One Year Ago

One year ago... I hadn't started this blog yet, but I was writing regularly in a journal I started shortly after the diagnosis. I read it last night, to remember where I was exactly one year ago.

I had almost forgotten what a low point I'd reached. I'd had a $750 car repair bill, $500 of which was flushed down the toilet through an unscrupulous shop (FIRESTONE! Their name is FIRESTONE!) that did nothing but take my money, necessitating another $250 for an actual repair at a reputable shop. Before I'd recovered, I was hit with a $2,300 plumbing repair. $1,000 of that was covered by homeowner's insurance, but $1,300 was still quite a bite. My cherished Tulip Poplar tree was being attacked by something, an insect or fungus. The only hope was a hard pruning, which I did, but I didn't yet know if the tree would recover. Last year, May was #5 of 6 chemo cycles. My goal had been to avoid the food stamp office during chemo; the waiting area always sounds like a tuberculosis ward. But I managed to get a food stamp caseworker who refused to return phone calls, necessitating three increasingly hysterical personal visits to the food stamp office. I finally filed a formal complaint; I don't know if she got fired or not, but I finally got a different caseworker.

It wasn't all bad, though. In fact, many wonderful blessings were coming my way. It was like a study in proportional ratios: the kindnesses of friends, family, and a few generous strangers made up for the misery that was being heaped upon me.