Tornado's and Dirty Laundry

TOTO...we're not in Kansas any more!!! Yes Virginia, we're in Texas and what does it do in Texas and surrounding states in the spring and summer?...breed severe thunderstorms and tornado's!!! So first let me tell you that we didn't get out of the infusion center until 1:00 AM this morning...UGH!!! The only good thing was that Brenda got a good nap. We poured ourselves into bed around 2:00 AM. Tired can't even begin to explain the feeling I had...plus I couldn't turn my brain off...I was doing "To Do" lists for another good hour. Oh for heaven's sake! That's why God made Ambien!!! I finally gave up and took one!

We slept until about 8:00 AM and were so hungry (remember that we had no time to get food in the apartment...) that we just put our dirty clothes on...we ran out of clean underware yesterday!!...and went to find food! HA! Maybe that's too much info. But we were hungry and I wanted to take advantage of Brenda having an appetite so off to Le Peep we went. Amanda...we really missed you sitting across the table from us.

After that we went to SuperTarget and proceeded to fill up 2 carts with apartment gear and food. Who knew that when we flew here that our stay would be extended 4 months! Brenda was starting to tire so she crashed on the couch while I put all the stuff away and started the laundry. Thank heaven the apartment includes a full size washer and dryer. It was going to feel so good to take a shower and put clean clothes on.

You know it's been overcast for a couple of days and they were predicting rain for today and tomorrow. It didn't look particularly nasty out and so I thought it would just drizzle or spit a bit. Brenda was watching a little TV and I was doing lists of stuff to do when we saw a severe weather alert flash across the TV saying that severe thunderstorms, damaging hail, and excess wind and shears were in the area and moving in our direction...interesting!!!

It was at that point that we heard thunder and all the power went out!!! And it stayed out! Remember that the whites were in the washer and we only had about 3 hours to recover and get to the infusion department. The hours ticked away...no power...no clean underware!! Dang!! Was the airplane about to take off again??? Please say NO!

Our luck was holding, the power came back on and gave us enough time to take a shower and get the underware into the dryer and ALMOST dry before we had to head out. The laundry- weather gods were on our side and the apartment was still intact although it was starting to rain as we walked out the door.

There were severe thunderstorms all around us and my the time we got to the hospital and parked in the garage, it was absolutely pouring cats and dogs. I thought I was smart and brought an umbrella with us, but I took one that would hardly cover a postage stamp...so much for being smart! Ha! It was pretty comical watching us try to huddle under that thing. Needless to say looked a bit drenched when we got to the second floor. Remember we're the girls from the DESERT where it doesn't rain for months on end!

Holy Hanna Batman...chemo patients and their caregivers were backed up out the intake door...that was NOT a good sign. We learned that they we not minutes, but HOURS behind. There really could be a better system for all this. Well, as my brother-in-law always says..."It is what it is!" So Bren and I decided to make the best of it and we had some snacks, sat in the hall a while, and then when things began to move...we worked on the crossword puzzle in the waiting room. We actually made quite a bit on progress on the thing! So we were supposed to get in at 4:30 and didn't  actually start the chemo until 7:30. HUMMMMMM! That means with a 5 hour run, we ought to get out about 12:30 AM. I got a little smarter tonight and brought some movies!!! Brenda is napping so I think I can safely watch the sci-fi flick, "The Day the Earth Stood Still"on my laptop. (Jordan...this thing is absolutely priceless. Thanks for selling it to me.) Brenda hates these kinds of movies...I LOVE them.

So dear friends...here we sit on Chemo Day 2. Actually Brenda has done amazingly well with her first dose of chemo. No nasty side effects except just being tired, but that could certainly be all the stress she's been under for the last 3 weeks...OH! and the Ativan she took to take the edge off all this! I'm soooooooo proud of her as I know you all are. She is so very heroic with this battle. Her optimism and willingness to work through all this with the tools she has and with the new ones she's learning is inspirational.

It's movie time...where's the popcorn?

Nurse DD