Anticipation

Another gorgeous morning here in Poway—I am starting to plan my first bucket list adventure!  My brother Andy will be flying in next week—and hopefully on Friday the 23^rd, we will be hitting the road in my Mini Cooper and heading off to National Parks that I have not visited yet.  We plan to visit Mesa Verde, Arches and Bryce Canyon National Parks.  That is a pretty full week of tooling around, but I think it is doable.

Let me tell you as little about my brother.  Andy is my youngest sibling-who I lovingly refer to as “The Baby” even though he is quickly approaching 47!  Andy, is the husband, father of 3, triathlete, a good man and friend. He is a guy who can pick up a conversation with anyone, I swear!  Being almost 9 years his senior, I have tried to pass on little tidbits of knowledge, but generally love when we can sit and BS on the phone for a few minutes. Andy called shortly after my diagnosis to let me know if there was anywhere I wanted to go, he was there and in a heartbeat here he is. Before my blog and bucket list was put out there, Andy put the seed in my brain, that yeah, I can still do stuff like this.  I can dream and go out and visit those places I haven’t had the time to go to. So, I say this lovingly, Kiss My Ass Baby, and I literally mean you, Andy, you jump-started me dreaming of my bucket list and now it is becoming a reality.

Any trip of this type takes some advance prep—but for me, there are now extra precautions to consider and it totally burns my butt that I am in a “Needy” category.  I may be a little needy, but I refuse to not try and take this adventure by the horns.  For me, at this time, high elevations may be an issue. One of the reasons Randy and I went to Palomar Mountain this past weekend was to check and see how I did on the mountain.  I did great at 5500 feet, we will have to really see where these parks land on the elevation scale and go from there.

Alas, another thing to consider– hospital facilities within a 90 minute drive.  Once you enter chemotherapy treatment, your natural immune system is just shot all to hell!!  There really is no way to sugar coat that.  Any fever, over 100.4—is considered life threatening and you have to seek emergency treatment!!  Pretty scary shit!!  So, in planning my road trip/national park trek—I need to know where the hospital facilities are.

Now, I know my Mom is probably saying “Stay home, you don’t need to do this” , I love and respect my Mom, but feel like I am on a limited budget, as far as time goes, and plan on having a freakin amazing adventure with what I’ve got!  Everyday has its own special significance now.  Randy and I, enjoying early morning quietness, on a mountaintop where we camped with our boys when they were little boys—So, we are together, on the mountain and during this medical battle and I could not have a more involved advocate…Randy…. I thank my lucky stars everyday that we are facing things together.