Events from April 1-10th
Really, I don’t try to seek out drama. I know I have a “history”
of “histrionics” as Jason so eloquently puts it, but I can make this stuff up.
We did instigate it a little, but we were just standing up for ourselves.
Jason always tells me that I should write a book about my life. Maybe someday I
will, but I need to make sure it has a happy ending first.
Let me begin with the morning after we finished our last
post. I can’t remember how much I talked about this earlier. I still feel a
little guilty about what we did, but maybe if I can convince you I can convince
myself!! We were told the previous Thursday we would be able to get back to our
room on Monday evening after they had finished “treating” the room. We knew
that they were ‘treating” the room by bringing in heaters and raising the temperature
up to 120 degrees for 4 hours. Please keep in mind that they were just doing
this as a precaution. They didn’t find an “infestation” in our room per say,
but “possible evidence of an infestation”. The DO told me that they could lay
eggs and that in could become “infested” again if they didn’t do this to kill
the “possible” eggs. When we got to the hotel I went down to talk to the DO. He
wasn’t there so I was led to the GM. He briefly explained that they weren’t
able to get the room up to 120 so that the pest control company was going to
bring more heaters tomorrow. I was annoyed and knew Jason would be livid. I joked
with him that well we were going to go to a movie; I always like an excuse to
have to go shopping. He said bring us the receipts we will do whatever we can
for you.
Jason had taken the news better than I thought. I think he
was just excited that I agreed to go to the GI Joe movie with him. We arrived
at the mall and I saw a store that interested me right across from the movie
theater. Jason saw some comfy chairs, so I knew I would have all the time I
wanted. I found something I liked. It was time for the movie, and thought that
maybe Jason would be able to shop a little if he rested long enough at the movie.
I was wrong. He knew that we needed to buy something for him to wear, so he
said he would just wait for me in the truck. Dallas is really funny, you can be
in a nice neighborhood and go a block and be in the ghetto. This mall was a
great example of that. I stuck out like a sore thumb!! I FINALLY found Jason a
shirt that I thought he would like and walked back through the mall very
quickly!!!
I love the mornings before Jason begins another round of
Chemo. He is feeling the best he will feel for the week, and he is looking
forward to relaxing all day in a comfy chair. I know I will be literally
sitting at his feet waiting on him. Nothing makes me happier!! The day went very
smoothly we were able to get back to the hotel at a reasonable hour. Now that
Jason was on the right “cocktail” of medicine he was doing better. We knew we
would have to let the room cool down so we planned on just moving all of our
stuff over on Wednesday morning. I called before we head over to make sure the
roomed had been cleaned. They transferred me over to the DO who was now back to
work. I asked him if we were all set to move into our room. He said coyly, didn’t
they tell you, I said yes the GM your BOSS said that they were coming back
yesterday. He was silent for a second; probably trying to decide how he was
going to break this to me. He said well I believe he was mistaken because they
are not able to come back until Thursday. I tried to remain calm. I said well we didn’t bring enough clothes to
stay out of our room until Thursday! He said well can you go over to your room
and get what you need and they would send it out to be dry cleaned and it would
be returned to us at 4pm. Jason didn’t take it as well this time. He told me to
go get EVERY PIECE OF CLOTHING WE HAD OVER THERE. I tried to calm him down and
play down the situation. He was starting to argue with me and I knew he wasn’t
going to let it go. Right then I decided to do what Jason said. He was hurting every
time he talked and getting upset was just going to make that worse. I didn’t
deserve to take the punishment because they have such poor communication at
their hotel. So I did it. I went down to the front desk to get some big garbage
bags, also hoping to run into the DO and warn him about what was going to
happen. I didn’t see him and continued
on. I got everything out loaded it on my back. I took this picture knowing that
I would have to have proof of what I really did.
