Short intro about the blog

This blog is about our journey to healing with Grade 3 Anaplastic Oligoastrocytoma



Sunday, September 16, 2012

Best... Day... Ever!

We have had the most amazing weekend, and well, you know me.  I just had to share!  Yesterday we decided to go out exploring, and went out to Nyack to try to find Mountainview State Park.  It was on Google Maps.  It was supposed to be right there off the motorway on Mountainview Road.  Well, we drove up and down Mountainview Road and never found Mountainview State Park.  Shame, really.  It looked beautiful from the satellite view.  Anyway, we stopped at a Shell station to ask the locals were this darn park was.  No one had heard of it.  However, they did direct us to Rockland Lake Park, which was wonderful.  It’s a big lake with a walking trail around it, measuring 3 miles.  We walked the trail in such beautiful weather it nearly made me cry.  The sky was so blue, and the breeze was perfect.  For a few moments I lost my sense of reality and thought I was in Finland.  I can’t remember the last time I felt so blissful.  Then we returned to our hotel for a quick lunch before heading off to the home of my Aunt Jan and Uncle Cary.  What I like best about being up here for Adam’s treatment is I KNOW this place.  I could’ve driven to my aunt’s with a blindfold on.  We are less than 15 minutes away.  After all the welcoming kisses and cuddles we got great news:  my Aunt Marie and Uncle George were coming, too!  I hadn’t seen them in years, and I was so excited.  They are actually my dad’s aunt and uncle, but they’ve always been “aunt” and “uncle” to me.  They also brought their son Mark along, and I can’t remember the last time I saw him.  It was a great big family reunion!  We had so much fun catching up with everybody and gorging on ridiculous amounts of food.

Later that night, my cousin’s husband Tom had his adoration hour at the chapel and we were invited to go along.  He had asked friends of theirs from church to meet him there to pray over Adam.  After a few silent moments of reflection in the chapel, Tom started waving and motioning for Adam to come up to the front.  Adam and I kneeled at the front of the chapel and suddenly we were surrounded by people, all laying their hands on Adam and me.  Tom began to read and led everyone in prayer.  It was amazing.  The energy kept building as everyone took turns praying aloud and begging Jesus to heal Adam.  Adam and I were holding hands, but for a few moments I couldn’t tell whose hand was whose.  They seemed to just melt into one.  It was beautiful, and Adam and I were both shedding tears.  When it was over, one of the men told us to “take as long as we needed”.  Unfortunately, I had tears and snot running down my face, and I didn’t want to distract everyone from the beauty of what just happened with my loud snorting.  So I quietly left the chapel and Adam followed.  We were both a mess, and I hadn’t any tissues with me, so we cleaned up best we could with bare hands and my cardigan.  I felt a little bad when one of the men came out and introduced himself, and held out his hand to shake.  I prayed I wasn’t spreading some horrible communicable disease to one of the lovely people that may have been instrumental in saving my husband’s life.  After a few minutes spent meeting everyone and having a brief chat, we went home buzzing and looking forward to Sunday Mass.

This morning we relaxed a bit since I had a vicious migraine.  An Imitrex tablet helped clear it so we could meet my aunt and my cousin’s family at their church.  It was lovely, and mainly for the reason that Mass without Finlay is quite a treat.  We sang, we participated in prayers, we listened to the homily.  And boy were we surprised when Adam’s name was mentioned during the prayers for the sick!  My cousin Andrea arranged that one, and both of us were really touched.  After Mass we bid everyone goodbye and went to the Marian shrine less than a mile up the road.  It was awesome.  We spent a few quiet minutes in front of the 50-foot statue of Mary, then went for a walk on the trails around the property known as Rosary Walk.  I got out my grandmother’s rosary, and we prayed together while walking through the trees.  It was absolutely beautiful.  Then to top the already wonderful day off, we went out for Mexican!!  We ordered shrimp fajitas for both of us, and man were they good.  Adam and I go out to eat MAYBE twice a year, and this was such a treat.  I’m still bloated beyond comfort, and I will definitely be skipping dinner.  The past few hours have been spent linking up with the folks back home and seeing our beautiful boys, who I miss so much I can’t stand it.  We will be staying until Friday, and driving home Saturday.  This week I’ll be on the phone trying to coordinate Adam’s treatment when we get back to Virginia.  I’m hoping we will find a clinic (one in Aldie looks promising) who will continue Adam’s intravenous treatments when we return.  Unfortunately, one of the supplements has to be ordered from Mexico, and some doctors don’t seem crazy about the fact that it’s kinda illegal.  It isn’t ACTUALLY illegal, but the FDA has made it impossible to get and has convinced most medical professionals that it is in their best interest not to prescribe it.  Thank you, once again, to the feds for making keeping my husband alive a challenge.  Appreciate it.  Hey, wait a minute… my Aunt Marie is Italian!  Maybe she’s got a couple of burly cousins who can go over to the FDA headquarters and break a few thumbs.  Well, you gotta do watcha gotta do, hey?  Wow, one week in New York and I’ve turned all Brooklyn.  I better get back to Virginia before I find myself with two-inch long acrylic nails and crazy big hair.

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