A Big Beaver of a Night

Hello friends and family,

Last night was a wonderful and majestic experience. As the scoutmaster, dad was to attend the ward's Court of Honor. Little did he know that he was to receive the Silver Beaver award, one of scouting's highest honors! He had some suspicion he was to receive some sort of plaque or informal award from the scouts, but when he walked in and saw the whole chapel and gymnasium full of friends and family, he broke down in tears of awe and gratitude. The tears continued through the scout merit badge presentations and into the local counsel presenting him (as Richard George Loser :) the Silver Beaver.

The counsel chairman explained that this was the first time in his recollection that this award was presented outside the yearly ceremony. In fact, he informed us that the application (whose lengthy process took several weeks) was approved overnight. Even as a stranger, as he asked all those present to stand and salute dad, the chairman became emotional with the spirit of love and devotion in that meeting. It was a special experience for all those fortunate enough to be present. Congratulations! We love you Scoutmaster!

After a long and physically/emotionally draining night, dad and I (Nichole) awoke this morning and were off to get dad's PICC line and some chemo. We got to the hospital, and after going through an admittance/registration process (honestly, the cancer center is 50 feet away - can't these people share the same network or something? Should we really have to spend 50 minutes filling out paperwork and answering the same questions we've answered 478 times before?) we had to wait another hour for the ONLY nurse who does this to get off her lunch break. Ok, people need to eat. I understand that, I guess. But then, after another hour for the procedure, we get the X-ray back only to discover that the catheter has doubled back on itself. What does that mean? Oh, friends, it means that dad has to go to the Heart and Lung center to have a angio-picc relocation procedure done.

So, by this time it's 1:00 p.m., and we've been at the hospital for 4 hours already. Dad hadn't eaten, so we ran over to the hospital cafeteria and got some food to go. It's amazing - more like a combination of 6 gourmet eatery places! Dad got a Farr's Burnt Almond Fudge shake that he's been craving for the last 5 years, so that was a bright spot of the day. We then went to the Heart and Lung building, where we spent ANOTHER HOUR in the admittance/registration process. Come on, people, give me a break! The system is broken! Anyway, we waited some more in a cool (and large) ICU room, then they took dad for 15 minutes and pop! the catheter was fixed! Then, we went back to the Huntsman Cancer Center for some chemo. Another 2 hours later, we walked out to the car in lovely white-out conditions (well, almost). That concluded our 9 hour "hospital stay," only to get caught in rush hour traffic. At least the snowfall was beautiful and helped us relax and remember the important things in life. Like snow tires. And big snowflakes. And ice cream.

Be grateful for what you have and for what each moment in life brings you. Some things are just out of your control...
All our love,
The Losers