Washoe Fire

On Thursday, I was at home trying to recover from being sick all week. I had a 103 degree temperature, and I had not been able to keep any food or liquid down. I was sleeping into the afternoon when I was awoken by a call from my mom. I have a specific ringtone for when she calls, so I answered it expecting it to be something about making sure I get enough sleep to get better. Instead, she was crying and freaking out. She was saying, "There was a fire...I didn't have time...I didn't get the cats out..." I tried to calm her down and tried to get all of the facts so I would know what to do. She told me she was about to get in the shower when the neighbor started banging on the door yelling, "Get the hell out of there!" over and over. She ran outside and could barely see anything through the smoke. She saw one neighbor's house on fire, then another neighbor's barn almost completely burned down, and then saw flames coming from the back of her house. She ran back in to try to save her cats, but a fireman grabbed her and told her the smoke would kill her. She was forced to drive away, not knowing what would happen.

I tried to console her, and told her she did what she had to. She lives alone, so the cats are all she has to come home to at nights. I felt bad, but I said that the cats weren't important, and that I would not ever want her risking her life for some cats. I told her that if the house burned, it would still be alright - it is just a house; just stuff that can be replaced. In the back of my mind, though, I was thinking of all the precious things like photos, paintings, videos, and other things of sentimental value that would not be replaceable.

After I finished talking with her, I tried to call around to the fire and police stations in Reno and Carson City that might have information. After a few transfers, I talked to somebody who knew the neighborhood. He told me that my mom's house had burned down. I started trying to figure out a way to get out to Washoe Valley to help with clean up, and just to be there with my mom. It was the worst feeling in the world to be 600 miles away, very sick, and thus not in any shape to drive, and having no way to help. Amazingly, some very good friends were incredibly generous, and helped me pay for an expensive, last-minute plane ticket.

As I was packing, I got a call from my mom saying that a neighbor thought he saw her house still standing. He said it looked like only the back wall had caught fire, and that the firefighters had stopped the fire from spreading to the rest of the house. I was happy to hear this news, but I was also still preparing for the worst in case it wasn't true.

By the time I got to Reno, thousands of people had been evacuated and 20+ houses had burned down. From the plane, I could see massive clouds of smoke, large black areas where fields had burned, and fires still burning on the hill. My mom picked me up from the airport, and her car absolutely wreaked of smoke. The fire was only 50% contained, but snow was on the way and crews were working around the clock. Highway 395 was closed, so there was no way to get close to our house to see anything. So we waited.

At about 10 PM Friday night, Highway 395 was re-opened. However, the police were not letting anybody into the residential neighborhoods of Washoe Valley yet. At 8 AM Saturday morning, the fire was finally 100% contained and residents were being allowed to return to their neighborhoods. We immediately drove down, hoping for the best, but preparing for the worst. Miraculously, our house was still standing. The neighbor's house 25 feet away was completely destroyed. The back wall of our house had been partially cut away with a saw to separate the burning part from the house, but the wall was still structurally sound. It was the wall that housed the breaker box, so a lot of the wiring was burned, but it was not nearly as bad as we thought. The inside didn't look very damaged, and the cats were still alive. The smoke was still so strong that I couldn't breathe very well and my eyes stung, so we didn't stay inside long. My mom took the cats and went back to my aunt's house where she is staying for now. We will obviously need to wash down everything inside, and possibly replace sheets, curtains, clothes, and other things damaged by the smoke, but that is no big deal. The wiring for the house will need to be fixed, and the back wall will need to be repaired, but overall it was not very bad.

I was very saddened to find out that the elderly lady living next door had died from smoke inhalation. There was an older couple living there, and her mother had a studio attached to the house. She was 93, and was home alone at the time of the fire. I don't know if she even knew about the fire, or if she died in her sleep. In all, the Washoe fire burned 29 homes, and caused millions of dollars in damage. It is a rural area outside Reno, so several animals died and farm lands were destroyed. An elderly man turned himself in as the one who started the fire. He disposed of fireplace ashes improperly and it got out of control with the high winds. It is all very sad, especially coming just 2 months after another fire close by that destroyed many homes. I am amazed and grateful, though, that my mom was not injured at all and that her house was not nearly as damaged as we thought. I think she had angels watching over her. I thank God for the many miracles that happened, and for the heroic firefighters who saved many people.

