: Complete treatment for kidney mass, which is a success. Start receiving food stamps and basic medical care at free clinic in town. April 2013: Unable to pay rent on existing residence, we move to a smaller house around the corner. We are forced to give up one of our cars because we are unable to make the payments. I decide to take a treatment "hiatus" until June and get my immune system back on track. Two friends - one of them close - enter the final stage of their cancer battles, and I want to be there for them. I'm feeling worn down...but NOT out. I will survive this. And I will do it with laughter and a smile on my face. Why? Because that's how I roll!!!
So...you're not seeing the humor in all of this yet, are you? Well, that's because I haven't shared all of the in-between stuff...the crazy antics that have gone on throughout these trials of mine. It is those events - and the people involved in them - that have kept me moving from one crisis to another, enabling me to get past the ugliness of it all and continue on my journey, where I know I will eventually see a big, glaring light at the end of the proverbial tunnel. My daughter has kidded me throughout this journey, saying that I'm "riding shotgun on The Struggle Bus". But I'm not riding shotgun at all...I'm driving this damn bus! With love, laughter, friends, family and a helluva lot of faith...I am going to reach a destination better than the one I'm in. I'm just taking a few "detours" on the way. But I sure am meeting a lot of great people, learning a lot about life and becoming a better person in the process. Friends and family have pushed, prodded and even insisted that I start using my writing skills to document some of my adventures, and I guess I finally decided to stop procrastinating. After all, this is a very precious life I'm living, and the odds are pretty much against me living to be incredibly old. But who knows what the future holds? This girl is by no means giving up; my job here is not done.
Welcome to The Struggle Bus...Zippy's Tales have FINALLY begun!
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