The First Post!

Updated 3/14/21:  Here's the link to our new blog.

The Adventures of Andi and Darrell

Life is...

 ...an adventure.

Welcome to ours! We are Andi and Darrell, and this is a brand new blog that captures our ongoing adventures, which are mostly small, but they are all we've got.

 

The Preliminaries

 

About us:  We are high school sweethearts, married for 35 years and together for 40.  We have two great parents (one mom--Andi's; one dad--Darrell's) four great kids (two sons and their wives), one (and almost two) grandchildren, and lots of terrific siblings, family members, and friends.  We also have two very handsome grand dogs.

 

Five years and two months ago, Darrell was diagnosed with Glioblastoma Multiforme (GBM)--brain cancer, which has a median survival of 15 months.  The next day, we started blogging daily at Brain cancer is...  We blogged on trains, across oceans, and in the mountains.  Then that blog was finished.  

 

After a break,  we decided we miss Team D (Darrell's team and our many many loving friends) enough to jump back into blogging.  When it comes to communication, writing a blog isn't everything.  But it's something.

 

Now that we've had a chance to settle our minds and our spirits after reflecting on the whirlwind that was the past five years of our lives, we are ready to face forward and eagerly greet in this blog whatever comes next.  This blog won't be daily.  We can't even promise a schedule.  Wild, right? 

 

Life is an adventure.  Let's go!

 

The Covid Vaccine Adventure

 

I (Andi) had an appointment for my first Moderna COVID-19 vaccination yesterday because I'm a professor at CSUF.  Darrell had no such appointment because he's (a) retired (no longer a professor), (b) too healthy (his immune system is good to go), and (c) too young (60).  Poor Darrell!

 

As a result, Darrell was the driver in charge of the split-second timing (often required in the Adventures of Andi and Darrell) to get me from one appointment (to have my pirate stitches removed, but that's a different adventure) to the next.

 

We screeched into the parking lot of the Anaheim Convention Center along with thousands of other orderly, excited, socially distant teachers, seniors, and others awaiting the vaccine.

 

In line, one kind nurse who was managing our section of the crowd checked my ID and appointment then spotted Darrell's Optune device (above: under his hat and on his back).  When we explained that Optune is an active, ongoing treatment for Darrell's brain cancer, she asked why Darrell hadn't been vaccinated yet.  After we explained a through c, above, she asked, "Wouldn't it be good for you to be vaccinated?"  "Yes," we responded with a certain level of enthusiasm.  

 

She suggested a plan for Darrell to approach the Othena IT desk ahead, show his Optune card, get medical clearance from the on-site doctor, and get his shot on the spot.  

 

While I waited in a separate line, Darrell followed her plan and met me afterwards in the observation area.  It worked! 

After all the months of distancing, masking, waiting, and searching for appointments, something went that smoothly. Weird.

 

And it was all because of one kind, competent human who asked a caring question about another human and used her knowledge to make something very good happen.

Alex suggested that we make The Covid Vaccine Adventure the first post of our new blog.  Good idea Alex.  The Adventures of Andi and Darrell begin by meeting one of the world's wonderful people.

We can't wait to see who we meet in the next adventure!

Thanks for joining us.

Today's Bloom

 

 

After Cynthia read our final post in Brain Cancer Is..., she went on a bike ride and hopped off to catch these sunny blossoms.

Thanks, Cynthia.  Flowers are one of the things people notably missed post Brain Cancer is...  Keep 'em coming, friends!