Our story continues...

First off, I would like to say Happy Mother's Day to all the wonderful and amazing mother's out there! Like my own momma who took care of me for 5 months as my caregiver, my Nana, my Bucha, my Grandma Mary (I am so lucky to have three wonderful grandmothers in my life!) and to all the other mothers in my life like my sister Chelsea. Of course, if your baby happens to be a furry one (like mine!) then you are a mother too! We have all taken care of our children and the love they give back to us is the best reward we can ask for. I cannot wait to be a mom with children of my own one day! I love you all and thank you for all of your support and love that you send to me everyday!

Now...the road trip!

July 2012
So on the second week of July we packed everything into a storage unit and our car and said good-bye to our Texas family. It was sad to say good-bye but I knew that we would be back again soon! The storage unit was packed completely full and so was the car! So we got ourselves comfy and Zoe set up to hang out in-between us and set out towards Fort Worth where we were going to stay the night at a very high-end Super 8 motel :P. I had packed snacks, travel dog food for Zoe and drinks for us to have while on the road along with easy access to our toothbrushes :). It took about 4 hours or so to get through Dallas to Fort Worth and we stopped around 11 pm that night to rest up for the long haul the next morning.

Mileage so far: 264 miles.
Hours driving: 4.5 hours

The next morning we woke up and set out on the road towards Keystone, Colorado where we were planning on meeting with Lori's parents to do a small memorial service with her ashes. We had to drive 13 hours straight (with a few pit stops on the way for lunch, Zoe potty breaks and to stretch our legs) and made it safely to Denver, Colorado...once again at a very nice high-end Super 8 motel. The next day we planned to hang out with our friend Dan (who Cassidy and I know from our old jobs at The Counter) who is living in Boulder, CO and attending the University of Colorado for his architecture degree. Since we hadn't made solid plans with Lori's parents yet on where to meet and what time we decided to relax and spend the day with our friend. Boulder is a beautiful city that is very dog friendly! I absolutely love it there! The weather was perfect as well! Not hot at all! Zoe go to run around the park at the University and we got lunch together with Dan. It was nice to spread out and play on the lawn and have a relaxing evening. We made plans with Lori's parents to meet them in Keystone the next day so Dan let us stay the night in his dorm room. That was so nice of him! It was so nice seeing him on our way across the country.

Mileage so far: 1050 miles
Hours driving: 18 hours

After saying good-bye to Dan Cass, Zoe and I packed up into the car and set out for Keystone, CO. I haven't been to Keystone before so I was very excited to see the drive through the mountains. It was about another 100 miles away and would take about 2 hours to get there. We met up with Lori's mom, dad, one of her brothers and his girlfriend for lunch at the pizza place she used to work at. It was located in the little ski town just under the mountain where the gondola takes you up. The manager working there remembered Lori and gave us her employee discount when he heard why we were all there. Afterwards we went to one of her favorite camping sites and found a couple spots in the stream to spread her ashes. Her mom gave me some of Lori's ashes for me to spread on my own. I have yet to find the perfect spot for her on Oahu. Around 4 pm we decided it was time to head out towards our next destination; Salt Lake City, Utah.

Mileage so far: 1200 miles
Hours driving: 20.5 hours

From Keystone to Utah it would take us about 10 hours to drive there, and another 460 miles. I made plans to go to our family friend Terry and Steve's house and stay with them for a couple of days. Terry had been hoping and trying to make it out to Houston while I was there but was never able to make it. So I decided to go a little out of our way (since we were already out of our way in Colorado) so see some great friends! We are so thankful for Terry and Steve for putting us up and putting up with us :P Zoe had a BLAST with their two big dogs and even though she was only 8 months old she was fearless against his 8 month old pit bull mix. They were quite funny. I also met their horses and got to ride one :) I met Terry's daughter Kaira and saw the Dark Knight with her, her boyfriend and Cassidy. I also met Steve's kids as well as some of their friends on the last night we were there. For 4 days we had a wonderful time to rest, chat and catch up with the Nani family and friends. I am thankful for everything that they did for us and I hope to return the favor one day for them! Thank you all again for the wonderful time we had with your family Terry!

