Healthy and Happy

We made some friends while we were in Arkansas by the name of Tom and Shirley Casey.

They rented an apartment across the street from ours and Tom would look out for us while Tanner and Shirley went through their treatment.

We have remained in contact and Shirley emailed me the other day and was telling me how sorry she was to read about our insurance difficulties and about the death of our friend John.

I wrote her back that I sometimes worry that my postings are depressing since I usually write about all the negative things that are happening in mine and Tanner’s life but that I seem to use the blog as a place to vent.

Sometimes, I get so caught up in trying to carry the burdens caused by the cancer that I don’t stop and post about the positive things that are happening in our lives.

I purchased myself a new little Honda and have given Tanner my Lancer for graduation. He’s quite excited and is working to make it “his own”. He and a friend have been putting tint on the windows and have installed a new stereo.

Buying a car was a BIG decision with all the financial difficulties we have right now, but I decided what else could I do? My Lancer is eight years old and we have to make all of these trips to Arkansas. I need something I can depend on. Heaven forbid Tanner and I should break down on that stretch of highway where there are miles and miles of nothing.

Then there's the fact that Tanner is 18 and needs some independence. If he's going to go to school and, hopefully, one day get a job, he's going to need a vehicle. In the end, I felt like getting another car was something I HAD to do.

He came to my office with me yesterday and worked for several hours placing labels on our client newsletters. In payment (part payment – part graduation gift), my employer had a new windshield installed in the car since the old one had a crack that was fast approaching the driver’s side line of vision.

He went camping over the Fourth of July weekend and has been going swimming quite often with friends. He’s working to exercise and is putting some weight (no more than 50%) on his broken leg. He tells me it’s not painful unless he tries to put his full body weight on the leg.

The nurses tell us that actually using the limb and putting some weight on it will, hopefully, stimulate the bone to start healing at a quicker rate.

We are getting everything together so that he can go in the near future and take his placement test at Tarrant County College. We are going to wait and see if the doctors decide if he has to have surgery before he actually signs up for classes but are going to go ahead and try to get everything in place so that once he’s ready, he can start some college courses.

His older brother, Trevor, found a job and has been working steady 11-12 hour days for the last week. He and Tanner spend lots of time together and my house is usually full of young people (I actually stayed at my cousin’s house while they were out of town last night so that I could have a little quiet time to myself).

Tanner texted earlier that he’s cleaning house today so, hopefully, they didn’t have too much fun while their mom was gone last night. LOL!

Yes, I often let the worry about Tanner’s disease and how we are going to come up with the money to pay all of these bills overwhelm me, but for the most part, things are going well for me and my boys.

I’m thankful to the depths of my soul that Tanner remains in remission and truly feel (as I tell Tanner all the time) that everything will work out. The most important thing is that he is healthy and happy.

So, just realize that I might "vent" here about all my worries, but as long as Tanner is in remission and we can continue to come up with ways to keep purchasing the medicines needed to keep him there, everything is good...