Diamonds and Hearts

Diamonds and Hearts

This was a crazy weekend and week to say the least.  Last Thursday we picked the kids up from school, kissed and hugged them, and then headed to the airport.  We hopped on our full direct flight to Las Vegas but because I almost never fly Southwest…we were in C group.  I told Nita that we had a 30% chance of sitting next to each other.  We didn’t.  As you probably know when people board a SW flight they sit aisle, window, aisle, window, etc. leaving only middle seats open.  By the time C group boards there are nothing but middles left.  No worries – Vegas baby!

Flying home, we get to sit together

We arrive to find a sharply dressed man with a sign that says, “Martinez.”  Awesome.  My buddy who flew in a day earlier had the casino host send a limo for us.  So we wait until the last bag drops and the conveyer carousel stops moving.  No bags.  So we go to the SW bag counter and they tell us that they’ll deliver our clothes/bags to the Paris hotel the next morning.  I have some nighttime meds I should take, but what is one night?  We meet our group at the hotel and I go to bed pretty early…Nita comes in a bit later and bubbly.  I know it was a great night because I find crumbs in the bathroom sink and a half eaten sandwich on the nightstand.  Nita pleads the fifth. It reminds me of college. We’ve all been there!

Notice no ice for the gentleman, but oh yes bacon!

We have a great time, stay up too late, maybe have a few too many cocktails, but none of us go too crazy.  Come on, we’re in our 40s.  On our last night we set a 4am wake up to make our 7am flight.  So after the A&M vs Auburn game, I take my winning tickets to the sports book and cash them in.  Now I’m down a few bucks at this point.  Nita doesn’t like when I play big stacks on cards, and given our current situation she’s right…but when will I be back to Vegas right?  But she also does like to play a little so she said, “Would you please make time to play some $5 three card poker with me?”  I didn’t even think they had $5 tables anymore, luckily the Paris had a few and Nita found them. 

So we take my winning $270 ticket and belly up to an open $5 table.  Nita’s betting fives and I’m betting 10 across the three bet circles.  The six card bet is considered a sucker bet with the odds very much in favor of the house, but it is fun and we were told once: if you are going to bet it; do it every time.  Don’t just do it intermittently because if you do, invariably you’ll hit a jackpot when you are not on it.  So we play all three lines.  I check my watch and notice that it’s 9pm.  I said, “Honey, let’s play for 30 more minutes and then we’re gone, remember 4AM.”  She agrees and we play for a while.  Finally, when I’m down to the last 100, I get King, Jack, Ten of diamonds.  I lean in and tell the dealer, “Here’s your chance to be a hero!”  Now I’m thinking maybe the dealer flips over two more diamonds and I get a flush at 15 – 1 for $150 bucks or a straight which is 10-1 for $100 bucks.  She flips over Ace, Queen, King.

I look at the AQ and down at my KJ10 and think, sweet!  I just hit a straight for $100 dollars.  I meet eyes with the dealer and she says, “You just won $10,000!”  Come again?!  “You just won $10,000.  I then re-look at the hand and see that her AQ were both diamonds for a Royal Flush! Holy (fill in favorite expletive)!  Nita is in utter disbelief.  They then shut down the table, go to the video, check with everyone, count the cards, presumably drive the dealer out into the desert, and all the other things they do on a jackpot.  We tip the dealer with all our remaining chips.  They also take my license and social security number.  Yep, tax forms are being prepared. I have to pay them on the spot.  I then walk to the cage to cash in my seven yellow and one pink/purple chips.  They won’t cash them until they verify with the pit boss that we did in fact win that money there.  They take my players card and run the numbers. It is a righteous win.

We finally get paid and it’s pretty exciting.  Nita wants to go drink champagne by the pool. I remind her that 4AM hasn’t changed and suggest we just get our drinks and go to the room, finish packing and go to bed.  We responsibly do that.  The next morning, we got to the airport and I spent the extra $40 dollars to upgrade our position in line. We were able to sit together on our flight home.  We drove to my mother’s house, picked up the kids and took them straight to Toys R Us.  They could each pick anything they wanted.  They chose responsible toys, everyone wins. As a side note, this came at just the right time. Our fundraising goals were a little light for the event and this win provided some cushion.  Thanks again to all who have registered at: www.martinezfamilycancerfoundation.org.

Best part of our trip!

