Luck and Gratitude

Well, I just flew all the way to the hospital with a pit stop on the way  (THREE pit stops, actually) to pick up sushi for Ben’s dinner, a ginger ale for his nausea, and a coffee (for me.  But to be fair I did text him to see if he wanted one.). Plus, I was halfway to the sushi place when I realized I had forgotten to make him the gluten free sandwiches he wanted, so back home I went.  That was a lot of effort just to arrive and find him SLEEPING!!  Snoring, in fact.  His roommate must be thrilled.  Lol.  Good thing I brought ice packs for the food.

But Ben’s nasal congestion is not actually what I want to write about.  I want to write about gratitude and good luck.  

I have noticed lately, that Ben and I tend to have very good luck.  (What’s that you say?  GOOD luck???). Well yes, we have had some extremely good luck.

The first of our good luck incidents was that Zak was one year sober before Ben’s diagnosis, which gives him a solid foundation of sobriety to rely upon while he supports his Dad.  That was definitely a stroke of good luck, because he would likely not be sober now if this had happened a year ago.  (And speaking of Zak…did anyone see him on the news tonight?  Talking about the perils of under aged drinking.  Go Zak!  SO proud!  And he looked awesome, if I do say so myself).

Another stroke of good luck has been my pit bull sister who has friends in all the right places – but I’ve already talked about how extremely grateful we are for all our family and friend support.  I’ll leave that one alone for now.

No…the next stroke of luck came in the form of a phone call the other day, from someone I’ve never met but who was made aware of our situation. She introduced herself (we have people in common) and she let me know she is connected through work to the specific medical oncologist we wanted to see.  He has a focus on renal cell cancer and is involved in numerous clinical trials.  I’ve read his resume.  He’s impressive. Anyway, this angel who has never met us before and was certainly under no obligation to help us, has offered to help us navigate our way through to the best treatment possible at VGH.  God love her.  That’s all I’m going to say about her for privacy reasons, but my God we are so grateful.  I hope she reads this.

The third stroke of good luck has come in the form of another life long friend who has been able to get me quick answers to questions regarding our health coverage etc.  In the past I haven’t had a lot of luck getting quick responses from our Health Services people, so again, thank God for my angel #2 who holds a position in the work place that is a lot more conducive to encouraging quick response then the one I hold.  (In other words, I have no power but my friend has a lot.  Lol)  Again, I am so grateful.  You know who you are. 

So it appears Ben is to be released tomorrow after his last radiation treatment.  Thank Heavens.  Then he will come home while we await our appt with the medical oncologist I was speaking of earlier.  I am told (by angel #1) that this oncologist is doing an extensive review of Ben’s chart and it sounds like he is going to present Ben’s case to the whole team. It might include the surgeons. Hallelujah!  How does one get better then that?!  

We are navigating the system of extended benefits to get Ben a hospital bed temporarily installed in our living room.  (Anyone who knows how much I hate clutter will know how much I must love Ben to be ok with that!) lol.  He finds that the hospital beds really take the pressure off his sacrum, and also he will definitely need that after the kidney surgery.  It will help make him more comfortable for sure.  So that is my next project.

We believe, after much back and forth, that Ben’s kidney will be removed soon.  I will be so relieved when that is done.  Recently we were under the impression that it was being left in.  Bad idea.  We’ve spoken to enough other doctors to know it needs to be tossed out with the garbage.  We believe that will happen at VGH.  That commute will suck.  I hope the food is better there, because I don’t think I’ll be back and forth delivering meals three times a day like I did this time!  (Possibly twice.  Depends how nice he is to me).

That’s all I’ve got for now.  Will confirm tomorrow that he’s coming home.  And now I’m off to do another round of Lysol in our house to get rid of all Jaime’s sick germs over the last week.  (Which was another stroke of luck, I might add.  Jaime became very ill, but not until Ben was safely out of the house so as not to be inhaling her germs all week.)

With all this good luck we’ve had, I imagine that it is extremely likely that the good luck streak will continue right through to a full recovery.  Perhaps he will even end up the famous poster child of the miracle Dr’s new cancer treatment.  Who knows? Maybe I’ll get discovered too…..for print ads about wives who support their men through to full recovery or something like that.  lol.  Could lead to a movie deal.