I mentioned before that we had talked about starting this for some time, but recent events have made a place to vent almost essential. I should qualify this a bit and say that we have led a crazy life. Let me hit some of the high points…
We were married in 1995, each of us 21 years old. We both had 11 attendants and were married in a half finished church. Our honeymoon was actually a relocation to Kansas for a job, and is worthy of a blog all on it’s own… but not right now.
During the next 6 years we had lived with both parents, in 3 different states and I had possibly the most eclectic collection of jobs on record (church youth director, pizza delivery driver, computer repair tech, firefighter, police officer, FedEx delivery driver, R.C. hobby shop/track guy, equipment operator: excavators, back hoes, dump trucks etc, and rubber conveyor belt salesman) we ended up in an apartment in Vancouver, WA and found out we were pregnant (we of course meaning my wife). Our daughter was born in December 2001 with Spina Bifida. It was not the end of the world like we thought, but certainly brought it’s share of challenges and learning.
In February 2006 we had our our second child, a son. He is “normal”, which means an absolute handful. All we had learned about raising children with our gentle mild mannered daughter went out the window with our chaotic son. Funny to think about it know, but both of us had considered trying to return him more that once. The tough part about this year was that my job took me away from home for the majority of that year, coming home only on the weekend and with just enough time to swap out suitcases before I was off again. This was particularly tough on Triann as our son screamed non stop for the first 6 months. We found out later it was acid reflux and with medication it was all better.
My company was acquired and I was offered a position with the new company in San Diego. We saw that there were limited opportunities in the North West so we sold the home and moved south. We arrived in March of 07 and I was part of a massive layoff in August. This was the first time I had ever been unemployed and I didn’t deal with it particularly well. I think I had a lot of self worth built into my work and learned quickly that I needed to find it elsewhere. In October I was offered a job back with the same company in the IT dept. 3 days after I started the Wildfires worked over San Diego and we were evacuated from our home at 4:30 in the morning with our pictures, laptops and a few sets of clothes. We spent the next 10 days floating from shelters to hotels to friends homes as we waited for them to allow us back into our place. When we were allowed back we found that the home was still there but all of our belongings were trashed from the smoke and ash. We had renters insurance so all of the damage and cleaning was covered but they kept all of our belonging until the 20th of December as they cleaned them. Certainly a good lesson about what is important in life.
On November 29th I was offered a more stable job with another financial company. In May of 08 I was offered a position in Irving TX with the same company, we saw this as a great opportunity to reduce expenses as we were really struggling in San Diego. We left SD on June 20 after work and I started work on the morning of the 23rd. Unlike most folks, we didn’t know where we were going to live when we got there and ended up living in a Residents Inn for a little over 2 weeks while we secured a rental home. The temperature was the first shock, we spent many days over 100 degrees as we were starting to move in, this wasn’t the most welcoming situation we had ever been in but certainly added to the great stories we can tell. Various craziness followed us out here as well. My daughter (now 6) broke her femur and we were introduced to the incredible children’s medical care that Dallas is so well known for. We also learned that the cost of living is lower only in reference to the actual housing cost, i.e. rent. Our first power bill was over $500. Quite a shock to a couple of North Westerners who were shocked if we saw a bill over $100.
All of this brings us to today and our latest chapter of life. On Tuesday September 30th, 2008 (our 13th Anniversary), my wife went to the Dr to find out about a pain in her abdomen. The Dr ordered an ultrasound and she was then sent to the ER for a CAT scan. This is where I found her, in the ER waiting for the results of the scan. The ER Dr came in and told us that she had a huge tumor and that they were going to admit her. Surgery was scheduled for the following Wed. She spent that entire week in the Hospital trying to get the pain under control and prepping for the surgery. They removed the Tumor on October 8th and we waited quite nervously for the biopsy results. They were returned the next Monday. We were told that the tumor was a Stage II Adrenal Carcinoma and all the dreary news that comes along with that.
That is where we are today. My wife is home healing from the surgery and we are waiting for our appointment with MD Anderson in Houston to find out what our treatment options are.
I know this was a long drawn out look at our 13 years together, but maybe this will help some of my future ramblings make more sense.
It is interesting, as I wrote all of this out the thought that kept running through my head was that I didn’t want anyone to think I was looking for sympathy. I don’t know if that is what you were thinking or not, but just to be sure, as crazy as all that history sounds, I wouldn’t trade any of it for one second. That chaos is what made us what we are today. I really believe that without all of that “practice” we wouldn’t be ready for what we are dealing with today. We have been blessed with incredible families and friends that have kept us from completely loosing it and a God that has continued to get us through it all.
That’s all for right now.
Eric