Mileage so far: 1660
Hours driving: 30.5 hours

As we headed out towards our final destination, Costa Mesa, California we decided to do it in one stretch so that we would get there by dinner at my friend Lilja's house and we made it there on August 1st. It took about a week for us to make it from Houston to California. On this last stretch Cassidy drove the entire stretch as I read him The Lovely Bones (it was the only book I had with me). Lets just say that I was tired of talking by the time I finished that book (which was when we got to Costa Mesa). Cassidy had his plane tickets to go back home in 2 days and Zoe and I were going to stay at Lilja's house for a couple of months until I had to go back to Houston for my 1 year check up. Her parents were kind enough to let me stay with Zoe and I am so thankful for their hospitality! We had such a good time there! I had never really explored Southern California before so I was very excited to be there. Lilja helped me get a job at the new movie theatre that just opened up so that way I could work and support myself while in California. I learned how to make gourmet coffee, project digital movies and met some pretty great people at my job. I am very thankful for my experience there and the people that I met; it really made the month and a half I was there that much better. The trip from Utah to Cali took about 11 hours and another 700 miles for a GRAND TOTAL OF:

Grand Total Mileage: 2560 miles
Grand Total Hours Driven: 41.5 hours

Cassidy flew home to Oahu to work at the Apple store in Waikiki and stayed at a friends place while I was in California. Zoe and I flew back to Houston in the middle of September for my one-year check up with my stem cell doctor at MD Anderson. I stayed with my friend Chelsea in her great apartment that is located right across the street from this great little park that Zoe got to run around in. I planned to be in Houston for 2 weeks so that I would get to see all of my family and friends. The first week I stayed with Chelsea and also spent a weekend in Austin with the Boyd family. The second week my Nana came to town and we stayed in the hotel that is connected to MD Anderson; it made it much more convenient to get to all of my appointments I had that week. It was so wonderful to see Nana, Chelsea, Tom and Angel, Kelly and Jan and Janet while I was in Houston. It was such a great trip it was very hard to get on a plane and go back to Hawaii. I miss everyone so much! But I knew we wouldn't be gone forever and would see everyone again soon!

I moved back to Oahu on October 1st and for 3 stressful weeks had to work to get Zoe released from Quarantine. Even though we had what the state had required for her to NOT be in quarantine they had kept her in JAIL. :( My poor baby was in a concrete floor kennel outside and it was so hot and I could only visit her for a couple of hours 4 days a week. It really hit me hard not having her with me everywhere I went and I got very anxious and depressed without her. My therapist was able to help me get her released since she is my therapy dog and instead of being there for 4 months she was only there for 3 weeks. I missed my little snuggle-puss and we were so very happy to have her home with us!

The physical therapy clinic I worked at before I was diagnosed gave me my old job back which has been a great place for me to recover myself. Being with patients and helping them get rid of their pain and make them smile has helped me a lot with my own rehab. I enjoyed being at work because it made me work on my posture and get my muscles stronger again. Also being busy and having a different purpose other than surviving has been a great change. I enjoy going to work every day and I don't know what I would have done if I didn't have Linda (my boss) to help me get through this next step in my life. I was able to get back into the University of Hawaii at Manoa and was able to register for 3 classes (two online) for the Spring 2013 semester. I was nervous but also excited to get my brain and body working again.

Okay I think I will leave it off here. From July to September I was living it up in California and moving from Houston to Oahu to finish what I had started at UH. From October to January I worked, celebrated Christmas and New Years at home on Kauai with my family and prepared to start my first semester back in college. In january I started school again with a computer class to attend 3x/week and two online courses that wouldn't require that much work to do. I also applied and was granted disability to help pay for the bills since I am still unable to work full-time without exhausting myself completely. It has been a busy 5 months but I managed to get all A's in my three classes and I am very proud of myself for getting through my first semester! I have signed up for 3 classes for the Fall 2013 semester and then I will only have 2 more to do to finish my degree in the Spring semester of 2014! Mark your calendars ya'll! Cause it looks like I'll be a graduate of Kinesiology and Rehabilitation Science from the University of Hawaii at Manoa in Spring 2014! So excited!

Thank you all for your support and I will now have lots of time to keep up with my blog entries. I am hoping to remember to write one every week! I hope you have a wonderful weekend and have a great Mother's Day!