My New Job: The Life Alert Spokeslady

A week ago today Karl was sitting in the recliner getting chemo drugs.  He came home with a handy dandy little pump that continued to give him the drugs for another 48 hours.  Every few minutes it would give a little hmph sound and deliver the welcomed poison to his system. 2 ml an hour.  He decided the pump needed a name and settled on Hal. We did need to figure out how to silence Hal in the night.  We wrapped him in a big fat towel and put him on the headboard.  Hal also got his very own ziplock back and patio table right outside the shower.  We went back to the center on Thursday and Hal came off.  Karl got his mega buck booster and away we went.

Side effects were definitely present but manageable.  Nausea, fatigue, loss of appetite, headache.  Pills and extra sleep seemed to help.  Eugene sent a cool little electro shock watch band that seemed to help also.  All in all, things were ok.  Karl continues to handle all of this with calm patience.  Maybe it's his new look.  He's working on a full beard.  A distinguished beard.  We will see if it comes in fully or if he will always have that "almost a full beard" look.

Karl went back to work on Monday (yesterday) and managed a full day.  He was tired by about 3:00 and home by 4:30.  Not too bad.   Today he worked half a day and went back to the doc for some blood work.  His white cell count is out of this world.  That's good.  It means he can fight hard next week when we start this all again.

So here comes the part that I didn't want to write about.  Karl said I had to or he would revoke the privilege of sharing his medical issues with the world. I was lifting the lawn mower into the truck last week and did something to my back.  At the time, I didn't think much about it.  Just a quick little, "maybe I should not have done that" thought but not much else.  The next day I simply bent over to pick up an umbrella under the fort and wham... my back screamed and grabbed.  A few ibuprofen and I went on with my day.  Yardwork, dinner with friends, all was well.  Saturday morning I went to pick up the laundry and wham bam.... I'm on the floor.  Don't know what I pulled or what happened.  Since then, it has been a slow process of getting up and down out of  the chair, heating pads, icey hot pads, and really good pain relieving drugs.  Sleeping in the chair is better than the bed.  Karl had to help me up Saturday night and we were a sorry pair.  I was leaning in to him trying to stand and his tummy was doing the nausea tango.  We had to laugh.  But then again, that is how the Maynard family deals with pain.  We laugh.  The more it hurts, the more we giggle.  People don't know what to think.  

By Sunday night I was ok enough for Karl and Hannah to go to youth group.  Skylar left to go pick up Kody.  I used the rolling chair to help stand up to go to the bathroom.  Long story longer.... the chair slipped and tipped over and down I went.  I tried to prop myself up enough to stand up but it didn't work.  I had to stay down on the ground until Skylar got home.  She walked through the door and immediately asked........ "Are you exercising?"   Which made me laugh.  Which made me hurt. Which made me laugh more.  Needless to say there wasn't anything she could do except bring me a happy pill and wait with me on the floor for 20 minutes until I was in a state where she and Kody could lift me to my feet.  This was the one time in life I really could have used a life alert button.

Things are better now.  My injury sister Cindy happened to have a walker that Karl and Hannah brought home.  Yes, that helps me get up to use the facilities.  I'm able to take short walks around without out it now.  Hopefully a few more days of quality time with my Stargate Atlantis family will work wonders for my healing.  It stinks.  I've had to actually cancel meals out with friends and an epic 48 hour motorcycle adventure I had planned.

On yet one more note that I can't even believe..... The dogs needed kennel cough shots and rabies shots to renew their licenses.  Karl and Hannah took them in on Friday.  In a ROUTINE visit, Doc Baker checked Bandit's temp and found a large tumor on his tail near his backside.  He biopsied the tumor and we found out today it is cancer.  Fortunately it is the kind of cancer that doesn't spread easily.  Unfortunately, it will need to come off along with his tail.  We're sad.  We're mad at this dumb cancer.  Again.  Really?  He is scheduled for surgery in the next few weeks.  We pray he has clean margins.

This is really getting comical.  I'd like to say I have some more witty mixed metaphors but I really don't.  Yeah.  Bikes.  No cholla.  Hope.  Whoosh.  Help! I've fallen and I can't get up.  Daily grace.  More please.    We had no idea two months ago on May 15 where we would be now.  We thought we'd be in India.  We were supposed to come home on July 16th. That's tomorrow.   A lot has happened.  Or should I say A lot has not happened.  At least the way we thought it would.

We have spent more time together as a family than we ever would have if things had gone differently.  We laugh that our days are scheduled like old people.  We plan them around a doctor's visit. Add in a few errands, lunch, home for a nap and an early dinner.  Really?  And we spend so much time together we end up eating in silence because we've talked everything out already throughout the day.  We decided when all this is over we will maintain different hobbies so we really don't end up like the silent couple sitting in the Golden Corral.  We want to share and laugh and discuss.

I also know that we're not the only family dealing with really weird and really hard stuff.  Many friends are going through really weird medical  and life stuff.  This is where I'm finding perspective, gratitude and trust.  When I look around me....Heart issues in your 40's.  Strokes in your 30's.  Serious infections that have no explanation.  Parents with terminal illnesses.   Job issues.  Moving when you don't want to move.  Divorces.  Custody battles.  Life is hard.  I see that our crud could be a lot harder than it is now.

I don't have any pat answers.  I won't quote Romans 8:28.  You know.  The one about all things working together for good.  I hate to admit that sometimes I want to punch people in the throat when they quote that verse in a flippant manner and make what we're going through seem routine or trite.  I don't dislike the verse....just people using it to say everything will have a happy ending.  Sometimes we don't see the happy ending.  Sometimes circumstances stink. Period.  But that doesn't mean that God has dissed us.  Instead, I will repeat what I know to be true.  God loves me.  He has a plan for me.  I have no idea how all this will work out.   I do know that He is faithful and will provide all we need to get through this.  How do I know that?  Because He has always done so in the past, I can count on Him now.  I have found His Word to be true in every situation we've faced so I have no reason to doubt it now.  When all is said and done, I will know Him more and He will be lifted up.  In the midst of all of this, I will cry out, "Jesus Help!  I've fallen and I can't get up!"  He will respond.