I haven't posted anything on this blog in 6 years. Yikes! That's a looonnnnggg time! I figured it's about time. Since no one really reads this blog, I figure I can write just about anything. OK. That's not true, because it's on the internet, so that means it's published. And people can find it. Or something.
Heck, I know this blog exists and I had a hard time finding it! I had to remember the name - well the URL. That wasn't as easy as I thought it would be.
So, since the last time I blogged:
2015:
- January: Last year David changed from AARP Medicare to BCBS Medicare so he could try an Inogen oxygen concentrator before we shelled out $4,500 for one. It's battery powered, so you can charge it while you're driving or in a hotel room. You can even fly on an airplane with it! It lived up to its reputation, so we bought one with an eight hour battery and two four hour batteries.
In 2003, when David first needed supplemental oxygen, he started out with the big metal "scuba" tanks. The biggest tank lasted 2 1/2 hours. We had to plan carefully whenever we went anywhere away from home. One Christmas Eve Dad had drag out a welding tank so David would have oxygen.
A couple of years later David switched to a Helios portable oxygen tank. The Helios uses liquid oxygen and lasts about 12 hours. Huge improvement, but you can't be away from home longer than 12 hour - unless you reserve a "vacationer" tank filled with 3 days worth of liquid oxygen. IF it was available. It fit in the back of a Suburban or minivan, but it was still heavy and dangerous.
A couple of years earlier (2013?) we were going to Cokeville Wyoming for the 24th of July weekend. We went to to pick up the vacationer and they'd given it to someone else. Overbooked, I guess? The kids ended up going to Cokeville with their Aunt Tammie. David and I stayed home. At least the kids had fun. After that, we gave up on going on vacation. Until David found out about the Inogen. It's been so good my Dad and several other people we know have bought them, too!
- March: We took a test-run trip to Bryce and Zions. The last night of our trip, Jetta, our 16 year old boxer-mix died. I was sad, but not surprised. Thor, our cat, did not trust us for about a year after we got back from vacation and didn't bring the dog home. I guess he thought he was next? I don't know why Thor would have abandonment issues... (He was abandonded when he was three months old and had to beg for food the next 3 years until we took him in.)
- August: We took the kids on a vacation to Cameron's old mission area. We drove through northern Nevada, over to San Jose, down to Big Sur, up to San Francisco then back through Nevada. It was the first time Jarom or Amber had ever seen the ocean. And the first time any of them saw redwood trees. It was a great vacation. I posted lots of photos of our vacation on Facebook.
- Also August: When I came back to work after a week-and-a-half vacation to California, my work moved my supervisor from Intake to Billing because of a dispute with one of my coworkers. I was on my supervisor's side. I knew then that it was time to find a different job. It was bad enough a year earlier when they let half of the office staff go with no notice. My friend Lorry was one of them. I think they only kept me because I was working in Intake.
2016:
- March: I started working at the local community college in financial aid. It's a much better job. Better pay, better benefits, no more on-call. I like all of the people. The first morning of my new job, I ended up in the parking lot of my old job. Auto-pilot? At least I was early enough I got to my new job on time.
2017 & 2018:
- Is it sad I can't remember what happened these two years? 2020/pandemic brain? Something. We went to some shows at Hale Center Theater and the Grand Theatre. Cameron worked as a paraeducator for a year at an elementary school. We went to Millcreek Canyon. We attempted to go back to Zions and we all got sinus infections.
2019:
- May: Cameron and Jarom both graduated from said community college. Cameron in Computer Science, Jarom in Chemical Engineering. Have they found jobs in their fields? Sadly, no. It seems everyone wants a someone with a bachelor's degree - or at least someone who is working on their bachelor's degree. Cameron has been in and out of 3 warehouse type jobs in that time. Jarom has worked nowhere.
2020:
- January: Is a pretty normal month. 2020 is going to be the best year ever! Right?
- February: On the 26th we found out David has brain cancer. On the 28th he had surgery. Dr. House (haha, I know) was able to remove about 95% of the tumor.
- March: The COVID-19 pandemic officially reached Utah.
- David had lots of visitors in the hospital until they stopped allowing visitors. He spent about a week in the ICU, a week on the neuro floor and a week on the rehab floor. Fortunately they allowed me, Meagan, Tammie or Cameron to spend the night. He was a fall risk and wouldn't wait for the aid to take him to the bathroom, so...
- Mid-March, David got to go home. That was a relief! We all got a lot more sleep once he was home. David can talk with minimal stutter and remember most of his words. His walking is fairly steady. We don't dare let him drive or stay home alone, but his speech and mobility have improved.
- In the United States, and most of the world:
- Pro sports games are cancelled
- Schools move to online
- Churches are closed
- Grocery stores are mad-houses and half the shelves are bare. Stores start rationing toilet paper, disinfectant wipes, liquid hand soap, paper towels, bottled water, canned soup, rice, beans and meat. Some things are completely sold out.
- Many people start working from home and using Zoom for virtual meetings. Most people didn't know what Zoom was a month ago.
