The Arizona Project Part 1

Having always had dogs growing up, I have followed in that family tradition and at this point in the story had 3 dogs of my own and 1 foster dog. One of my dogs, Riley, had been diagnosed a year and ½ prior with Osteosarcoma.  Riley had her leg amputated and immediately started chemotherapy. This was expected to give Riley 10-12 more months with us. We were fortunate financially to have been in a position to do that for Riley. Not many people have that opportunity. Because I view my pets as family and since the options were available my philosophy was that it’s just what we do for family. After 2 months of chemo treatment Riley’s cancer spread to her lungs. Since the chemo didn’t appear to be working I turned to the more non traditional methods like Reiki and Holistic medicine. I also thought this to be the perfect time to put my "power of positive thinking" philosophy to the test.

 I created a group on Facebook called Positive Posts for Riley. My intention for this group was to reach as many people as possible to send positive thoughts to Riley to help her cancer stop growing, or even go away. I was willing to try anything that might work at this point. To keep people who joined her group informed of her status I would create photo albums of Riley doing funny, cute stuff around the house with her siblings. Then I started taking her places with me and taking her picture in front of businesses.

One of our biggest adventures was taking a last minute trip to walk in a canine cancer awareness event called 2 Dogs 2000 Miles. The Final Mile was the part of the walk that anyone could participate in and it was a walk into Boston Massachusetts. People from all across the country came to walk that final mile and Riley and I were privileged to participate. We got her a wagon and off to Boston we went. This was the trip of a lifetime and brought Riley and I even closer than we already were. She also gained a ton of fans from this event.
Riley also became a Certified Therapy Dog with the intention of me taking her into hospitals to visit children with cancer to uplift their spirits.

Pretty soon Riley and I were the traveling fools and her Facebook group grew by the hundreds.  Riley became a part of peoples everyday lives and people soon started posting  to her group that she was such an inspiration to them for living such a wonderful life while battling cancer.

 Over the course of several months Riley had developed two more types of cancer and subsequently had those tumors removed. Her fans continued to support and root her on no matter what.

If you’ve ever had to care for a sick animal or human for that matter, you know that it begins to consume you and nearly every part of your day. Most of my attention went to Riley. Many times it would take about 40 minutes to fix her meals. We often had to change up her food and try 3 or 4 different things when her appetite wasn’t at its best. Giving Riley her medications and supplements took up a lot of time as well. The daily functions of caring for Riley while sometimes time consuming and frustrating (when she would not eat, or when she would spit her pills back out at me after licking the cream cheese from around it), helped me to become a better person and strengthen our bond beyond what I thought imaginable. I was lucky to have Riley’s other mom and human 2 legged sister to share in the responsibilities of caring for the whole household. It’s not something one person alone can do and function adequately.

Riley surpassed her 10 – 12 month life expectancy and earned her nickname of “the miracle dog”. One of my most proud moments for Riley was to see the smiles on the faces of patients and family members alike when I took her to the hospital to visit her grandma. As soon as Riley and I would enter the hospital with her in her wagon, the smiles were immediate. Everyone wanted to pet her and hear her story. Mom loved her visits from Riley; she even had me put Riley (who weighed 72 lbs I might add) on her bed so she could reach her and give her treats. Often times people would come into moms room and ask if Riley could come visit their family member who was down the hall.

 On the way to one woman’s room her daughter told me her mom was in really bad shape and was becoming withdrawn and depressed to the point where she hadn’t spoken or moved in days.  When we walked into her room the daughter said “look mom, there’s a puppy here to see you”. The mom slowly turned her head towards me and Riley. The instant her eye caught Riley she smiled and gasped and reached out with both arms and said “oh my, look at that beautiful baby”. I wheeled Riley closer to her and picked her up so she could pet her.  The mom was smiling the whole time she was petting Riley. As I looked over to the daughter, she had tears in her eyes. This was the happiest she had seen her mom in months.

Two days later when I went back to visit again her room was empty. I didn’t have the heart to ask the nurses where the lady had gone. I just told my Riley she did a great job. No matter where that lady went, Riley made her trip there a little bit better.

