I guess the place to start this story is
at the time of my separation from Bill. It was Thanksgiving of 2011. Thank You
Jeff for helping me figure out what year. Actually let’s go a little further
back to before that when Bill moved in with his girlfriend and I began the
process of packing the detritus of our 10 year marriage. I’m not entirely sure
what month that was but the packing began then. Over the years I have packed
and stored stuff cast off by all 4 of my kids but the truly drudging task of sifting
through the remains of people’s lives began with my marital home.
Now
forward to Thanksgiving 2011. I moved my crap to Golden Road and then spent
Thanksgiving weekend at Cecil Webb with Dragon and our gangs. I was working 0700-1900 on 5N at Lee Memorial
Hospital at the time.
I want to stop here and talk about my
Director and Co-Workers on 5N. When Anne
recruited me I was still working for the Central Staffing Registry and floating
to all 4 LMH hospitals. I was looking for a “home” and she helped me find one.
During my time on 5N I worked with some of THE BEST staff and THE BEST Director
I had ever had the pleasure to work with. Our team cared for many of the most
difficult patients in the system and did a fabulous job of it. Most of all
though we became a family. It is the staff NOT the patients that keep nurses
coming back to 5N. The lessons I learned
from these individuals are overwhelming and will stay in my “tool box” forever.
The love and support I received from you guys is a huge part of what has
carried me to this point in my life. Days shift saw me through my divorce, 2
moves and countless family dramas. Night shift truly carried me through my mother’s
illness and death. They carried my load long after my health stopped me from
truly being a part of their team.
Amazingly enough I know that many of them still care about me even after
the demise of my nursing career with Lee Memorial Health System.
It was while
I was on the dirt road that I dated Brady, Doug, and Gary. I also met my buddy Russ and my daughter
Nikole met and started dating Doug’s son. Cory lived with us for most of the time we were on
Golden road.
My separation and divorce was hardest on
my youngest daughter Shyenne. After we moved from Punta Gorda I had a very
difficult time with her and Shy eventually moved to Texas to live with her
father.
It was also during this time that my
daughter Nikole found out she was pregnant for the first time. On Aug. 7, 2012 Olivia Kathleen was delivered by cesarean section 2 months
prematurely. She was in NICU at Health
Park Hospital for 30 days, requiring daily trips from Slater Road for Nikki and
Cory.
I stayed there on the dirt road for 16
months and during that time it was home to 2 more of my “kids.” Christina and
Michael lived there with me and right before I moved out Birkley and Dottie
were my roomies. In fact I think their daughter Kerri still lives in that
house.
What an awful, depressing summer 2012 was. Water and mud so deep I had to roll up my
scrubs and take my Birkies off to wade to my truck. In fact Golden Road was all over the news the
summer that mom was sick. I really do love the area out there though and during
the dry season Sophia, Sebastian, Noah and I spent many fun filled hours
playing, gardening and crafting at the little place in the woods. After Olivia was home her favorite place to be
was in the garden with grandma especially if she was in her swing. How ironic that I will be moving back to the
dirt road Thanksgiving weekend of 2014, almost exactly 3 years to the day since
I moved there the first time?
I
moved to my place on Little Grove Lane in March of 2012, about a month before
my mom’s diagnosis. I was so happy to
get off the dirt road before the next rainy season came and just thrilled to be
living across the street from my friends Dan and Laura and around the corner from
Laura’s parents NeNe and Pappy.
At any rate, mom was diagnosed with stage
4 lung cancer on April 12, 2012 in the ER of my hospital after a fall. She was
admitted to 2W. I stayed with her at the
hospital that night and began notifying family members, learning about
treatment options and arranging logistics. I became my mom’s nurse. It was also
around this time that I made the switch from days to nights at work. I didn’t
realize it then, but the shift change made a HUGE difference in my ability to
accommodate mom’s treatment schedule.
It
was decided that radiation therapy was the first course of action in order to
attempt to shrink the metastatic tumor in her right frontal lobe and the
primary tumor in her lung. After discharge mom returned to her home with the
help of her roomies Jeff and Robbie. Sissy and I ran our butts off 6 weeks and with
the help of John and Jeff we completed radiation therapy with KK.
It was 8 weeks before the MRI to determine
if the radiation had been successful. Never the less, mom continued to decline and
before the MRI was completed I moved in
with her full time right after Doug and
I came back from the Coca Cola 400 in Daytona. That was Fourth of July Weekend
2013. I didn’t see the inside of that house on
Little Grove again until months later when I was able to get one more load of
my stuff out of there before I was refused entrance and had to call the Sherriff’s Dept. to get
my cable boxes so I could return them.
I continued to pay the rent at my place on
Little Grove in hopes that I would be going back there soon and my pets stayed
there for a while with my daughter Nikole and my niece Danielle rotating time
at my house and time at moms with me. I didn’t bring my critters over to moms
with me for a while because there were already 4 dogs at her place. Eventually
my ex sister in law Linda moved into the Little Grove house.
The months from July to mom’s passing were
bittersweet. My family cared for KK, celebrated LuLu’s 1st birthday,
retrieved the Twit from Texas and forged relationships that had been fractured
many years ago. Sissy became a clown and
we filled mom’s room with balloon animals. There were good times and sad times
but in the end we were able to help mom maintain her quality of life until the
very end. She passed peacefully on Set 15, 2013. She and I were alone in the house. I was
scheduled to work and was asleep at 1500 when she woke me up to say “goodbye.”
The rest of the gang was all together at Tilly’s birthday party. This seems a good place to stop and post my ramblings. It's time to look at my life since my moms passing. That will be the next installment.
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