There is some unwritten rule somewhere that says that things will break, fall apart, or just plain stop when the guys are gone. I don't know who said it needed to be that way, but it was that way for my mom and is now that way for me. Case in point, the windows in my car will no longer roll up or down, unless the door is open at an exact 47 degree angle. Really, I'm just trying to make light of this next part, because what has broken or fallen apart this time is difficult to cope with. Last Friday, I got a phone call from Shirley, my mother in law, saying Robbie (Ronnie's brother) isn't doing well and she needed to talk with me.
Before I go forward, let me back up. Robbie was diagnosed with bladder cancer in March '09; it was treated and the prognosis was hopeful. Then we found out it had metastasized to his bone and had large tumors on his neck in Sept '09. This happened while we were in the middle of our move to Korea. I sent Ronnie back home immediately while I finished up the move myself. The surgery to remove the tumor went okay but the doctors were still hopeful about his condition. In Dec 09, we found out that the tumor had regrown (refer to Go Daddy Go post) and we have been treating ever since. Back in May, he woke up and was paralyzed from the waist down. The admitted him to the hospital and have been doing chemo ever since.
I tracked Ronnie down in Alaska, with the help of Allison, and gave him the message to call his parents. What Shirley was calling to tell us is Robbie has made the decision to stop treatment. He found out that he has blood clots in his legs and lungs and his liver is starting to fail. On top of that, the tumor is not shrinking and may even be growing. The docs are giving him 1 - 3 months to live.
I gathered all my strength, packed my bags and kids, and hopped home on Tuesday. After having spent 40 hours on the road, the girls and I finally landed in Florida on Wednesday morning. We will be in Florida for the next few weeks visiting with Robbie and other friends and family.
But this needs to be said. For all the things the military can do and have done wrong, the one thing they get right time and time again is emergency leave. We needed it back in 2001 when Ronnie's Aunt Sarah passed away, and again in December 09 when the relapse happened. Here we are using it again and the process could not be smoother. The professionalism and what else can I do to help is exactly what we need in this process and I can't thank the Draggins, Lady Draggins, and our military family enough.
I also learned a big lesson this week - no matter how much I hate a subject, it is possible to prepare for a final exam, take said final the night before you fly internationally, and manage to get a 100 on the test. Guess those old school skills are still in this brain after all.
The next few weeks will be posts about Florida and what all we're going to do while here and making the best of our time with Robbie and the family.
Love to all!
Chris
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