By this time Mom was moved into a rehab facility to start recuperating. Mom had a photo of Riley on her wall beside a photo of us 4 kids. Everyone that came to her room asked about the dog. No one really asked about the kids and that’s ok.  I promised Mom I would bring Riley to the rehab facility to visit so mom could show off her grand pup. On January 26th at 1:00am my heart felt like it was ripped out as Riley took her last breathe  with her in my arms and left me with a sense of sadness that too many of us suffer, and none of us understand. The cancer had overtaken Riley's lung and her breathing became too much of a struggle. Riley's 2 Reiki practitioners both told me that Riley would let me know without a doubt when it was her time to go. Riley told me, with out a doubt that it was her time to go.

 This is bump #2. Bump #2 was and still is a tough one to swallow. Telling mom was also very difficult. Riley was the calmest of all my dogs and mom had always bonded with her the most.

Riley’s fans from her facebook group mourned the loss of her almost as much as we did. As much as I despise bump #2 for happening I learned so much from my 15 months with Riley. I learned about the unconditional love and trust of a companion animal. I learned a lot about traditional and non- traditional medicines in the role of treating someone with an illness. I learned the incredible bond that people can form even when they’ve never met, all for the love and common interest of a dog. Many people crack on social media, as I once did, but I was able to give over 1000 people the joy of following Riley as well as form lasting friendships with people who are supporting me and my family to this day.

I was once told by an intuitive counselor that Riley was going to get cancer anyway, it’s what we chose to do with it that would make a difference in people’s lives. If even for my mom and another’s mom, Riley made a difference.

The Arizona Project: Introduction

The Arizona Project is a true story about my family’s attempt to move from Arizona to Ohio. The process started in December and continues to this day.

This move is a work in progress and most of it has already happened. As we have learned in the last several months plans are subject to change at the drop of a hat and we should always be prepared with a Plan B, C, D, and E and so on. This story will be separated into segments for the sake of length. There is much that has happened and much more to be learned. Each “BUMP” in the road is a story in and of its self and has been shortened so you get a glimpse into each major event that has made this move more than unusual. Many of these BUMPS are deserving of their own BLOGS and will be posted at a later date with more detail. It is my intent that by sharing this story, you will come away with a broader perspective of any situation you encounter and a sense of hope that no problem is as insurmountable as it may seem.

It is currently July 23^st and the original moving date to leave Arizona was June 26^th.  Phase 1, the move of 99% of the household belongings left in the U-Haul on June 29^th. All other phases are subject to whatever craziness may arise! The new scheduled moving date for Phase 2 of the move, me traveling across the country with a truck pulling a car, two dogs and two sedated cats is scheduled for July 29^th, and on August 1^st, Phase 3 - Ross and Cecil arrive in OHIO, will be complete. We don’t really know how many phases there will be since random events keep dragging out the long awaited day. So stay tuned and follow along with the craziest journey I’ve ever lived called THE ARIZONA PROJECT

Cast of Characters:
Me
Mom
Ross and Cecil – brother and brother in law
Jill and Jed - oldest sister and brother in law
Betty – the middle sibling
Others will be introduced throughout the story.

For those who know me and have followed me on Face book this last 7  months has been described as "unbelievable", "ridiculous", "a nightmare", "God's test",  "a roller coaster", "bumps in the road" and a multitude of other descriptors. Regardless of the word used to describe it, the events of the last 7 months have been quite frustrating, downright damn annoying and often challenging to the point of near breakdown. All of these "bumps" have affected us emotionally, physically, spiritually and any other "ally" you can think of, which I suppose is how we are to learn and grow. For all the negatives this year has brought my family thus far, there are also many positives that we’ve been able to take from it and it has made us stronger.

For the sake of time, I'll start at Christmas of this past year when "the move" became official. Ross and Cecil decided they were moving back to Ohio and actually put a bid in on a house. It was one of the best days our mother had experienced in a long time. Ross had moved to Arizona 23 years prior and mom and my sisters had been asking him ever since then "when are you moving back"?  Finally it was happening; Ross would be back just like mom wanted.
Ross and Cecil went back to Arizona after Christmas to start preparing to move to Ohio.



