Where's Rick?

You know that feeling you get when your child gets out of your sight in a crowd? Or when you're suppose to meet someone at a certain time and they don't arrive, but you heard a siren and you're sure it had something to do with them not showing up? When your mind wanders with worry as mine sometimes does, a small bump in my road can become a crevice. Like yesterday.

My sister in law Vickie went with Rick and I for his long day of testing. Because Rick had appointments at more than one location, I dropped him off at the University of Washington (so they could get started on his 3 hour PET scan) then Vickie and I parked at SCCA and took the shuttle back to the UW. During those 3 hours, Vickie and I visited, read magazines, played Yahtzee (in the waiting room) all the while I kept checking in at the radiology desk to see how Rick was doing. They assured me that things were fine, and he would be done shortly. Shortly turned into another hour so I had them check on him again. They said he just finished and would be out soon. Another 20 minutes went by and Rick was due over at Seattle Cancer Care for a CT scan. I apologized for annoying the poor staff, but could they please call SCCA and tell them that Rick would be late because he wasn't done yet. After making the call, they paged me to say Rick had been released over an hour ago (at the University of Washington) and was already at SCCA drinking the contrast for his CT scan. ???How could that be. I was the faithful, loving wife sitting in the waiting room worrying that my husband would get to his appointment on time? I was the one who would hold his hand like I always do and check in for the next step of our journey. Apparently not! Instead, they sent Rick out a back door and pointed him in the direction of the shuttle so he could get to the right location for his next appointment. Deep in the dungeon of the University of Washington hospital there is no cell service. So here's what I learned yesterday... love and technology do not always work when you most want them to.

In the end, Vickie and I finally caught a shuttle, found Rick, held his hand the rest of the day so we wouldn't lose him again and made it out of Seattle alive. Once we arrived home, I made a little dinner for Rick and Jake, put my jammies on to relax after my stressful day and I just now woke up (at 5:00am). Apparently, I needed the rest after being on "Rick Alert" all day. We can laugh about it now... Thanks again to Vickie who kept me sane (or as sane as possible) during the Rick search.

In all seriousness (not that I ever am), Rick had blood work, a PET scan, more blood work, CT Scan, and an EKG yesterday. We won't have any test results until next Tuesday when they make their final decision whether he can be in the clinical trial. In the meantime, we're going to have fun, get some work done around the house, hopefully go to Desert Aire for Labor Day, and just keep enjoying life.

Laughter is the best medicine....once I remembered that yesterday, everything went fine.

Dream Big,
Dor