Beginning of European Vacation

So, I guess I will dedicate this post to our trip to Europe.

On September 8, mom and I boarded a flight to Chicago, where we met up with my cousin, Sarah and my aunt, Gloria. The four of us then flew to Rome, Italy. I knew this was going to be a fabulous flight as soon as we got on the plane. A woman knocked me backwards into my bag and mom and it hurt my leg, then we were seated in the VERY back row where there was no way to lean your seat back. I went into full panic mode. To top it off, there was some kind of box under every right and left aisle seat. The middle row of seats were fine, but the aisle seats were ALL kinds of messed-up. My mother, with her newfound bravery, marched straight to the flight attendant. She told them that her daughter had surgery recently and she would not be able to sit in that seat. I have a serious problem with sitting anywhere, except the aisle. The very kind flight attendant moved us to some seats in the middle row. It was not a full flight, thankfully. It was, however a long flight. I dozed on and off until we arrived in Rome.

Sarah had arranged for us to stay in a condo near the Vatican. The owner of the condo had arranged for a car to drive us from the airport, so we would not have any problem getting to our destination. The place was lovely! I mean, it was really beautiful. The owners met us there to give us the keys and they were very nice.

The first thing on my list of to-dos was to get a hold of a phone. Mom and I needed to be able to stay in touch with Gus for Sonic business and things. Mom and Gloria went immediately to sleep, nice long nap and Sarah and I took off on foot, cameras in tow to find the Vodafone store. I had a phone I had gotten in Ireland, but lost the charger. It would have been nice if I could have just gotten a new charger and sim card. But, I had to buy a new phone. It was a very long walk to the store and Sarah and I were tired and hungry by the end of the trip. We did get some gelatto, but we hadn't really eaten since we were on the plane. We took a cab back to our home away from home and found our sleeping beauties still sleeping. We roused the girls to head out and eat dinner. Little did we know, in Rome, there is no dinner until 7. Restaurants serve pasta starting at 7 and pizza starting at 8. We walked the streets trying to find an open spot, where we wouldn't have to wait so long to eat! We found a place down the main street in our neighborhood. The food was awesome, the waitress was friendly and we were all so happy. That was the end of day #1 in Rome.

The next day, it was urgent that I get some new shoes. I couldn't walk. The shoes I brought along KILLED my feet. We took a cab to Via Del Corso, to the Camper store. I can always count on Campers to take care of my tootsies. After the shopping, we went into a church and looked around. We lit candles for Doug and Dad and then decided it was time to eat. We sat down outside at a little restaurant and guess who was sitting at the next table over.....It was Joan Collins. Yep. The photo is the proof. After lunch I went home sick sick sick. The girls did some fun shopping. I hit the pharmacy and got some medicine. I stayed in bed the rest of the day and the entire day after.

I will give more details on the next post. But, I will update everyone on my medical situation. I came home and had a voice message from Dr. Steffens' nurse. It turns out that Dr. Steffens wants scans. One set of markers was up just a little and the other set of markers was in the normal range. I have a PET scan scheduled for tomorrow and a bone scan scheduled for Wednesday. I'll let you know when I get some information.

This is the church we visited

Sandy and Joan Collins

I will post some more photos as I get around to updating the days of the trip. For now, I hope you enjoy the two photos above.

Love and Gratitude!
Tara

As you read this, the new Avett Brothers cd has been released. Everyone run out and buy I And Love And You!! It is so wonderful and I couldn't be prouder of my dear friends! Support these talented guys!

to continue

So, after we returned from Kansas, life continued to move on. We had so much to take care of, there was far too little time to grieve.

Fortunately, mom and I had been planning a trip to Europe since the spring. Our travelling companions, Sarah and Gloria lost Doug in April and the 4 of us looked forward to healing in Rome. Dad knew our plans, so it made us feel better about going.

Leading up to the trip, I had an appointment with Dr. Steffens. We decided to take blood and not get the results until after the trip. This way, I get to be blissfully ignorant on my trip. I will call in first thing Wednesday morning and see what we have to deal with!