I tried to not think about how much the bill was going to
be, but had no idea it could be what it was. We called the front desk at 5 and
they said that they had just received our clothes and the bell boy would bring
them up. Another hour later, we still had no clothes. Also we had noticed that the
microwave in this room was acting like our old one. Jason said he would go down
with me to see where our clothes were and to tell them about our microwave. I
walked back with the bell boy to get our clothes while Jason stayed to talk to
the attendant. I walked back to the desk just as I had saw the attendant say
yes I hear you and shooed Jason away with his hand! Even though Jason was
slightly stoned that guy had no right to do that to him. The bell boy helped
wheel the cart up and we started transferring the clothes to our closet. I was
looking at some of the receipts but didn’t notice the total. Jason said HOLY
COW the total is $665. I was shocked and felt sick to my stomach. I knew that
they wouldn’t say anything to us about it. The DO said from the very beginning that
he was scared this was going to be leaked out to the news. I tried to justify
it by telling Jason that well if the GM hadn’t just tried to get rid of me and
found out the real story. I would have said ok well we will by some new clothes
and you can pay for the bill. I can tell
you it would have been a LOT less than $665.
The rest of the week went better. Nothing was bothering me
except some problems I was having about care and rides for Dylan. We were
relishing in the fact that Jason was able to eat a little and was gaining some
weight back. Even though our room was ready by Thursday night, I told them that
we would give them a chance to clean it up well and we wouldn’t move in until
we came back on Monday. Friday morning Jason was getting a liter of fluids to
give him a little boost for the weekend. The ride home was a little hairy with
Jason feeling nausea, but we made it home safely. When Jackson showed me a
birthday invitation for that night I was worried that it would have been too
little of notice. The invitation had a number on it and I left a message saying
that I had just found about the party and that my son wanted to go, and to please
let me know if it was too late. It worked out perfectly because Dylan had a baseball
game at 6 and the party was at 7:30. Jason first said he could watch the babies
while I took the older boys to the game. Then Jason came to me an hour before
we were to go and asked if I could take Harrison to the game. When we were set
to leave and I saw that Jason was asleep. I loaded all of the boys and headed
out. Dylan did AWESOME! I was so happy that they were finally able to be proud
of how they were playing. The kids did well; I was able to keep them contained
for most of the game.
The game was lasting a little longer then I thought it
would, and I wanted to leave to get Jackson to his birthday party on time. I
thought they were going to just finish out the rest of that inning. Dylan had
asked if they win the game if he could spend the night at his friend Seth’s
house. How could I say no to that. I had already arranged for Seth’s mom Lisa
to give Dylan a ride home since I was going to be taking Jackson to his party.
As I was exiting the parking lot I got a text from Lisa. She said Dylan just
hit a HOME RUN!!! Seriously I got Jackson to his party and I knew the Mom from
helping with the Christmas party for Jax school. I was asking her if she could
text me when they were done and I could come pick him up, she had said that
they had played really well at the zoo that day and asked if he could spend the
night. I felt a little bad about being apart from him when we hadn’t seen him
all week, but knew we would be with each other ALL day tomorrow! I got clothes
for Dylan to change into went home and washed his outfit for the morning. I
knew Saturday was going to be a big day, but stayed up to watch all of the Glee
episodes I had recorded! I had to take advantage of Dylan and Jackson not being
there to see it!
This is how Saturday went… Kellen got me up at 6:30 (after
going to bed at 2). Made the babies breakfast got them dressed. 8:45- Jackson
was dropped off got him dressed everyone loaded up. 9:15- dropped Jackson off
for pictures and asked another players mom to watch out for him. Went to where
Dylan was spending the night and dropped of his uniform. It was colder than I
thought so I went back home for warmer clothes for us to wear. 10:00-Watched
Jackson’s game with Kellen and Harrison. It was nice to have help from a player’s
little sister to entertain the babies. Jackson got on base every time and
played catcher too. He did a good job, as long as the ball came right to him. Luckily
I had cash on me, because of course I had trashed the email that had the sno
cone schedule and it was my turn!
