(written by Sunny)
When last we left our protagonist she had just returned home from the hospital (Wednesday,
March 11) and was working to regain her strength. After having two radiation treatments while in
the hospital, Lindsie would need eight more before she could start chemo. Each day she would
need to drive down to Boise St. Luke's MSTI since the machine in Meridian was broken. The
first couple days going back to Boise were a little rough. Lindsie was still sore and it hurt to lay
down and sit up again on the radiation table, but the exciting thing was she could do it! She
could walk herself in, get herself on and off the table and walk herself back out. The staff at
MSTI were so excited to see her improvement and made sure to tell her. Each day she was a little
stronger and it was amazing to see the difference a few days could make.
Radiation is given on weekdays, so with Lindsie's first treatment given on the 10th her last
treatment should have been the 23rd. However, on Monday the 16th Lindsie got a phone call
letting her know the machine in Boise had also broken, so that was fun. On the 17th, Boise was
back in business and treatment went forward meaning with no more hiccups she should finish
radiation on the 24th and start chemo soon after.
On Tuesday (17th) as Lindsie and I were headed to radiation she happened to remember she
was out of gas. But, come on, even when the gauge says the tank is empty we all know you've
got at least a gallon in there. That may be true, but Lindsie had been driving on that hope for
two days and had drained it dry. We were already on the freeway and didn't have a lot of
options, but we were sure (optimistically slightly panicked) we could make it into downtown and
pull right into a gas station. Well, we did technically make it into downtown, as in we lost power
while exiting the freeway and coasted to a stop at the first light we hit. That van had nothing left.
I hopped out and when the light changed I pushed it around the corner and into the driveway of
a business. Now what? Lindsie had 10 minutes until her appointment, the gas station that had
seemed so close was 5 blocks away, so 10 blocks round trip, and we had no gas can. Gimpy
thought we should both walk to the gas station. As she started hobbling toward me I just laughed at
her. Yeah, right! That wasn't going to fly. I told Linds I'd go alone, but as I started across the
street I realized there was no way to make her appointment if we didn't figure out a better plan.
I flagged down the next car I saw and the nicest, sweetest couple pulled right over. I told them
that my friend had to be at St. Luke's for radiation in 10 minutes, we were out of gas, and I
needed to get to the gas station. The man asked if I'd rather have them drive us to the gas
station or to MSTI. Now, I hadn't mentioned the MSTI clinic, only St. Luke's. Most people don't
know what MSTI (Mountain States Tumor Institute) is unless they've had to go there for
themselves or a loved one. I knew we were dealing with someone who understood. We decided
to go straight to MSTI. The couple told us about his cancer and about her mother's cancer. They
didn't ask much about Lindsie's cancer which I thought was very thoughtful. They were just so
kind. I wish I could remember their names so I could find a way to thank them for not hesitating
to help two strangers at a moment's notice. There really are good, good people in this world and
we're finding that a lot of them seem to inhabit the world of cancer.
While we were in MSTI Lindsie's dad who was visiting from Utah and Josh came downtown, got
gas in the van, and brought it to us at MSTI. The remainder of radiation felt pretty uneventful
after that. The appointments only took about 15 minutes and Lindsie's side effects were
relatively mild. On the 23rd Meridian's machine got fixed and Linds was able to do her last two
treatments there instead of driving into Boise, which was a nice change. It also felt really good
for Lindsie to know that she would not be seeing the inside of a hospital every single day.
Girlfriend needed a break and some normalcy.
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