We left for Rome on Sept. 8. The Friday before we left, my mom asked if I had my passport, yet. Given my stressful year, I was very remiss in getting my passport renewed. I had gone to Congressman Kissell's office in August to get my passport rushed. I tracked the package and knew it had been delivered to DC, so I wasn't worried. But, on Friday, mom reminded me that Monday was Labor day and there would be NO deliveries. We were leaving on Tuesday. I started to panic. I calle the local office and they started to look into it. We called back and forth all afternoon, but after 5, I couldn't reach anyone. My mom is very meek and she shocked me by calling Larry Kissell at home. Things started happening very fast. It turned out that the local office was still working on it and I realized that a friend was in Washington working as Larry Kissell's chief of staff. It was soooo under control! The package never made it to it's destination, so they called the woman from the mailroom back to work to find it. She did and then it was driven to the state dept. and processed that night! Vote for Larry Kissell in 2010!!! He and his staff are awesome.

So, mom and I flew on Tuesday, September 8 to Chicago to meet up with Sarah and Gloria. From there we took off for Rome! We were so ready for this adventure! I'll blog about my trip when I get home!!!

Mobile Blogging from here.

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sad times

This is my blog post for September! I know, where have I been? Well, I have been all over the place and there is so much to tell. 2 weeks of recovery from my surgery. I didn't have all of my facuties, due to copius amounts of pain medicine. It was very difficult to get my pain under control. In the end, we went with a Fentenal (sp?) patch. It really helped. My aunts Pippy and Gloria came for a visit a week after my surgery. We had a lovely few days and mom and I even went to the beach with the two of them. We had a nice, relaxing weekend and I didn't even leave the condo from Friday night until we left Sunday afternoon.

That Sunday, Gus was concerned about my dad. He said dad seemed confused and a little wobbly. Mom kept in contact with dad all day and he seemed fine, even insisted he was fine. We got home late inthe evening and dad was already in bed. Eric and I went over to mom's house to watch True Blood and we were there quite late. We had just gotten home when Gus called to tell me that mom had an ambulebce on the way for dad. They were sure dad was having a stroke. Gus picked me up and we headed to the hospital. Dad had suffered 2 strokes in the past and we were concerned, but we knew he was tough! Upon arrival at the hospial, we were told that this stroke was not something he could recover from. It took 2 1/2 hours, but dad passed away in the emergency room. It was the early morning hours of July 20. Pippy and Gloria were still in town and he passed with all of us with him. It was beyond tragic. The world changed in that moment. I know many people reading this understand the awful pain of losing a parent. We were not ready for this and we know that dad was not ready for this.

We had a visitation at the funeral home on Wednesday, July 22. It was overwhelming to see so many people who loved dad come out. We overstayed our welcome by more than 2 hours. It was quite humbling. The funeral the next day was beautiful and again we were humbled by the love!

In the wake of my father's death, we had so much to take care of. We rallied as a family and we got through. My thanks to everyone who held our hands. I hope this explains my absence, a little.

Health: still on the same course of treatment. I had a treatment 1 week after surgery and my bloodwork showed elevated tumor markers. We were unsure if the surgery had stirred up the cells and Dr. Steffens wanted to repeat markers and possibly change course. This was all we needed! More bad news... We took more blood and the markers were still elevated. Dr. Steffens, again wanted to give it more time. I agreed and we went ahead with that treatment.

In the next month, we flew to Kansas to have a memorial service for my father in Junction City. He was born there and his heart remained there until death, so it made sense to bring it full circle. Once again, we were blessed to feel the love from so many people eager to celebrate his life with us. It was a whirlwind trip and offered a bit of much needed closure, but brought with it the reality of his absence. The door to his office remains closed everyday and everyone at work is doing their best to continue on with the work to which he devoted his life. My mother will follow through with the buy-out agreement my father had with his partners in Pizza Hut and we will continue to work to make Sonic prosper. Gus has taken on the role of President of T&S, BRU and he is doing a wonderful job as leader of that company. We will strive to empower our managers with confidence and continue with the high expectations that marked the success my father had in his life.

I will continue this story in the next blog, possibly later tonight. It is dinner time and I am hungry!

Love and gratitude!
Tara

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