11am -We went home to get the babies down for a nap and have
Jackson change into his soccer uniform. Jason was awake on the couch but I knew
the babies wouldn’t be any trouble for him since they would be sleeping. After
changing my clothes again because it was now warm we headed back to the
baseball field. 12pm-Dylan did great at his baseball game. He wasn’t able to
get another home run, but got a triple a couple of times. Luckily I still had
cash because it was also my turn to pay for Dylan’s sno cones. 2pm- We were
able to be on time for Jackson’s soccer game. Dylan got a ride home and was
able to spend some quality time alone with his dad. Jackson did really well at
his soccer game. He is totally different boy than the one who just played in
the dirt and ran a step behind everyone else last year. 3pm- headed home babies
were up changed their diapers got them something to eat. Loaded everyone up
headed to the store to get a present for a birthday party that Dylan was going
to at 4pm. Dropped him off and arranged for another mother to drive him home. 4:30pm-
Finally sat down, but it was on the trampoline with my babies. It was
wonderful!
Sunday was just what it needed to be calm and peaceful, well
as much as it can be with 4 boys in a little house. I should have known it was
what I needed to recuperate and prepare myself for what was to come this week.
We had watched the morning session of conference. What I could hear of it was
very touching and inspiring. We are so
blessed that the kids do so well with staying with people. I don’t what I would
do if my child cried and screamed every time we left them. I used to joke that they
didn’t mind leaving me because I wasn’t any fun. That is obviously not true.
All of my boys have a cozy blanket of security. They know they are loved
unconditionally and will never be in any harm or danger. I thought that I could
only feel “Mama Bear” protecting her cubs, with my boys, but it showed up this
week when I was fighting for Jason.
We said good bye to Dylan and Jackson when they left for the
bus that morning. Jason slept in while I got the babies ready… almost in time
for my two great friends Jodi and Crystal to take over. While Jodi was there
she saw how Kellen was talking. She said he didn’t do that at all when he
stayed at her house last time. I initially felt sad when I heard that. I try
not to think about how my boys are doing for these reasons alone. I felt relieved
when he was leaving he vigorously waved bye to me from the car. I knew he would
be my Kells Bells now, himself!
Jason took a nap on the way up to Dallas. We didn’t have to
wait long to get in. As we were leaving the parking lot of the radiation
clinic, Jason said that he had to get a refill for his Zofran. I panicked
because I knew that it wasn’t going to be that easy. I asked him how many he
had left and he said 2. Then I really panicked. I knew I had only 8 hours to
get what he needed. My fight or flight was put into motion. I called the pharmacy
and said that we needed a refill. They said that the insurance denied it, and
that our doctor needed to call the insurance to request the medicine. Luckily
Mary the secretary for Dr. Nedzi was very understanding with me and realizes
the panic and seriousness in my voice. See Jason makes fun of me for this. Comes
in handy in situations like this. I called the pharmacy back and they said that
the prescription was ready. I was surprised; they refilled the Zofran that
easy? No your Dr. called in Promethazine. I told him that medicine didn’t work
and we needed the Zofran. Jason was right in front of me when I was saying this
I told him to get Mary’s number for me. He must of misunderstood me because he
had called her. Of course she answered her phone right away, unlike most in the
medical world, so now I had Mary on one ear and the pharmacist on the other. It
actually worked in my favor because I was able to tell Mary word for word what
the pharmacist needed. I got off the phone with him first and she explained to
me that the doctor had a couple of patients to see first then he would call
them again. I knew there was nothing else I could do. I trusted that the doctor
was going to do what he needed to do to make the insurance see the error of
their ways. I had gotten dressed up that day because usually Jason feels best on
Mondays and we can go to a movie. Of course the chemo and radiation had finally
gotten the best of him and he was too tired. He then did something hardly ever
does, and told me to go get a pedicure. I didn’t waste a minute and headed out!
I was deep into my happy place we all know about when you
are getting a great massage when the doctor’s office called. I was surprised to
hear it was the doctor himself. Dr. Cannon was the new intern working with Dr.
