Reunited and it feels so good!

The night before our last radiation we couldn't sleep.  We were so anxious to get on the road and see our kids and be out of this nightmare.  Neither of us slept.  I couldn't get my mind to go to sleep.  I didn't want to medicate since I would be driving the whole day.  At 11:30 I decided to turn on the TV to get my mind to stop wondering.  I fell asleep at about 12:15.  I woke to Dusty getting sick at 2:00 and from that point forward, I watched the clock.  I watched the clock until 4:15.  We got up at 5:30 to be at the hospital for Dusty's LAST radiation at 6:00.  Emotions ran through both of us.  The last two weeks had been so difficult. Dusty was very sick, in pain, not eating, and very depressed.  The stupid car issue didn't help.  They called him back.  He did his last treatment and then called me back to watch him ring the victory bell.  It was a moment that I would never forget.  Dusty is the strongest person that I know and has only shed a few tears throughout this process, but he didn't hold back on this morning.  You could see the joy in his eyes that this was over.  He did great!

There was no way that I could drive so we went back to the hotel and got some much needed sleep.  We slept until 11:00 then got on the road.

The drive home was horrible.  It was long and silent.  Dusty felt horrible.  I kept having to pull over so that he could get sick.  It was awful.  He couldn't get comfortable and had terrible leg pains.  We stopped in Mobile, AL and stayed the night.  Dusty continued to throw everything up; water, food, medicine, everything.  It was so hard to watch.  I thought he was going to get out easy because he was supposed to get sick during week 2.5 and 3 but he didn't.  He got VERY sick during week 5.5.  But, hey, at least he wasn't sick that whole period.  There wouldn't be anything left of Dusty if he had gotten sick in week 3.  At this point, leaving Houston, Dusty had lost about 22 lbs.  Not too bad, at least he had the weight to loose.  If he was a tiny guy I don't know what we would have done.

I drove so fast.  When we hit I-20 and I could feel home.  I turned on Metallica and set my cruise control on 90.  I started to feel the emotions coming out.  I started to cry.  Dusty asked me what was wrong and I said, "I don't know, I guess I'm just glad this is almost over."  For me, it wasn't over until I got my husband home. We pulled into my neighborhood and turned the corner to see my house up the street.  I saw Chris Wheeler's car, Aaron's car, and my Aunt's car.  I started bawling!!  SOBBING!  I could feel all the stress and pressure leave me.  It was like I was running a marathon and just handed off the baton.  I now had help.  I had our friends.  I had our family.  I was no longer alone trying to take care of Dusty and hold the weight of the World by myself.  Oh, relief.  I can't explain it.  I slammed my car in park and jumped out.  I felt like my legs were going to collapse underneath me.  I was shaking uncontrollably.  I saw my mom's car coming up the street and knew my boys were inside.  Reynolds knew we were coming home but Harland is still too young to understand.  I saw Reynolds smile so big and he jumped out and hugged Dusty so tight.  I could see it in Reynolds that he was holding back.  Such a cool cat!  Then, I made eye contact with Harland, he had his hand over his mouth and his eyes were as big as silver dollars.  He immediately started trying to pull off his car seat belt.  Dusty was on that side of the car and pulled Harland out.  He wouldn't take his eyes off me and I ran over to him.  He hugged me so tightly that I didn't think I was ever going to get him off!  And I was fine with it.  I was so happy to be home with my family and friends.  Elaine and Joey showed up and I thought I was never going to let her go!  I missed my friend so much.  She is my voice when I can't talk and my strength when I can't hold on.  My wonderful friends had a cleaning party at our house before we came home.  Our house was so clean and decorated with ballons and welcome home banners!  Thank you Justin and Laura, Eddie and Heather, Chris and Ann, and Aaron!  You guys are the best!