Robin and Rita and more (long) - 10/10/05

 
It has been over three weeks since my last update, and quite a bit has happened in that short time, but with all that was happening, it was hard to find time to sit down and write.

On Sunday, September 18th, Robin awoke, went to church, and started to play piano at Mass when she noticed she was having a problem reading the music. She found that the vision in the lower quadrant of her left eye was terrible. After two Masses, we went to the Symphony for Beethoven's Fifth, and she noticed that she couldn't see at all out of the left eye. She said it was like looking through wax paper with brown floating objects. When we got home, she called a friend who is a nurse, and she advised Robin to call her doctor, who told her to go to the emergency room. The emergency room personnel rushed Robin through because her vision loss could have been caused by a stroke. After lots of testing, they ruled stroke out and referred her to an retina specialist. We saw him on Monday and he diagnosed Robin with "Diabetic Retinopathy," a condition where blood vessels grow inside the eye, which can cause slow degradation and eventual blindness in diabetic people. In Robin's case, one of the blood vessels inside her eye broke open, leaking blood in her eye. The Ophthalmologist told her to sleep with her head raised and come back in a month. If the blood has cleared, he will be able to help stabilize her vision with laser treatments.

On Tuesday, September 20th, Robin received her second round of Chemo since surgery. Her blood counts were good, though all were lower than before chemo. Everything went smoothly and took much less time than the first round (about 4.5 hours vs. Almost 8 hours the first time. On Wednesday, Robin received the shot to boost her white blood cell count. John took her to the cancer center because school was closed, due to Hurricane Rita. Rita (her first name is "Marga", by the way) was headed straight for Galveston, and the patients at Robin's facility were already being evacuated, so Robin was told not to go to work. Robin decided that we needed to leave Houston, and Fayellen said we could go with her family to Dallas (actually, Plano). It was clear that our dog, Rufus, could not go with us because he was so aggressive with anyone outside our family (in fact, our vet of 24 years said he could not board Rufus because of his aggressive nature). So Robin and John took him to the SPCA to have him put down, while I was charged with preparations for the trip. I did what I could to prepare the house. When the returned, John and I boarded up the windows, and Robin packed our bags. We slept for about two hours.

Our caravan left for Dallas at 2:30 AM on Thursday morning. Fayellen led us up Telephone road as far as we could go, then most of the way through the city before entering Interstate 45 and STOPPING. For the next 22 hours, we traveled 20 miles with only one bathroom break. That was an experience, by itself. Cars were not allowed to exit the Interstate, so we had to pull over to the shoulder, walk across the waist-high grass median, cross the feeder road (also at a dead halt), and go behind a car body shop. As you might guess, Robin was in some distress throughout this journey. After Chemo, she is supposed to drink LOTS of water, but she was afraid to, because there was nowhere to stop. She handled the pain and nausea by taking medications preemptively. At about midnight, Fayellen had arranged for us to meet with some other evacuees at the home of a friend in the Woodlands. John, a friend of Fayellen's from high school, was evacuating his parents and their ward, a young lady from El Salvador. John nearly ran out of gas and had stopped near the Woodlands. John's ex-wife, Lisa, and her current husband, Mark, were bringing them gas and food from Dallas. We all arrived at a beautiful home in the Woodlands at about 12:30 Friday morning. By now, with John's crew, there were 14 of us!

Frank and his wife were amazingly gracious. When we arrived at their house, they had prepared a meal of venison sausage, Cajun stuffed chickens, barbecue ribs, salad, beans, and bread. Delicious!!! After sleeping a few hours we were treated to a good breakfast and we started on our way again.

By now, we were a four vehicle caravan: Fayellen's van, John's truck, Mark and Lisa's truck, and our little Toyota. We traveled via back roads (instead of I-45), and we made excellent progress. We reached Plano by late afternoon. We parted company from John and his family, and proceeded on to our shelter. Fayellen and her family (including Russell, her "adopted" son) stayed at the home of her high school friend, Tony, while we stayed with Tony's sister, Patricia and her family, Jean-Claude (her husband), and Christopher and Natasha, their children. Although we'd never met them before, the whole family, including Tony and Patricia's parents, treated us like family and made us feel at home. We had a great time and completely enjoyed getting to know these fine folks. After all the misery of the trip, their hospitality and friendship made it well worth the experience. There is no way we could ever repay the favor, but I hope we will at least be able to stay in touch.

We started back to Houston on Monday afternoon, since Robin was expected at work on Tuesday. We again took the backroads for most of the trip, entering I-45 when it widened to eight lanes. We got home about midnight. There was no damage to the house except for a lot of tree branches in the yard. Except for extreme fatigue, Robin was doing fairly well. It was now Tuesday, September 27th.

Friday, the 30th was Robin's birthday. Unknown to her, weeks before the hurricane, I had arranged for her parents to fly into Houston from North Carolina on Thursday, the 29th. Her brother, Larry, decided to come along, as well. So from Tuesday to Thursday, John and I busted our butts to get the house back in order before they arrived. When I brought them into the house, Robin was floored!!! She couldn't believe her eyes, especially when her brother (who had not flown before) showed up. We went to dinner with friends and family on Friday night and had cake and ice cream afterwards. The weekend was great fun, and they flew back home on Sunday afternoon.

By the way, a big "THANK YOU" to the MANY people who sent Robin birthday cards with personal notes of encouragement. She didn't see the e-mail I sent asking folks to send her cards, so she was blown away each day when more would arrive. Many came from people that she didn't even know personally, but they knew her through me or through her work at the church. The warm words were a big boost to her and a great present that she will not forget. Thanks again.

On Tuesday, Robin went to get blood work done. The tests showed that she is low on red blood cells and hemoglobin (probably why she is feeling so exhausted lately). If insurance approves it, she will get booster shots when she goes in for Chemo on Tuesday, October 11th.

I'll try not to wait so long before writing again

Please continue to keep Robin in your prayers.
She needs them as much or more than ever.

Thank you,
Larry (and Robin)