June 13, 2025 – Friday, the 13th

Luck is the number one superpower.

***

Mike and I met on Match.com. We chatted via text for the first week and then decided to meet in person. We both were immediately intrigued with the other, not only because of our mutual love of all things horror but also because we came to realize we lived a mile and a quarter down the road from one another. I mean, how lucky is that?

Of course, I happen to believe luck is all about a personal belief or perspective. I choose to see it as God bringing Mike and I together in His perfect timing.

But perhaps, it’s a little bit of both. 😉

***

For Mike’s 53rd birthday last September, I surprised him with a trip to Camp No-Be-Bo-Sco in New Jersey, the filming location for Camp Crystal Lake in the original movie, Friday the 13th.

We are both horror movie fanatics. He had never heard that this place existed so I was particularly proud of myself for organizing a great trip and doing something he never knew he always wanted to do.

We were lucky enough to have a perfect fall weekend. The camp itself is up on a mountain so we had a very beautiful daytime drive with gorgeous colors and landscape all around us. The town below was used to film some of the road scenes in the beginning of the movie. We had fun visiting those locations as well as eating in the diner from the movie franchise that totally plays up the Jason angle with their menu items.

I scheduled a nighttime tour because, duh, all the scary stuff happens at night in horror movies. It was super cool trekking through the woods of the camp with the moon being our only source of light. The cabins from the movie were all nicely preserved as well as lots of props. The lake and canoe with the moon reflecting off the water made us feel like we were right there in the movie.

We both commented how lucky we felt to live so close to such a fun adventure being just three hours away and, of course, were just feeling overall lucky in love.

***

This past week, there were a few setbacks…

Another fall. This time, his aide dropped him.

Excruciating back pain that kept Mike (and me) up all night and the first time where Mike really begged for medication outside the timeframe allowed. His back pain turned out to be a kidney stone. Poor guy can’t catch a break. (More on that later.)

Since Mike’s Oxycodone is being weaned to 5 mg every 8 hours, the Urgent Care doctor prescribed “breakthrough” pain meds for Mike’s legitimate debilitating pain from the kidney stone and the insurance denied coverage so CVS could not fill it. So that means Mike suffers unnecessarily.

It’s honestly the most infuriating thing. I get that there’s people in this world who seek out drugs and try all kinds of workarounds to get them, but when there’s objective evidence of a medical problem and a doctor prescribes pain medication, why is it still rejected?

Unless you’ve experienced pain like that, you can’t possibly understand the desperation for relief to come.

But in the darkest corners of Mike’s world is where I try to shine the most light.

We had a successful grocery shopping trip to Walmart with his friend Joe pushing the shopping cart. Mike was very happy. It got him out of the house and gave him control over something again.

Joe showed me how to fold up the wheelchair and I was able to put it in my car, which meant Mike and I were free to go out and about together. So we decided to go see the new Mission Impossible movie but the times weren’t great.

Instead, I got us milkshakes and we drove around and stopped by to see some friends who live close-by. They ended up inviting us to stay for dinner. We were able to get the wheelchair in the house successfully and had a wonderful impromptu evening with them.

It was some much needed normalcy and we both practiced using our smiling muscles that day. 🙂🙃

Mike’s therapies continue to go well. It’s all a gradual process but those of us that interact with him daily see the improvement.

So back to the kidney stone. Mike was able to get in to see the urologist yesterday. It appears that the kidney stone is blocking his ureter on his right side. This could cause significant issues in addition to the excruciating pain. He needs a procedure to remove it. Mike’s family care doctor is the one to clear him for this and did not get back to the urologist yesterday. I mean, really? How is this happening?

So apparently, now, Mike needs to continue to suffer. And all the while, these doctors don’t seem to care that the pain medicine is not even close to adequate to give him some relief. The urologist even acknowledged how painful Mike’s condition is. Mike is calling first thing this morning to find out what’s happening. Worst case scenario, he will go to the ER.

***

At the end of our Camp Crystal Lake tour, we were able to get our picture in the canoe holding an oar, one of the props from the movie set. I told Mike I’d consider myself lucky to share a canoe with him anywhere, even on a spooky lake.

And while I believe I’m the luckiest girl in the world to have Mike, I also believe with all of my heart that God put me in Mike’s life to help him get through this difficult situation.

And while I have no doubt Mike can paddle his canoe alone, when waters turn rough and he’s going against the current, there’s no place I’d rather be than right beside him helping him paddle.