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Hey It’s ME!

It really is me too. I am here at Moffitt and still myself. Anita and I came up yesterday morning so that we would be close when they called to say a bed was ready. That was hopeful thinking on our part. This place is booked solid with patients. We didn’t have a room when we first made it to town so we went to JoAnn’s Fabric looking for silk so we could paint it like we did in the Arts in Medicine studio the last time we were here. Then we called again and there still wasn’t a room so we went to an Art Supply store called Pearl where we found the supplies to paint on silk and some silk to paint on to boot. We were so excited to paint in my room! Another call and we stopped off at a discount dress store . . . By that time I was so tired of driving around and shopping even though the company was fab. I called the admissions office one more time.

“Maybe tonight. Why don’t you call back around 4:30. We should know more then.”
“Tonight!?” You have to be kidding me! We drove up this morning from Ft. Myers. We have been driving around all day. We are so tired.”
“Yah, I’m sorry. We are so booked. We have to wait for a bed to open . . .”
“Is there anyone else before me?”
“No, your the next on the list. . .”
“Well, Ok then. I guess. I will call later then. Love ya. OH wait. I didn’t . . .” then there was laughter coming from the phone and from Anita who was listening to me tell the admissions lady that I loved her!” “I’m just so tired! I meant that I would love you if you could find a bed for me to sleep in!”
“Well because you love me . . . hehehe . . .we will find you a bed, but it will be later not now.”
“Oooooo-kay I will call back later.”

I couldn’t believe it. Tonight. TONIGHT! As it turns out, the hospital is packed! Christmas coming. Better get your poison before the Yule Tide. By this time, I could barely stand up any more. I went to the front of the store and snagged a wheel chair. (I am getting pretty good at wheeling myself around ever since I got my own wheel chair. I think I forgot to tell you that.)

By the time we had some fast food for dinner it was 7:00p and we were really tired of hanging out in Tampa. I called the administration office one more time. If they weren’t going to get us a room tonight I just wanted to know. We could go to the motorhome and get in our pajamas and be done with this day. We could wait for our room there in the morning. Just say the word and we’re “home.”

“Why don’t you come on over now. Because of what you said earlier (Hehehe ) we found you a bed!” She wasn’t even the same lady I said I loved!
“We’re on our way.”

Long story shorter, it was 8:00p when we got to that room. It used to be a broom closet, but it had a bed. For me at least. There was no cot, nor room for a cot for Anita. Poor sissypoo had to sleep in a recliner. BUT WE HAD A ROOM!

It took a while to get everyone on the floor up to speed with my case and run down all the meds needed to get me started. Chemo officially started at midnight! Midnight, can you believe it? A fine end to a day that was pretty fun except for the tiring part.

Today went pretty well, too. In the morning, Anita set me up with the silk paints and I lost myself in a circle of abstract silk design. I found a new hobby! This is so relaxing and meditative. All that was missing was the tinkling background music and the Art Therapist who showed us how to do it. In the afternoon, we went and found just that! We went to the open studio time with the tinkling music and the Therapist and a couple new projects. Anita decorated a page in a communal book with collaged papers and inspirational words. It turned out so pretty! I made paper beads into a bracelet! I started with triangular paper pieces cut from colorful, l recycled art work other patients made. On the blank back side of each I wrote secret messages to myself before rolling them up and gluing them into beads and stringing them into the bracelet. I loved it. And only I know what the messages are!

After getting back to my small room, I reminded my nurse tech that we were looking for a cot. She found us a cot, all right. And Anita found a bigger room to put it in! She just happened to notice a vacated room down the hall and snagged it before they put someone else in it. We had a lot to move. Well, actually . . . I moved myself and my IV Pump to the new room and Anita moved the rest. I love her so much! Much nicer room. No more broom closet.

Unfortunatly, Dan won’t be able to share the room with me for the rest of my stay as planned. He has a cold and can’t take the chance of coming up here. Not only for my sake but for the rest of the patients on the floor as well. Anita is staying with me again tonight. My mom is coming up tomorrow morning and staying over Friday night. Pam will come up on Saturday and take me home Sunday afternoon. I will miss Danny by my side, but a cold in the wrong nose could be deadly.

It’s now just after 8:00p and I am starting to feel the effects of the Ifo. I am nauseous and antsy. I am praying and reading the signs I have taped to the wall: “This too will pass.” “My God is bigger than this!” “Nothing is impossible for God!” “This is part of your Testimony.”

And this is all part of my Testimony. I will tell this part along with the part where no one was willing to give me treatment. And here I am at H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center. It’s a fantastic place.

I may not write again before I go home. Please keep me in your prayer and I will keep you in mine.

Love
teresa