You want me to do what?????

Just exactly two weeks from the day we left home, we returned home. What?? Weren't you planning on staying a month?? Yes, in fact, we were.

I think my honey thought this trip would be magic. We'd take off in this rolling hotel (RV) of ours, with him at the helm (most of the time, I drive .....the car), we'd stop along the way at Rest Areas, and have breakfast or lunch.......just like we used to do.......before cancer.

He got tired, as we loaded, but I thought nothing of it. I got tired, too. He said he felt okay, and he seemed okay....and silly me....I listened, and I believed.

So, on Thursday morning  - just two weeks ago - on the road we went. He seemed okay. He looked okay. He even acted okay. The man shoulda' been an actor!

We finally arrived at our campground, near Hillsville, VA on Saturday about noon. He seemed okay. He looked okay. He acted okay.

He was tired, and he rested, and I thought nothing of it. After all, Myeloma causes fatigue, and weakness, and so many other things. And, it had been a long trip, and I was tired.

One week from the day we left home, we went on our first excursion up in the mountains. (That really was a clue that things weren't as good as he was pretending.) We didn't go to the Blue Ridge Mountains, which were to our East and South......but to the Appalachian Mountains which were back to our West. I drove. Because he tires easily, it was really just a road trip and a visual experience. We never were into hiking, so not being able to climb the mountain didn't bother me. After all, I have an excellent Treadmill, in my bedroom, and it's such a great place to hang clothes and is in air conditioning, why get all hot and sweaty, outside!

For the next few days, he sat and rested....or slept on the sofa, in the RV. And, he started doing something that he hadn't been doing. He began to ask for a pain pill when he first got up, in the morning. He finally quit, as our friends like to say, "putting on a front" and began to admit that he wasn't feeling good - and really hadn't felt good for some time (even before we left home).

I began to ask "do we need to go home, while you can still drive this thing?" (I drive cars....not RVs). So finally, on Wednesday (just one day shy of two weeks from when we left home), my honey decided that we needed to head home - so he could get back to his doctor. And, because he really was no longer able to drive the RV......bless his heart....it's still on vacation, in VA!

Was I upset? Yes, a little. But, I realized that this was something he was trying to do for me. He wanted things to be as they were ....... before cancer. But our life has changed.......nothing is the same.

We have taken three vacations in the past year. The first vacation, he got sick and we came home to a diagnosis of Multiple Myeloma. The second vacation, he got sick and we came home to see the doctor. This was the third vacation, and he got sick and had to come back to the doctor.

Please, please, please don't mention the words trip, or vacation, to me.......I'm just not sure how I might react. You know what they say, "All's well that ends well"....well, so far, these vacations haven't ended too well.