Something to Look Forward to OR December in Fredericksburg

[RosieCheeks64]

My friend Scott is a direct descendant, on his father's side of the the owners of the land that 2 battles of the Civil War were fought. My husband and I are Civil War re-enactors and therefore very interested in that era. Two battles were fought in Fredericksburg on and near Marye's Heights.  Scott's mother owns the china that the family hid in the well to keep those "damn Yankees" LOL, from stealing it.

Years ago, when Scott's brother and sister were young, the family took a vacation to Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania, but Scott has never been there. For years he has said he would love to go and take his son, who is now 14 and explain the family history. You know, we all do this. We say we would love to do this or that or we say we are going to do something some day, but that day never comes.

In December, Scott will be finished w/ these rounds of chemo. He will be feeling his best, so the doctors say. I discussed all this w/ my husband and now we are planning a trip to Virginia. We live in Kentucky, so it would be a day's drive. We are thinking of a 3-4 day trip w/ Scott and his son.

I want to give him this. I want to give him his "some day" that he has always talked about. I want him to have something to look forward to when he's feeling so weak and sick, from the treatments. I want him to know that this too shall pass and when it does there we will be, doing something that he has always wanted to do. I feel so helpless, but this is something I can do. I can print out road maps and travel brochures and battle field information. I can print out all the information about nearby hotels and points of interest. For just a few minutes, we can talk and think about something besides this cancer that is taking my friend of 30 years away from me. For just a little while, we can look forward to something besides what this chemotherapy is doing to him.

Scott spent a couple of days in the hospital last week. This week, Home Health has been assigned to his case. As he says, "At least it's not Hospice." The doctor gave him a repreive and postponed his next course of chemo until next week. He's just not strong enough to take it right now. This last round literally just about killed him.

 It's awful that the cure can kill him, but that's how it is. It scares me. I couldn't see him when I went over last week, because he was sleeping. Now I have a cold and wouldn't dare go near him w/ his compromised immune system.

The other night, I called him. I was out of town at a Civil War event and he was in the hospital. I asked him if he knew that if he called, I would be there in a heart beat. He said of course he knew that and if he asked me to kick his Syrian doctor's ass, I would and he would love to see it.

 I asked him if he knew how much I love him. He said, " Of course, and Renee' if I don't get a chance to say it again, you do know how much I love you, right?" Through the lump in my throat, I said "Of course."