I Always Return to WA - Life Update

Yep, its me again. As always it has been awhile since I have posted here, and so many things have been going on since my last post, some good, others well not so much.

Our kitty Milo is doing a lot better since his surgery back in Dec of 2014. God its amazing to think that it was that long ago, when at times it feels like it was just yesterday. I was finally also able to land a FT job back at one of my old employers in February of 2015.

I finally said good-by to IT support once and for all, and I now work in Database Marketing. Of course as always my affiliate sites haven't seen some love in quite some time, since I have been chasing the immediate gratification yet again in terms of selling online.

Well, now for the not so good updates. I'm not even sure how exactly to start this topic so I guess I'll just jump right in. I know many of you probably remember my talks about relocating to FL, and that my parents were looking at houses,etc. Sadly things have transpired in the last year that has pretty much brought an end to that dream.

For years my husband and I knew that my father had Parkinson's, he had the shakes and such but he could still function. It was during the spring of last year when my world pretty much came to a screeching halt. My dad had been having digestive issues, that one day got so bad that the constant amounts of blood he was passing landed him in the hospital.

My husband works an earlier shift than I do, so when I came home from work, he sat me down to have a talk. My mom had already talked to him, and it was his job to tell me what was going on. He told me that my dad was in the hospital, and that a lump was found on the pancreas. Till this day I do not remember the exact conversation, except for the words coming out of my mouth praying that it was not the "C" word.

My dad and I have always butted heads, but the thought of Cancer was a killer. I could not bring myself to stop crying. The months that followed were a blur, tons of doctors visits and research on every natural remedy that possibly existed that could slow or possibly reverse the cancer. At this point surgery had still possibly been an option, that quickly got dismissed when they found his cancer had metastasized. We do not know if it started at the pancreas, or if it ended up there as he also had it in his hip and belly button.

Since there was nothing else doctors could do, my dad entered hospice care at home. We spent every weekend we could with my parents, and the summer came and went in a blur. All during this time we watched my dad get thinner and thinner due simply to the fact that he could barely swallow any food.

Note, this was not due to the cancer, it was actually a little known side effect of Parkinsons. It got so bad that he could barely even get water down, so he pretty much starved to death. My father, the Vietnam Vet, who served two tours in one of the highly concentrated areas of where Agent Orange was dumped, passed away a week before my parents anniversary this past October.

My father was 69 when he passed away. Not a day goes by that I don't miss him, and there are still days that the tears will just come out of nowhere. The worst is if it had not been for the bleeding issues we never would have known he even had the cancer, as that was not what killed him. It was the Parkinsons. What now worries me more is there is no documented studies on the effects of Agent Orange to first generation offspring of those who were exposed to this horrible chemical. I already have realized I now have an intolerance for Gluten that I never had when I was younger. I have always taken more after my dad than my mom, which scares me the most. I now just try to live life to the fullest.

That is why I am back at WA yet again. I am at work during the day, but if you see me around please feel free to say hi. I have more plans rolling around in my head that I now have to figure out how to put into place, so I will probably have some questions.

Sorry for the long post, but just wanted to fill you all in on what has been going on. Now back to the "job" and working on my plans for the future. :-)