Life on the roller coaster

I did not want my last, very negative post to be hanging out there too long so just a quick update. We have felt for a long time that we are on a roller coaster and it continues to be
that way but some days end on a very good note and that brings forth a lot of gratefulness
and picks you up out of those dark spots. We had Olivia's birthday party yesterday at
a Build A Bear place in the mall and this was a good thing. The girls had a ball and everything
went super EXCEPT in the middle of the party, I get a call on my cell phone that there is water
leaking through the living room ceiling in the apartment in the rental house we own. It's always
something. I thought after three months of working on the upstairs apt. and renting it that
we could coast for awhile. Not to be. We got phone calls within 2 weeks about the new tenant
when he showed up with an ear-splitting Harley we were not told about and woke up the other
tenants and half the neighbors starting it up at 6 AM. That got ironed out and then we had another problem with him. Obviously, he did not know he was dealing with a stressed out,
sleep deprived, hormonal, desperate housewife. He does now. I told him that if he thinks he's gonna add more grief to my life, he is mistaken. He either shapes up or I'm tossing him out.
He chose to shape up.
Then the downstairs tenants have parents
who live out of the country who are ill and they are moving back home to care for them. Another
apartment to rent. So luckily this roller coaster has its ups. The apt. rented immediately and I
believe we will like this situation better anyway. I am learning to try to "roll with the punches"
more and more with all these problems the last few months have thrown our way. They say you learn the most in the bad times of your life. I just wish God didn't think I had so much learning that had to be done. But the best
news lately was the telephone consult we had with a top myeloma specialist last night that has
us feeling more hopeful and confident than we have felt in a long time. Tim has made up his mind
not to have an allo transplant now. We intend to stop the Velcade now that it's done its job and
the neuropathy has begun anyway so the timing is right to end it and we will pray that he will
be able to ride out a nice remission from the great response he had from it. We have been tied
up in knots ever since we learned his sister was a match and we both feel like a weight has been
lifted off of us now. I think that Tim really felt in his gut that he wanted to at least try to see if
he could get a remission and have some quality time before doing something that is still so
controversial. I have always had the utmost respect for anyone brave enough to do the allo
and still do. He may even do one at a later time if it becomes necessary but for now, he feels OK
trying to use meds because he responded so well to them so far and this doctor had that very
same opinion when he looked at Tim's history and lab reports. I am grateful for the many "ups"
we have had in these last few months. They have gotten us through the really rough spots. Our life has been like being in a boat and getting tossed about. I intend to just keep on paddling
one day at a time. I guess this wasn't such a "quick update". I can ramble with the best of them,
can't I?!

Warning:major vent alert!!!

Well I mentioned in one of my blogs how we've had a real streak of bad luck these last few months and I had hoped that streak was on its way out quite some time ago but, alas, it is
still going strong!!! Since about the 2nd week of February, it has been one thing after
another. Luckily, most of this has not related to Tim's health but it has been extremely
stressful anyway. I have always had a low tolerance for people who are selfish,
obnoxious and inconsiderate but being faced with what we have been faced with these
last 14 months, my tolerance for BS really is non-existant. The phrase, "you find out who your friends are" is very true and I was not surprised by that but it goes even further than that.
You realize that some people just have no conscience at all and the levels some people will stoop
to just stuns me sometimes and I guess I didn't think I could be surprised by that anymore. I have realized too that having toxic people in your life is not a good idea and drags you down. I can usually take quite a lot and I certainly do not look for trouble but after all the
stress and sleep loss, my fuse has shortened considerably. My neighbor found this out the hard
way. Since moving in 4 and 1/2 years ago, he has woken us up countless times early in the morning on weekends renovating his house. Very loud power tools outside at 7 AM on Sunday mornings
doesn't fly in our neighborhood where the houses are so close together. Several neighbors have
been mad about this but no one said anything. Cut to a few months ago when he was still doing
this after Tim's transplant and he began loading a dumpster at the crack of dawn one Sunday,
waking us all up, and I let him have it. I must have looked like a crazy woman. I threw clothes on
but must have been a sight. I lit into him so bad, his face turned white. Before you think that I
am a crazy woman, this man had also said some inappropriate things in the past so he had it coming and he was not someone I want to be chummy with anyhow. He apoligized profusely
and is civil to us but his wife is ticked and that's fine. I just don't want jerks in my life anymore.
We just had someone do something so incredibly low to us concerning Tim's business and the
anger that I have probably has my blood pressure soaring. The way some people will stop at nothing for a buck is sickening to me. I have to keep telling myself that what goes around comes
around and that I am glad that Tim and I are known to be honest and trustworthy people,
but I gotta be honest, all these people who screw everyone in their path are healthy and my husband, who would do anything for anyone(and does) is sick. Hardly seems fair. I know it is
certainly not my place to decide how anybody's life turns out but the injustice of things sometimes is really hard to swallow. Very depressing at times. Well to try to end this on a good
note, we have also seen some real caring come from people and when that happens, it renews
your faith in mankind. We have to increase our time with the kind of people we want to be around and try to limit our exposure to the others. It's definitely a quality of life decision.