My Life As Of Late

This is my third attempt at starting a blog. I am not doing anything new here, I just thought it would be a good idea to write down some of my thoughts and experiences to share with others. I am sure my mom will read everything I write, but maybe a few of my friends will too, and maybe somebody will get something from reading my experiences. I also view this as a cathartic outlet where I can get things off my chest. If nothing else, many of my stories can serve as a good example of what not to do. Anyway...

The week after Thanksgiving 2011, I was scheduled to go into the Huntsman Cancer Institute for a checkup and to discuss the possibility of being on a new study. My family has a history of what is called Familial Adenomatous Polyposis (FAP), which is a genetic mutation that causes pre-cancerous polyps to grow in the intestines - mostly in the colon. Huntsman has been studying my family for many years, and my mom and grandma both had their colons removed in the early '90's. When I turned 18, I was registered as part of the genetic study at Huntsman. A simple DNA test showed that I had the gene mutation, and therefore was susceptible to colon cancer. I had already had two colonscopies prior to this last visit, and they didn't really find anything to be concerned about. My last one was in 2007, and they said because they didn't find anything, I wouldn't need another checkup for 4 to 5 years.

The purpose of my visit after Thanksgiving was to see if I could qualify to test a new set of drugs that had already shown promise in stopping cancer cell growth in lung cancer patients. To qualify, I would need to have a certain number of polyps above a certain size that they could study. They performed a colonoscopy and an esophagogastroduodenoscopy, and the results kind of caught everybody by surprise. I had hundreds of polyps throughout my entire digestive system - in my esophagus, stomach, duodenum, and colon. They cut out the polyps that fit into the most dangerous classification, but left in all of the rest to study. They mapped out my entire digestive tract very precisely so they would have a baseline to which they could compare future scope results. The whole procedure was pretty amazing to me. For those of you who don't know, Huntsman has the best doctors and best equipment in the world - and I only live 45 minutes away. That's pretty cool, if you ask me.

Needless to say, I qualified for the study. They immediately started me on the new drugs and gave me a packet of papers telling me everything I needed to know and do. To be honest, the list of side-effects was pretty scary to look at, but I figured it was better than the alternative. It took about two weeks for the first real signs of the side-effects to show. I developed a rash that looked like acne all over my head, face, neck, chest, and back. It hurt pretty bad, and it was really embarrassing going out into public looking like I did. Everything itched to the point of almost driving me insane. When I would shower, it would rip everything open and I would be bleeding all over. I couldn't sleep at night because every movement would hurt. It sucked. Luckily, the next time I went up to Huntsman they gave me a clindamycin cream, and later a hydrocortisone cream. Those two creams are the best thing ever. They are working very well, and the rash is quickly disappearing.

Other major side-effects I am currently experiencing include fatigue (like completely exhausted all the time fatigue), shortness of breath, a constant sore throat, loss of appetite (maybe a good thing), and some hair loss. All in all, though, it is tolerable. I have "safety labs" at the end of every month to make sure nothing is abnormal, but I won't really know how effective the drugs are until they do the colonoscopy and esophagogastroduodenoscopy again at the end of month six, and compare the results to the first set of scopes.

This whole experience has given me a new outlook on life, and I have come to appreciate everything I have so much more. So many people have come to my aid without being asked, and it is really quite an amazing thing to see. I only told a few close friends about what I was going through, and within a week I was being brought meals, firewood to heat my house, gifts, treats, etc. I have always been taught to be self-reliant, and I hate feeling like I am a burden to others, so it has been a little hard for me to be the focus of so much help. I don't really consider myself prideful, but this experience has given me the chance to let down some of my walls and allow others help me. I am still not totally comfortable being the center of so much attention, but I am extremely grateful for all of the wonderful people in my life and the amazing things they do. I have never known a group of people more charitable, kind, and capable of greatness, than the people in my life right now. The future looks bright.