Kaylynn Goes to Washington

Sharon often suffers from migraines, but this time she had one that was going on and on. She was going on six weeks of a migraine, and she had tried every kind of treatment. I was worried it would be a brain tumor, but the MRI didn't show anything serious. She found a treatment called ketamine. It is given at a infusion clinic, and it did take her headaches away, but its effects were a lot like chemotherapy. And she needed 3 treatments. And after a treatment, she can hardly walk and she is super weak. They didn't know how she could be a mom and do the treatments. She needed help.

I decided that I could go. The timing for me was good because it wasn't quite tax season, and there wasn't too much I would be missing from my family.

On Monday morning, I dropped my kids off at school and headed south. The roads were not great. In fact I drove very slowly with my flashers on for a while on the way to Kalispell because the visibility was bad because of the snow. Then there is another mountain pass on the way. I didn't make very fast time. It says it should take 9 hours, but it took me 11 hours (including a short nap at a rest stop).

I finally made it to Sharon's house in Richland, Washington.

Sharon had already had her second treatment on Monday. She just sat perched on her corner of the couch. Her headaches were gone, even though her body was weak. On Tuesday, I learned the way to the school so I could pick up the kids from school. Then I took Sharon to her third treatment. I was worried about me getting nauseous (because I don't have a very good record of observing medical treatments), but after I took Sharon into her appointment, they just told me to come back in a couple hours. So guess what I did - went shopping. I love to go shopping in the USA.

I went back to pick her up and took her back home. She can't even walk on her own, so I helped her to her perch on the couch.

The bad news is that Sharon's headache came back after her third treatment.

So that meant she had to go back for her 4th treatment. But it worked and her headache went away again.

I haven't spent a ton of time with Sharon's kids, but I loved hanging out with them, driving them to school, eating with them, sledding with them, driving them to young womens and gymnastics, etc. I was honored to be Nanny McPhee:) We got home from school one of the days, and Preston stayed outside to shovel the sidewalk. He said, "I'm doing this to help my mom. Hers had it since November." That became our common saying, "Hers had it since November."

The other saying that Sharon and I used was from the Relief Society President that Sharon is a counselor for (who is a little over the top). Sharon hadn't answered her texts for a few days because she has been having the treatments, so she text Sharon and said, "Please reply at your earliest convenience. Immediately."

I also liked to mock Sharon's darth vader breathing.

By Friday, Sharon assured me that they would be okay, and so I headed home. I was thankful I could go.