Wednesday: 08/08/2012
Having worked today, I haven't seen and barely heard from Zack or Frank. Frank worked this morning and he, Zack and our family friend, Jeff went to Spruce Pine to pick up the car. That is all the Zack has been able to talk about since he first set eyes on it. (In case I failed to mention, it is a 1971 Ford, Galaxy.) I touched base around 4 pm and Zack was all excited about the car and feeling well. This weeks treatment was not too bad.
Our brother in law Floyd, (the best transmission specialist in the area) offered to store the car at his garage while Zack, with his help, works to get the car put back together again. They should be home around 8 pm. as it is a two hour drive one way. I'm sure Zack will spend all of tomorrow working on his new "love".
It is 9 pm and they have returned home, excited, exhausted and hungry for "real " food. Of course, being the perfect wife/ mother. I smile, hug them, welcome them home and remind them where the kitchen is. ( Hey I worked all day you know!!) LOL Zack sits down and shows me all the pictures.It turns out that the man went out and bought a new battery, installed the lights, and put on the front and rear bumpers to get the car ready for Zack. We had already agreed to purchase it as is, but the guy was so happy that Zack is keeping the car close to it's original condition, he wanted to help out.
Thursday: 08/09/2012
It is another great day! Zack is up and ready to bring me to work at 6:15 am. He can't wait to get over to Shawn and Floyd's house to work on his car. He has enlisted the help of several of his friends today. He, of course, has borrowed "momma's" car ( I really miss my car!). He runs around to the auto parts store, Lowes for paint, pretty much anywhere he needed to get supplies for the car. I see him so excited, and I want it to last.
I made an executive decision "WE" are the ones that are in control (well at least I would like to think we are), I call the Cancer Center and tell them that we want to start the hospital stay on Tuesday instead of Monday. I don't want to miss work and it will be the first day of school. Zack had mentioned last night that he really wished he could have gone to be with his friends, if only for the first day. His "counts" are good and he should be physically able to do so. The Doctor gives his blessings and tell me to tell Zack to have a great day at school. I'm so excited I can barely wait for Zack to return my phone call. (of course he is out of range). I can't stand waiting anymore, so I call Floyd, who runs outside to get Zack to have him call me. Zack, thinking he might be in trouble calls the office and is a bit quiet, "hello... Mom?"; "Zack GUESS what I did?", Ummm "you got insurance on my car?" "Oh yea.. I forgot I did that too!", "yes, yes" "cool he says", "but that's not why I called!" "Umm ok," Zack is still confused.... "GUESS who is going to the first day of school, for the full day?" " WHAT?" How did you do THAT?" I proceeded to tell him that we must have some control, if not over the chemo and radiation, at least over some of the scheduling. "He is ecstatic, between that and getting the car title on Friday, he will be able to drive his "new" car to school and show it to his friends.
They say that 2/3rds of healing is good mental health and the other 1/3 is the medication. Well, I think this week, he is building many good memories for when he goes into the hospital. His friends continue to be amazing, as are ours.
I received an email from a acquaintance today asking how she could explain this to her teenage child, whom has lost faith because of seeing her friends go through hard times and now Zack. I told her that my personal belief is more along the Buddhist way of thinking , we are all here to be either teachers or students (or both). To ask "why me" is to deny our very existence. "why NOT me?", Zack is the one going through the pain and discomfort, but not once has he said "why me?" ( he also doesn't philosophize like his mother tends to do), but he says "OK, let get this shit over with, I have a life to live".When Zack's friends ask me about him and how he is doing, I remind them that he is healthy, young and the cancer is gone. He doesn't want pity, he wants to be treated like everyone else.We understand that friends may leave us and new ones appear. That is a very normal part of going through something like this. Whatever we can learn from this experience is another gift and Frank and I are so blessed to have this amazing person as our teacher.
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