BUMP # 1
Mom was admitted to the hospital with a diagnosis of pneumonia.  Having recently been diagnosed with lung cancer and successfully undergoing chemo treatments to shrink the cancerous tumors, this was quite the devastating blow for all of us. We were faced with the option of putting mom on a ventilator for a few days. The medical staff wanted mom’s body to be able to focus on healing, not on working so hard to breathe so it was only to assist her and keep her other functions flowing smoothly. Given mom’s age, medical history of respiratory issues and recent lung cancer diagnosis and overall health, she was given around a 50% chance of coming off the ventilator without complications. When trying to weigh the odds of doing a procedure like this or not, being given a 50/50 chance sure doesn’t help in the decision making process but Mom made her decision and wanted to try it.

Ross had asked if he should come back, if Mom’s condition was that serious. While it was serious, I felt in my heart that mom was going to be ok through this. Mom was a trooper and successfully overcame the less than hopeful odds of coming off the ventilator. Within ½ an hour of them removing the tube, she was actually talking and wanted some food. The Nurses were quite stunned, but elated that mom had done so well. There is a 48 hour precaution window after someone in mom’s condition comes off the ventilator. This window had passed and mom had no complications at all. The next several days found mom actually recovering from her pneumonia and progressing beyond anyones expectations.  WHEW, we successfully made it over BUMP # 1. 

A few sub bumps occurred during bump 1:  the day after mom went in the hospital my oldest sister Jill was admitted to the hospital with chest pains and ended up having a double bypass operation. Also, the day after Jill was admitted to a different hospital than mom, her husband Jed was admitted to the hospital for circulation problems with his legs.  This was all a part of Bump # 1 that my middle sister, Betty and I had to deal with. Trying to coordinate work, our own households, visiting 3 patients in two different hospitals AND trying to hide from mom the fact that her daughter and son in law were also in the hospital with major medical problems was becoming quite challenging.

Many years ago my family had decided that whenever ANYTHING happens to one of us, we would tell the others even if we did  not have a concrete diagnosis or answers. This was one of those times we had to reassess that agreement. Telling mom about Jill and Jed would certainly have impeded her own recovery so we decided it was just best to keep it from her. Mom would occasionally ask where Jed and Jill were and why they weren’t visiting her. As tempted as I was to tell her they had been there and that her medication was just making her forget, I decided to just avoid it and say they would be up later or weren't feeling well. This was a very hard secret to keep. Knowing that mom was wondering why they hadn’t been to visit, we still felt it was in her best interest not to know. When Jill was able, she called mom and and told her that she thought she had a cold and didnt want to risk bringing germs into the hospital. It was the perfect lie! 

In the days to come Mom had improved so much that she got to move out of the Intensive Care Unit and into a regular room where she was able to receive visits from my Certified Therapy Dog Riley. I think Mom was even a little jealous when others would come into the room to pay attention to Riley and ask if she could visit thier family members rooms when I was done.

Mom and Riley

 Mom was progressing, Jed and Jill were out of the hospital and Ross and Cecil were moving forward with plans to sell their Arizona house and move to Ohio. Betty and I were relieved that life showed a glimpse of getting back to normal. This is when Bump # 2 came along.

Positives about Phase #1
A) My family learned that we could survive a lot more random chaos than expected. 
 
B) I personally learned that my mom had a strength I had never seen in her before; the strength to believe that she could beat the odds.

C) I also learned that I was stronger than I had previously given myself credit for. It was a difficult trying to manage what Betty and I had to manage but we did it and did it successfully. 
 
When you are the one having to be strong in a situation like this and try to hold everything together, make sure you give yourself credit for all of the “little accomplishments” to keep your spirits up. We all did our part to the best of our abilities. You don’t know how strong you are until you have to be.

Bump #2 to be posted 7/25/11