- Lots of people lose their jobs - especially in entertainment, travel and restaurants. Except for fast food restaurants with drive-thru windows. They're still busy.
- March 18: 5.7 earthquake with its epicenter in Magna Utah. I literally thought our house was going to split in two! Fortunately, it seems to have not sustained any damage. Today is ALSO David's first appointment with Dr. Joe Mendez - his neurooncologist at IMC. I was so afraid they were going to cancel again, but they didn't. The news wasn't good. Glioblastoma - a very aggressive type of brain cancer with a life expectancy of 12-18 months from the time of diagnosis. I found out the first David. David didn't want to know until a week later.
- April: David does chemo and radiation. We chose the 3 week course instead of 6. It seems safer considering the pandemic. Dr. Hunter, the radiation oncologist, thinks it will be just as effective. I started back to work. Pretty much everyone in financial aid is working from home 5 days a week.
- May: Now that David is done with radiation, he takes oral chemo meds 5 days, then is off them for 23 days. He has an MRI every other month. Things are going well. He's pretty much back to his pre-Feb. 26 self, except for being tired for about a week while he's taking the chemo meds.
- Amber graduated from the community college with an associates in General Studies. It shold have been English, but she still had a couple of classes to retake. I guess it's Academic Advising - or maybe the Graduation Office?
- June: I'm now working in the office on Tuesday and Thursday. Still working from home Mon/Wed/Fri. Meagan is still working from home 5 days a week.
- July/August: I confused a cat backpack for a bunny backpack and thought it was Easter time. This year has been unreal. Parents debated whether to send their children to in-person school or keep them home for online school. It's a tough decision, unless both parents work. Then they just have to send their kids to school and hope for the best. The ATC Building on campus caught on fire and was destroyed. It's the building right next to the Student Center, where I work.
- September: David's MRIs are looking good. In each one, the tumor is smaller than before. Fall semester has started at the college, but most classes are online, so it feels like a ghost town. Or like it's still summer semester.
- October: The Presidential Debates:
- The Presidential Debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden is a disaster.
- The Vice Presidential Debate between Mike Pence and Kamala Harris was at my alma mater - the University of Utah. It was somewhat more civil than the presidential debate. The biggest excitement was a big, black fly landing on Pence's snow white hair and staying there for several minutes.
- The second presidential debate was postponed because President Trump caught COVID-19. Not surprising, since Trump never wears a face mask in public. It was more civil than the first debate, but only because they threatened to turn off microphones.
- November: The Presidential Election:
- David, Jarom and Amber mailed their ballots a few weeks in advance. Cameron and I didn't, so David and I dropped them in the ballot box by Kearns Fitness Center the night before the election.
- Trumps freaked out because he said ballots weren't being counted correctly. Apparently Tim Pool, a YouTube news commentator, said that was right, so his listeners freaked out too - some of whom I know personally.
- Thanksgiving: David had an MRI two days before Thanksgiving. We met with Dr. Mendez the day before Thanksgiving. Bad news. The tumor is growing again. Dr. Mendez says David now has 3-6 months left. Thanksgiving was glum at our house. We waited until the day after Thanksgiving to break the news to everyone else, so it wouldn't ruin their holiday. I took the whole week off and was going to get all of my Christmas shopping done. For some reason I didn't feel like shopping - or any holidaying - after our appointment with Dr. Mendez.
- December: The election was called for Biden. Trump says he won't leave the White House in January 2021. Should be interesting.
- Staff Retreat Cancelled: It would have been nice to see everyone, but it sure made life easier for me to not have to do all of the extra work Staff Retreat entails. Especially with the extra COVID restrictions - temperatures, questions, extra cleaning, separate meals, separate entrances, attendance tracking, etc., etc., etc. Instead we had Staff Meeting and I delivered things to the outlying campuses.
- David's Infusion & Surgery: David's surgery was scheduled for Dec. 22. Turns out it took almost a month for his infusion medication to be approved and delivered. So, instead of his first infusion being Dec. 18, it was Dec. 22. Long story there. The first infusion is supposed to be about a week before the surgery, so the surgery got pushed back to Jan. 5, 2021. I asked if one of the neurosurgeons could operate sooner, but they're ALL on vacation this week. Jan. 5 is the earliest. So, I guess that's what we'll take. I sure hope Dr. Mendez's
- Christmas: I finished my Christmas shopping on Christmas Eve. That doesn't mean everything arrived on time, but I guess it was good enough. David and I were so tired we didn't wrap presents until Christmas morning. And Amber ended up filling the stockings. Meagan and Zac came over around noon and we opened presents. Then we had Christmas dinner around 2:30/3:00 pm. Meagan and Zac went home, then we did a Zoom call with my side of the family. The Christmas story from Luke & Matthew, Christmas carols and a game. It was fun, but not a fun as in-person. The 2 second technology lag made singing in unison almost impossible. We were starting to get the hang of it near the end of the ninth - and final - song.
- Amber starts a new job on Jan. 4, 2021. Yay! It's for the same company her Uncle Ray works at. I hope she likes it!
