Making Groceries

If you know Gary, you know that just about his favorite thing in the world is going to the grocery store. He can turn a quick trip for a couple of necessities into an afternoon of socializing, discovering obscure salsa varieties, and always coming home with a new flavor of ice cream. He has said many times how much fun he thinks it would be to work at Gelson’s, the grocery where we shop when we go visit Delphine. So this MDA imposed self-quarantine-only-leave-the-house-for-medical-treatment has been tough on him. Thankfully we do live in an era of online grocery ordering and pick-up, and our bellies have stayed full.

This past weekend it was time to restock the fridge so we began preparing another online order. Apparently, at least in Natchitoches, the toilet paper, paper towel, Clorox wipe hoarders have also become all-purpose flour, yeast, meat and Lacroix hoarders as well. Many of the items we had on our list were currently out-of-stock at Walmart, so in talking with Madison we decided we would combine our grocery lists for the week and she would do a pick-up order at Kroger. Thankfully, the majority of our items seemed to be in-stock there. We made the order, which with a week’s worth of groceries for two households was quite large, and submitted it for pick-up on Monday. 

Monday came and Kroger called with the news that our order would be delayed 24 to 48 hours. By this time we were getting low on quite a few necessities—especially the tortilla chips Gary needed for his desperachos (basically chips, cheese, jalapeños and whatever conglomeration of stuff he can find in the fridge and pile in his white bowl)—so we started a Walmart order to supplement what was coming from Kroger. When it came time to checkout, there were no pick-up times available. None. At. All. I left my items in my cart and checked back periodically to see if a pick-up time had opened up. Finally, on Tuesday afternoon, a slot for Thursday morning became available and we were able to check out. Kroger called Wednesday morning with the great news that our order was now ready for pick-up. I began to fantasize about the hamburger and baked potato I was going to have that night for supper. When Madison got to her apartment with the groceries and sent a picture of what we actually received from our order, I began to cry. From our original three page joint order, we received granola bars, hummus, feta cheese, milk, bacon, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, Lacroix, bananas and jalapeños. No hamburgers, no potatoes. I had a meltdown. It wasn’t pretty.

The results of my bloodwork from my visit at MDA had been posted Monday and I knew that the Neulasta was working because my white blood count and red blood count were both great. My platelets, while still in the normal range, were much lower and I knew it was important that over the next two weeks I eat foods that would help build these back up. With the Cluck Cluck Sisters, we had eggs covered, but we were completely out of green leafy vegetables, broccoli, tomatoes, oranges, and red meat—all the foods that we didn’t get from Kroger. I went to my Walmart app and hit the “edit order button” and added as many of the things we were unable to get as I could, then hit “save changes”. Instead of an updated order, all I got was a message that said, “Oops, something went wrong. Try again.” Even though I am well aware of the definition of insanity, I continued to try to edit the order, each time with the same frustrating result. After an hour of tears, I quit. I decided to put my tennis shoes on and go for a walk in the woods. Being outside is always a good idea and my mood lifted.

The next series of events could not have been scripted by the most imaginative fiction writer. Wednesday evening right before dark, Renee’ called and told me to put a bowl at the end of my sidewalk because she and Steve had caught some bass and were going to drop some off for us. Seeing a friend, even just through the window, lifted my spirits. Then the next morning when we were unpacking our Walmart pick-up order, we discovered one of the bags held a pot roast! This was one of the items I had tried unsuccessfully to add to our order. Jehovah Jireh, God was providing! When we finished putting up our groceries and celebrating our pot roast, Gary asked me to go over the Super One order he had started. We still needed to fill-in some things that were unavailable from Walmart, including Argos’ dog food. He can’t survive the pandemic solely on American cheese and peanut butter! The earliest available date was April 15. As we edited the order, removing some things we had been able to get at Walmart and adding some items that had been out of stock, I saw a pick-up time had become available for 4:00 pm THAT VERY AFTERNOON! We quickly checked out and again celebrated, although Argos’ said he had been totally fine sticking with the peanut butter and cheese diet. As if this wasn’t enough, literally fifteen minutes after we placed our Super One order Gary received a Snapchat from a former student in the High School Sunday School Class he used to teach who was home from college due to school closures. He said he knew we were quarantined at home and he was working at Super One and would be glad to pick up groceries for us and deliver them if we needed him to. Such a thoughtful act of kindness and generosity. Gary and I were both overwhelmed and brought to tears. 

God saw my distress and heard my cries. And in the midst of my pity party, He provided over and above, exceedingly abundant blessings just as Paul describes in Ephesians 3:20. A simple thing to reassure us He was watching over us and would provide for our every need, even a baked potato. 

As part of the Artemis Clinical Trial I will have a second MRI and another ultrasound done this coming Thursday, followed by bloodwork and chemo number three on Friday. My prayer is my cancer is “sensitive” to the chemotherapy and will show a marked reduction in size. I have learned a lot from reading about triple negative breast cancers. TNBC is not just one “type” of breast cancer but a catch all of cancers that can each be very different. Only about 35-40% of these cancers are considered sensitive to chemotherapy and result in a complete pathological response, meaning there are no more cancer cells found during surgery. My prayer is my particular cancer is sensitive to chemo and I hear those words, “complete pathological response”, from my surgeon. Of those TNBC that are chemotherapy insensitive, about 50% of women will have a recurrence within three years with standard treatment alone. If my particular cancer is chemo insensitive, Artemis offers me a second chance to achieve zero cancer cells at the time of my surgery. The doctors are using the tissue from my last biopsy to break down my particular cancer to it’s molecular level and will then be able to provide targeted therapies for my cancer in addition to standard chemo. MDA will use their arsenal to treat my individual cancer profile, not only giving me a better chance of long-term survival, but furthering the science as well. This is why my ability to stay in Artemis and have my treatment done at MDA was so important to me and why I thank God every day for the blessing of being treated at MDA. My prayer is that whatever is learned from the study and treatment of my cancer will make triple negative breast cancer not as scary for those receiving this diagnosis in the future.