The next morning, I went to get fluids and my blood pressure spikes.  Spikes to an unsafe level.  I’m not sure if I mentioned this, but I have high blood pressure too.  I’ve had some issues with it for a long time.  I’m not sure if there was anxiety or still riding on the adrenaline, but it would not go below 170/120.  That is very high if you are not in the know.  So they gave me a dose of clonidine and made me wait to see if it would go down…it wouldn’t.  In fact, once I focused on it…it went higher.  In fact, I started feeling my heart trying to jump out of my chest and felt my extremities start to feel clammy.  Not a good sign, but I never felt any numbness in my left arm or a tight squeeze in my chest.  No sweating, shortness of breath, or neck/jaw pain. 

As an EMT at least I knew what to anticipate in case I needed to call out for help.  So another dose and I had to promise to go see my cardiologist, whose building was around the corner.  The oncology nurses made the appointment for me.  Luckily my oncologist and my cardiologist are social friends.  So they called each other and got me into the office immediately.  The nurse checked me out and gave me some more meds to take in addition to my regular BP meds.  By 9pm it finally came down.

Wednesday I had an appointment with my cardiologist and we discovered…I’m going to be okay.  Apparently chemo is a stimulant, add in a dash of Vegas, winning a small jackpot, and you have a spike.  So he’s ordered an echocardiogram to make sure that there is no thickening of the heart walls or valves (which chemotherapy can cause). Remember the old saying, “if the cancer doesn’t kill you the chemo will.”

An interesting thing that happened while I was waiting for the doctor after my EKG test is, I remembered how many times I absolutely lost my mind thinking: about how important my time was and why was I waiting in a room with an absolute lack of productivity!  It is ridiculous.  In fact, I should take my salary, calculate the hourly portion and send the doctor’s office a bill for MY time! 

What a complete idiot I was.  Here is a team of folks dedicated to no less than keeping me healthy and alive and I was more worried about selling computers.  I suppose I was even more full of myself when I worked in the legislature.  I’m clearly over that now, but it was a funny recollection broken by the smiling calm of my cardiologist. He’s a good guy and has put up with a lot from me over the years.

Our awesome group, not exactly the rave crowd

My oncology nurse asked me an uncomfortable, but reasonable question while they were trying to control my blood pressure on Monday: Did you have too much fun in Vegas? I acknowledged that it was a reasonable question and replied, “Nope, just drinking and staying up too late.  In fact, I don’t even drink red bull or energy drinks.  I am very aware of my hypertension and don’t even mess around with those things.”  I then told Nita, “Wouldn’t it be funny if after all this and a full year of battling cancer that it’d be my ticker that took me out?”  Nita did not think it was funny. At all.  Not even a little. Okay, maybe a little.

It made me think of a funny vision.  I wonder if there is a cartoon of some guy walking out of a hospital (or MDA) and yelling, “I’m cured!” only to be hit by a cab or bus as he stepped off the curb?  I think it’s funny in a morbid sort of way.

So in addition to my regimen it looks like I need to focus on increasing my stamina.  Initially I was told to rest as much as possible because the chemo is so taxing on your body.  But I guess I can’t let my heart atrophy and get out of shape.  My cardiologist said to get some more light exercise, but don’t start cross fit or go off trying to lift any personal bests.  Another lesson to keep mind, body, and spirit all in balance.  I can do that.  Brownie!  Let’s go for a walk sweet pup.

I took some customers and friends to lunch this week.  It was fun replaying the winning hand story each time, but something funny happened.  Another epiphany occurred. I’ve truly changed my life and what I value.  As I was editing my consolidated posts from the year I stumbled across the billion-dollar lottery week.  I laughed at myself for looking at the mansions on the lake, etc.  Now, I don’t think I’d do very much.  I would definitely launch and fund the (C)(3) foundation (charity).  We’d do some home improvement work we’ve been putting off as a “luxury expense,” and we’d probably upgrade the stable (buy new cars).  That’s about it. Maybe travel a bit to create some more memories.

After we won the jackpot several folks have asked, “what are you going to do with the money?”  Well, we took the kids to each pick out a toy at Toys R Us, I bought Nita the fitbit she’d been wanting but felt was too frivolous for our current situation, and I might purchase a replacement computer for my 7-year-old Dell.  The rest went into our savings account. 

We did get one reminder from “she who never forgets anything ever! (aka Josephine).”  Do any of you remember the blog post chopped? In that episode we were discussing which chef (parent) won the pretend $10,000.  Josie made us promise that if we ever won ten grand that we’d go to Hawaii. Well that seems like a pretty easy promise to make over dinner doesn't it?  Gulp.  Daddy always keeps his promises, and if I’m still above room temperature next summer…and the tournament affords us the opportunity…I guess we’re going to Hawaii.  TeamMarco@austin.rr.com.