4/23/2010 Where oh where could the offices be?

Friday morning, we got up to begin the day, we had several things to do, first we needed to go to Dr. Te's Office which after looking in the phone book (I had never bothered asking him where he was) took us to the Huntsman Cancer center at the old DRMC campus - he wasn't there, he had moved a while ago to a stand alone building at 200 East and 300 South. A pretty big office, but crowded and rumor around the office is he may be looking for a larger office space. We checked in and got everything ready for next week. I got orders to get blood taken each night before my treatment so that will be the standard protocol for the duration of the out patient procedures - which at this time is still in flux, somewhere between 6 and 12 weeks we think - more to come on that topic later.

The next offices we want to find were for the RECA - Radiation Exposure Compensation Act - or for those of us that lived in the 50s and 60s in Southern Utah - The Downwinders office. It is a fund that helps qualifying peoples with compensation to help with bills and other needs. We were told by Dr. Te's staff they thought the office was located in the new hospital campus, so we went there. We were told at the new hospital the offices were located at the old hospital campus, so we went there. We were told by the staff at the old hospital campus that the offices were in a medical clinic building on 700 south just east of the I-15 overpass so we went there. We saw evidence in this office where they use to be, but couldn't find anyone to talk to. So somewhat dejected we decided we would go back to Coral Canyon, pack out bags and head for St. George to look online for information that might get us closer to a real answer.

We left Coral Canyon heading for Vegas (When I say Vegas, I mean our house in North Las Vegas of course), we stopped at the Maverick station at the new Washington Parkway exit on I-15. Patty had been praying pretty regularly for "mortal angels" to help out our journey. We got gas and were heading out to our car when we literally ran into Sue Heflebower. Rick was our
Bishop after the ward split and we had become fairly good friends with them. Sue had actually worked for Patty for a while but is now the secretary for Ron Whitehead, PLS and the Washington County Public Works Director. They lived in the Washington Fields when we did the commute thing and their son Kyle was good friends with Matt and Chris - he still works for Bruce and Cara. They had moved to Harmony Farms several years ago when we moved back to Vegas and we'd seen them a few times but most of our contact had been 3rd party with Kyle through Bruce or Matt. Anyway, Sue walked up and ask how we were doing. Patty looked at me and then told her what we'd found out the past few days, she was very upset with the news and as we calmed her down we got a chance to talk with her and find out what had been happening with their family, after getting up to date with family news from both of us, some how we commented on the failure to find the Downwinder's Office that day, she perked right up, turns out that she had worked across the hall from Senator Hatch's office for a while and knew exactly who we needed to be talking to to get copies of the forms to fill out. Her name was >>> and Sue immediately called her and left a message for her to talk to Sue the next week. To her credit, she contacted Sue the next week and then got in touch with us, we are now in the process of filling out the forms to get them turned in. You can all wish us luck with dealing with the Feds on this one. How's that for a "mortal angel" story, pretty good huh?

We resumed our trip back to Vegas. For the record, according to Google Maps, it is 123 miles from house to house and 115 miles directly from the Vegas House to Dr. Te's Office - which we never do because we always have to get there the night before to give blood and be ready for the early appointment time, but Conseco is going to want this information to pay claims on a supplemental policy I've been paying for nearly as long as I've been working for the City of North Las Vegas. Then it's 11.8 miles back to Dr. Te's Office.

Next week 4/27/2010 treatment begins, until then, I feel like the healthiest sick person you could know.