Life is a highway, at least that’s what Rascal Flatts said in a song. Sometimes that road feels like it is at an incline that every step feels excruciating to make. Other times it feels like you’re sliding into a bottomless pit and there’s nothing to grab. Today, kinda feels like every step is excruciating. It took a while today to get things back on track. If you watched the movie Cars, then this song is familiar to you.

“Life’s like a road that you travel on
When there’s one day here and the next day gone
Sometimes you bend, sometimes you stand
Sometimes you turn your back to the wind
There’s a world outside every darkened door
Where blues won’t haunt you anymore
Where the brave are free and lovers soar
Come ride with me to the distant shore
We won’t hesitate to break down the garden gate
There’s not much time left today
Life is a highway
I want to ride it all night long
If you’re going my way
Well, I want to drive it all night long
Through all these cities and all these towns
It’s in my blood and it’s all around
I love you now like I loved you then
This is the road and these are the hands” Rascal Flatts

The blood results finally came back on the high end of normal which is good but doesn’t change the diagnosis. All it does indicate that the cancer hasn’t reached the stage where protons form. The blood work did confirm my liver is almost functioning at a normal level, still has to drop more but it is better than it was. So hopefully that will continue.

But no sooner than that phone call came another hurdle appeared. In my email, was the cancellation notice of my nerve block. I was hoping to have that prior to the MRI but that’s not the case. Now it is rescheduled after the MRI because of COVID-19 crap. I have chronic migraines and the sound of that machine will be brutal for me. So hence the incline. Nurse practitioner suggested I have them give me pain meds in a iv prior to the procedure. Had to reach out to my gastro doctor to get that scheduled. He was in surgery, someone will call me.

I decided to check my email . Yup, another situation to handle. UPS messed up my coffee delivery. It says it was delivered to the front door. Well, it wasn’t at our front door. Hopefully, they fix that issue before I need coffee.  Thankfully, I have one bag of beans in the cupboard. I reached out to Death Wish so they know it wasn’t delivered to the right address. GRRRR.. this girl loves coffee. A Lyn without coffee is not a pleasant experience.

Today, does have one awesome redeeming thing. Twenty years ago on this day I posted a question in a yahoo writing group.  This man answered my question and we began conversing online then on the phone before we finally met in person. I never knew anyone like him. I am truly blessed because that same man is now my husband and my best friend. I never sought a relationship online but it happened anyway. He’s been my strongest advocate through everything.

Vic was my caretaker during the breast cancer. Thankfully things got better but that changed 5 years later with another life changer. He had to leave his job in NYC after I fell  on the ice and damaged the occiptital nerve which resulted in occipital neuralgia because I required some one to be with me.  He argued adamantly to get my doctor to send me to Jefferson’s Head Trauma center where the focus was head injuries.

This is a distinct type of headache characterized by piercing, throbbing, or electric-shock-like chronic pain in the upper neck, back of the head, and behind the ears, usually on one side of the head. Typically, the pain of occipital begins in the neck and then spreads upwards. It gets so bad that the migraine mimics a stroke. My face sags, I can’t speak and I lose the movement of my right side. That’s why the nerve blocks and the Botox injections are crucial. Timing is everything. I’ve been in this treatment plan now for eleven years. Hospitalized five times because it was so bad they thought I was having a stroke. Cat scan didn’t show stroke, cardiologist said my heart was in really good shape with no blockages.  Everyone consulted cleared me except for the neurologist. The migraines were the issue.  My husband and Jen my neurologist work well together when the migraines spiral. Thank goodness with the treatment regime it’s not a daily event now.

I did some yard work before it became too warm. I pruned the azaleas now that they’re past blooming. By the look of the upcoming weather, I’ll be watering every night to help the garden stay healthy. The temperatures are in the high 80’s to mid 90’s every day for the next week. It definitely looks and feels like summer has arrived.

I ‘m reading Langston Hughes Not Without Laughter. The story is about an African-American boy growing up in a very white Kansas town.  Unfortunately, the racial tension he lived in could easily be now too. It’s so disheartening that racism exists still. Why is it so hard to accept Black Lives Matter.  Think about it…Adam and Eve according to the Bible, just 2 people. We’re all related. Our lives began from those 2 people.

I’m working on the writing prompt exercises in Writing the Life Poetic by Sage Cohen.  And I listen to lectures on Great Courses as well to improve essay writing. Trying to keep this mind active on positive things.

I haven’t decided what crochet project I should begin next. I wrapped my shawl around for a while last night. It’s very comforting. I should probably return to working on my mandala afghan, that’s not done yet.

Right now it’s four feet around. The goal is to have it cover a queen size bed. My intent is to get it to a six foot or maybe a seven foot circle and then begin squaring the corners to make it the right shape for the bed. I’ll be able to tell which size once I can lay it on the bed. It’s so very warm already, can’t wait to have it on our bed.