Nedzi. What a way to begin! He said that he had haggled with the insurance
company and what we had to do was write file a prescription appeal. We had to
write a letter explaining why he needed this medicine and that UT southwestern
had permission to give it to him. What a pain!!! Remember caught me in my happy
place! No problem we would make it work! They agreed to give Jason enough for
three days. I was able to pick that up on the way home. I felt like I was
giving Jason a million dollars or gold coins when I put those pills in his
hand! I told Jason about the letter and since he had a nap he was pumped enough
to do it. It was late and Jason didn’t want to go down to the office in the
hotel to print it up, but he had done something to my phone so I would easily
be able to do it while he was in getting chemo. We didn’t even need to wait
that long, because after only being there for a few minutes I walked up to the
first person who had a printer and asked them who could help me. She told me
about calling the tech personal, but I knew it was going to need that. Jason
had showed me how to ask for available computers on my phone, but then I
realized that I could just email it to this girl and she could print it up. She
said that would be fine and gave me the paper. Jason signed it, and then she
even faxed it for us.
I was hoping to get
going on my letters, but I didn’t have the drive. I was just drained! I was
then surprised to receive a text message that my trusty clan in Abilene had
finally done the impossible! My good friend Kristy told me that they had secured
a venue for the Yardley Fun Run in Abilene! I was so relieved! I had invited
family that didn’t live in Texas and was going to be so disappointed if I told
them it wasn’t going to happen. I definitely needed to hear that great news! I
still didn’t get that wonderful drive I needed do get what I needed done, but I
was a lot happier! The nurse who was taking care of him at the chemo clinic was
great. She had talked about problems that she was having with her son, and it
really put ours into perspective. We got out of Chemo and headed straight over
to radiation. We didn’t realize that we had to have our appointment with the Dr
that we usually have on Thursdays. It actually worked in our favor because
after us complaining so much about the Zofran, we realized that he was going to
run out of his pain medicine too. I am so unbelievably appreciative of everyone
who is helping with this insurance issue. This sweet nurse has been helping us.
She had called the insurance and argued with them. I thought it was funny how
she was more fired up about it than I was. She again called me this morning and
told me how they were going to keep on them.
We had been been pretty worn out after all that, and it was
getting pretty late. I bought some more fast food on the way home. I think I
feel like if I can eat all this fattening food maybe Jason will inherit my
calories…hmm not so much! I thought the drama for the day was over, but when
Jason had been asleep for a little while and I had just barely gotten there,
our FIRE ALARM had suddenly gone off. I think I was still asleep and ran to the
bathroom and pulled my scentscy plug in out of the wall and it crashed into the
sink. Luckily it was just white wax. Jason started getting dressed so I quickly
followed. We got inline with everyone else heading down the stairs. I called my
MIL so she could experience this chaos with us. We got down stairs and the fire
truck was quickly in the parking lot. We waited awhile; I didn’t think there
was a fire, just one of the faulty blunders that this hotel was known for. We
got back into our room an hour later. It was another night of Jason getting up
every hour, but I was in a deep sleep when again the fire alarm went off at
7:30 in the morning. I was trying to talk Jason out of it, but we got dressed
and headed down stairs. There were less people then the night before, and when
we didn’t see any fire truck I walked over to the front window and saw the
clerk behind the counter. We walked in Jason actually asked her if we were ok
to go back in. She rolled her eyes and played it off; she said there is just a
kid who keeps pulling the fire alarm! Huh! Really blaming it on a kid! Where is
this kids parents and why aren’t they getting fined $10,000 for doing this! Oh
boy! So here we are! Well 8 hours later! It wasn’t a continuous 8 hours, but I
have had a lot to talk about. Sorry if I got a little worded, as Jason likes to
say. I don’t know how I am going to keep this up when I am back home. Hopefully
there is not much to say other them Jason is less nauseous, Jason is getting
more energy, Jason is in less pain, Jason is eating more, Jason can move his
tongue better, Jason can talk clearly, Jason had a clear MRI!!! Thank you again
for all of your prayers and support. If you are one of the doctors, nurses or secretaries
that have been helping us, please know you are the best! Thank you for doing
your job so well with so much care.
P.S. if there is a P.S. in blogs! Just had a brilliant idea!
Called our trusty friend Kristin and she is going to help us with our Zofran
situation! You might get hit in the face if you complain about the pharmacy on
base! Jason has tried to cut down on the Zofran and has already thrown up two
times tonight. I will be fuming if we have to take him to the ER again!!!!
