Riding The Wave – Multiple Myeloma

In the hospital enjoying Hudson's insistence on holding his baby sister 1989

“Families are like fudge – mostly sweet with a few nuts.” ~Author Unknown

I haven’t posted in a while!!! Been swamped with life! A good thing in Myelomaville. So know when I’m absent for a while things are probably going gang busters! 

We have had a lot going on of late. Dave finally got over that long and lingering cold that was making me nervous and agitated. We head off to Little Rock the end of this month for our bi-annual romantic 3 days of MRIs, PETs, Bone Marrow Biopsies, etc. When we were all done with the major medical intervention and knew that we would be going back every 6 months for check ups, I told Dave when we start doing that, I want a completely different Arkansas experience. One that brings us fulfillment and joy, one that we look forward to. He got it. So we always find wonderful little places to stay within our budget that allow for us to enjoy the loveliness of Little Rock. It’s great restaurants and little bars, the River Market District, etc. We also work to meet up with folks that are there for their checkup or treatment that we have befriended either in person or online. Opportunities for a Myeloma Meet Up are always at the top of my agenda.

Our son and oldest, Hudson, has relocated with his job to within an hour and a half of us! He is currently staying with us until he finds a place closer to his office, probably in the Walnut Creek area, a burb of the Bay Area. I don’t think it has really sunk in for either of us that he is no longer 3,000 miles away! What a joy. He is a licensed tree arborist and when he requested the transfer (at his own expense) the office he is working at now jumped on the opportunity to get him! He was so nervous about the change and yet the new office was calling him regularly. “When are you coming? We need you!” It did a lot to quell his fears. This office is very different from the one in Florida and is much more suitable for his passion for tree care and his skills. They are lucky to get him and from all reports they are well aware of it and Hudson is extremely excited and appreciative of the change and his new environment.

With all that going on, our daughter, Montana was feeling a bit left out and melancholy that Hudson was now living near us and she was still 3,000 miles away. She has a fabulous job and while she may entertain the idea from time to time to make a move, she’s not ready. So I said to Dave, “I think I need to get out to the east for some “mommy/daughter” time. He happened to be going to Rochester, NY and said, “how about we fly out and you head to Baltimore and I’ll meet you there on Friday after my meetings?” Well you don’t have to ask me twice.

Montana was so excited to have this unscheduled visit from both of us and we are hoping for nice weather this weekend and that Dave will hold up stamina wise for some good old fashioned sight seeing in DC. We won’t get to see many friends while he is here, as it is just too short and Montana is understandably the priority. I’ll be staying and driving up to see my sister for a few days and then back down for another weekend here and then home.

Roundel

Each time I come I try to have phone calls, quick visits with a few friends while trying to focus on seeing at least one person that I haven’t seen in a long time and need to really spend some quality time with. This visit it will be Sheila Waters. Please look her up on the internet and read about her. A wonderful, talented, fascinating artist, wife, mother and grandmother.

I was a calligrapher in the DC area for many years. When I finally braved taking a class in Historical Alphabets from her at the Casey Community Center I was incredibly awed and honored to meet her. We became friends and I set up a small rag tag group of calligraphic devotees to meet with her regularly for critique and guidance. My affinity for Sheila knows no bounds. She is a delight. I haven’t not seen nor talked to her in over a decade. My mother got ill, Dave lost his job, I went back to work in the real world and abandoned many creative and artistic endeavors for all the right reasons, but it was a painful loss for me. Then we moved and you know the story.

While I was taking a weaving class in Dixon, CA on a sheep farm. One of the students there asked me where I was from and I gave her a quick synopsis of my old life back in the DC area and that I had been a calligrapher for many years. She very casually asked if I had ever met Sheila Waters. I was pretty floored and said, “Oh my yes!” That began a whole lively conversation with others in the class listening intently to a topic that was non weaving related with some fascination. I learned that her amazing and wonderful husband Peter, had died. I went home and cried. Vowing to reconnect with her and regretful for allowing her to fall out of my life. It happens, but it can be fixed!!!

I found her on FB and sent her a quick message. We are meeting for a couple of hours at her home in PA on my way up to see my sister. I cannot wait to see her in the flesh and give her a warm hug. See her studio and talk about her grandchildren who are all so grown up now!

It has often been said to me, “Lori, you know some of the most amazing people!” Yes I do! And I find great joy in ALL my friends and acquaintences – accomplished, famous, or not. I am always fascinated by our stories. Where we are from, the obstacles and difficulties we have triumphantly overcome. The contributions we have made to our family, friends, community, or bigger. I think you are all amazing and perhaps sometimes, I ponder, if it’s really that I can tell others about your lives in a way that people find interesting? I am very enthusiastic about your stories and the lessons and gifts I take from them into my own life and sharing them with others to help put their situation into a better perspective. I feel a little like Johnny Appleseed -Part II. Instead of planting the seeds, I’m gathering the fruit. Everywhere I go wondering who I will meet and what they will share, their gifts.

There are indeed those I know, like Sheila, who have accomplished something on such a high level that they are the teachers, mentors, world wide (Literally! One fellow student was from Iceland. Many from Japan!). But underneath it all, Sheila, just like the rest of us, was a student first, a daughter, a wife, mother, grandmother, friend. She has lived a great life, but it’s had it’s obstacles. I’ll never forget her telling me that someone called her house and she picked up the phone. He asked for Sheila Waters and she said “Speaking.” He was all flustered and said he hoped he wasn’t disturbing her. She said, “No. I was just vacuuming.” He was flabbergasted that she answered her own phone and vacuumed!!!! We laughed and laughed. Her art was her passion – her gift, but her family and home was/is her LIFE. We have so much to catch up on that I know 2 hours will feel like a nano second! But it will get us rolling and I can’t wait.

From there I will make the drive up to NE PA and visit my sister, nephew, Aunt, cousins. My sister was supposed to come to California in February but she begged off. So I’m looking forward to seeing her for a few days.

I hope you are all doing well! I keep up with you on FB and various places on the net. I’ll be taking care of some cats for a newly diagnosed MM patient I met in the Sacramento area. She lives alone and will be doing her SCT at Stanford. When I learned she had three cats and one she has a place for it to stay I offered to take the other two until she could safely have them in her space. I’m looking forward to some furry friends roaming around the house. I keep forgetting to tell Dave. He will not be pleased but he will easily overcome it for a fellow Myeloma Warrior. 🙂

I’m so enjoying my Duncan Donuts coffee! I still can’t get over that there aren’t any in California! It just is so crazy. I have a feeling it has something to do with the business climate there, but I haven’t uncovered the ‘real why’. 

Tags: bitter sweet, family, Myelomaville