It is New Year's Eve. I have never been one to put much stock in this particular "Holiday". In my teenage years it was always spent babysitting, while others were out having fun. Then as a young "responsible" adult I always chose to be the designated driver, which means NEVER drink and drive, (I was hit by a drunk driver at age 18 and lucky to have survived) it wasn't that much fun to witness others drunken behavior, so tonight, when our friends approached us to come over for a nice dinner and card games with our kids, I was thrilled! This was also a going away dinner with our friends, who are moving to Tennessee (five hours away) in a few weeks. Jeff, has been Franks best friend and fishing buddy for many years, he doesn't have many close friends and I know he will miss him. His wife Kelly and I had become close during our many family camping trips together. We, of course, have already agreed to meet half way for our summer camping trips.
The days plans were for me to run a few errands and then stay home the balance of the day, I would get rest and Zack would do his schoolwork. It is 11:30 am and Frank calls the house (he is working on the inside water feature). The Cancer Center has been trying to reach me, but my cell phone is on silence. They have scheduled an EKG and Echo cardiogram for Zack today at 1:45 pm, in Asheville. Frank is furious! I'm less than thrilled to say the least. This isn't the first time they have done this, but I assured Frank and Zack, it will be the last! I call the Center and find out exactly why this must happen today and why it was not scheduled last week along with all of the other appointments. The nurse tells me, "before we can proceed with the next round of chemotherapy, he must have his heart checked." Since the port is so close to the heart and the treatments enter through the port, they make sure that his heart is not damaged by all the chemicals. I tell her that we are not happy with this last minute scheduling. "We are trying to live a normal life in between treatments and we already had plans today." After much discussion, we found that we had no recourse, but to go today. Wednesday is Zack's next chemo treatment and they must have the results before then, so we concede.
Zack calls Drake and tells me they will go together for the tests. He tells me to continue with my days plans of delivering items to SAFE the local battered women's shelter, where I occasionally donate clothes and nick knacks. Having worked in the Hendersonville shelter for years I am a firm believer in their mission and do what I can to contribute. The director is also my former "boss", though she doesn't like to be called that, so imagine my surprise when I stop there and get a chance to see her. She had just discovered (through my letter to the editor) about Zack and wanted to make sure there was nothing we needed. Though we haven't worked together in years, she is and will always be near and dear to my heart. I run by the office to check the mail, go to the bank and while there get a call from Zack. He can not be seen without an adult being present. Zack tells me they will fax a release for him to be seen, so I run back to the office and await a fax. After waiting a few minutes, I call the Cardiologist and it is then that they tell me that I must be present and the nearest appointment is in 45 minutes. So, I head over to Asheville, knowing it will take every minute for me to get there. Zack is irritated to say the least so I tell him and Drake to go grab lunch and meet me back there at 3. We make it there with ten minutes to spare only to be kept waiting for an hour and a half. The technician says everything looks good, but they need to compare it to his previous tests. We have already been told that should there be a problem, we would be instructed to go to the Cancer Center or the Hospital. We head back to Brevard and luckily Frank fixed the food we were to bring to tonight's dinner, since I arrived home just before we were to leave again.
Frank , Zack and I had a wonderful dinner with our friends and their two kids, learning a new card game (well to me anyway) called hand in foot and cuddling with their new puppies (Chesapeakes). It was so much fun and though we didn't win the card game, I couldn't think of a more perfect way to wrap up the old year. Zack asked to stay at Drake's and since he has been feeling okay and his eye is getting better, we didn't see any harm. Frank and I arrived at home by eleven and brought in the new year watching the ball drop in New York (another tradition we follow).
It is New Years Day and Frank's tradition since before we met 30 years ago has been to go fishing. He usually goes with his friends or brother, but they didn't want to get up early and be in the cold so he went solo this time. They say what you do the first day of the new year is what you will be doing the rest of the year. Boy am I in trouble! I woke up and as usual, not being able to sit still started the dishwasher, did the laundry and more bookkeeping for the business. I just can't see how I can sit around when there are things that need to be done. Zack returned home and knowing this is his final week for schoolwork, finished up a paper for English. Frank didn't have much luck at fishing, but spent most of the day trying and came home with a smile on his face. He was relieved when I told him I was not going to do any more work and just chill and watch TV. Zack left to go hang out with Drake for a couple of hours and tomorrow "life" continues with Frank taking Zack for chemotherapy, and me heading back to the office to open up after being closed for the week. I thrive on routine and am glad that the Holidays are over.
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