Oh so many years ago… I spent a day with my brother Tom and my cousin Scott at Marriott’s Great America (Now California’s Great America). Our favorite roller coaster was called The Tidal Wave. It was a short but thrilling ride which took us forward through a loop and then suspended us in the sky before sending us backward through the loop and suspending us in the other direction. On this particular day business was slow and we were able to enjoy this ride 75 times! Possibly only 72, but I know for sure that the final 50 were ridden without ever going back in line. The ride attendant said that all we had to do was change seats. So we went from the front to the back and so forth. It was amazing! When we reached 50 the fun ended abruptly as my cousin insisted that we leave and then he threw up in the bushes. I was incredulous when my brother said that we couldn’t just leave him in the bushes to keep riding, but had to go and join the others. Thanks a lot Scott! I knew we would never have such an opportunity again and had been hoping for 100!

I only tell that story because of the roller coaster theme I introduced last week. So – it is worse to climb the hills slowly or race down the other side (or being suspended mid-air)? I am going to call the good times racing down the slope with the wind blowing my hair… and so I am writing to report that we are currently climbing another steep hill. Ugh.

After typing my last post I was enjoying a quiet nap when Kimberly (my daughter who is visiting from college) came in to tell me that Mark needed me right away. If you haven’t read my latest post – I have Covid and we were resting in separate rooms. I ran in to him and learned his O2 sats were in the low 80s and he was panting for air. How did this happen so quickly? I had him call his oncology team (why is it always the weekend??) and they told him to get to the nearest ER and offered an ambulance. No thank you. He was also freezing so we bundled him up and sent him off to the ER with Kimberly.

Without me.

Remember when I was whining about sitting on the hard chair in the pre-op room? It is the same rotten experience as sitting on the hard chair in the ER. But I would rather be sitting in the hard chair next to Mark’s bed than sitting here at home wondering what is happening!

This is so strange. Have his lungs filled with fluid so quickly? As much as we don’t like that; we are hopeful that this is the reason so that they can be drained and we can go about our business. I knew he was really feeling poorly when he said, “Maybe they can keep me overnight.” That is definitely not like him. Especially since he is unfamiliar territory outside of the Huntsman Cancer Institute.

Well, I will have to end on a cliffhanger tonight. Rather than climbing the hill I feel more as though I am suspended in mid-air. And I think I will be watching that movie by myself….