Regarding our trip to Florida

Thank you to many of my friends. Let me start with that. To those of you who donated through paypal, someone got my debit card information on the trip (apparently) so as soon as I get a new card and know that issue is resolved I’ll be paying you back. Yes, I will.

The first hurdle was the rental car. Turns out I didn’t have enough $ in my account after all so another friend fronted me the money and is already paid back. Thanks Derrick for saving our trip. By the time we got that figured out they were out of vans so we were upgraded (for free) to a Yukon. Worked out great, plenty of room for everyone and all our stuff. Gas was a little more expensive than I planned for but Dad lent me money to get home. Dad will be paid back too.

The second hurdle was that Kira was sick. We hoped by the time we got to Florida she’d be better enough to see Brittany and she mostly was. At first we took the precaution of having Kira and Brit wear surgical masks when they were snuggly so that helped. The kids were pretty great for the whole trip, but when Jack was done he was done so we ended up one night at a motel just inside the FL border. On the way home Jack was in the third row because he couldn’t seem to stop bugging Kira. She was patient, but c’mon! And thanks to your donations I was able to get them both new car seats for comfort. Kira needed one that still had a back on it so she wouldn’t fall over when she was sleeping and Jack was still in a carrier-car seat and ready to move up to the next size.

The third hurdle was Texas. We never seem to get through Texas without an encounter with law-enforcement. First Casey got a warning for going 86 in an 80 zone. Hey, Texas got rid of those different speeds for day/night time but they still suck. Not 20 minutes later we didn’t make it through the border stop scot-free but that was eventually resolved. It doesn’t help that the nearby town only has about 6 open businesses and 5 of them are law-enforcement related. It only set us back about 4 hours. I fucking hate Texas. Seriously.

Jack, Me, Max, Bonnie, Kira, Ginnie, Beth, Dad, Gabe, Mark, and Brittany.

So, we got to my Dad’s and settled in. Unfortunately the condo Bonnie keeps for company was otherwise engaged, but we found room for everyone – mattresses on the floor for the boys and Kira on the couch. We took Ginnie and Jack over to stay with my sister and spent a little time with Brittany. The next day she was feeling frisky so Ginnie, Brit and the boys went to the mall to hang out. We got to spend plenty of time with her and made sure we didn’t wear her out. The next day they took the little kids to the beach for a while and we had a BBQ at Beth’s. At some point we all went over to my Mom’s to see her and have lunch but our focus was on spending time with Brittany. By Thursday evening Brit was done so we said our goodbyes and took pictures. We had a nice breakfast out with Dad and Bonnie Friday morning and headed out.

No issues coming back though we stayed in some podunk town in Texas for one night. We were just so exhausted nobody felt like driving.

That Friday while we were on the road Brittany went to her doctor’s appointments, MRI and CT scans, etc. Turns out her cancer has spread even more. Among the list (liver, back, collarbone, lungs, etc.) they found two lumps on her head at the hairline/forehead area and operated on Sunday. Because they had to cut open her scalp from ear to ear and the drugs, she was swollen so bad she couldn’t see for days and is still having difficulty breathing. She’s been moved to hospice.

We had a quiet conversation while I was there. She’s leaning pretty hard on giving up. Though she’s posted that she’s in hospice to rest and gather strength, I’m pretty sure she’s done with fighting. It’s just too much. But who knows. The last time she was in hospice (last June) everyone was pretty sure she wouldn’t make it out but she did. She’s had a year longer than they thought but she is the definition of riddled with cancer. And though she was fairly strong and active while we were there I could tell she was rallying for us.

We had a great visit. We got lots of hugs and got to say goodbye.

So… thanks again to those who helped us out. It was worth every penny.

Hang in there Brittany and know we love you. If you chose to stop fighting we support that too.