I felt pretty good after my surgery.  That week, after my shower 48 hours later, I tried to go out a little bit each day.  My son's car, his 16th birthday present, was pretty much declared a total after a pot hole caused a strut tower to collapse...needing about a $4,000.00 repair, we were pretty sad.  Drake drove his Grandpa Ray's car for a few days as he recovered from foot surgery.  He drove Steve's car the week of my surgery, and Steve drove mine.  However, it was pretty apparent that Drake would need a car.  I have no idea how kids these days, who work and do sports all year round, go without one...I know I'd never be able to shuttle him to all of his places, or be without my own car if he borrowed mine.

Knowing Drake's car was not fit for sale to the public, I saw an ad from Dave's Jackson Nissan, saying they'd give a minimum $3,000.00 for your trade-in, as long as you picked something that was a minimum of $10,000.00 from their lot.  Or, LOTS, as I learned later.  On their Jackson website, there were a few cars I thought looked like they had potential.  That Friday there had been enough ice to close all the local schools, but I didn't let a little ice, or a dangling drain tube coming out of my armpit, stop me from car shopping.  I shoved the drain tube in my front pocket and put on a long shirt, had Steve drive and told Drake to come with us, we were going to find him a new car.

It was hard to really see the price tags because the ice was coating all the windows of the cars on the lot, but I quickly found out that the three cars I wanted to look at were at their different locations; one in Jonesville, the other two in Mason .  We decided to drive up to Mason to have a look....

The Jackson dealership had called ahead, and they had one of the cars we were interested in, a red Chrysler 200, warming up for us.  The black 200, when the door opened, smelled like cigarettes, so that one was out.  A white Ford Fusion, which we test drove, was OK, but didn't really excite any of us, and had more miles than the red 200.  The red 200 was really super nice...I rode in the back seat...I don't think anyone had ever sat back there.  It was immaculate, no visible scratches or scuffs, and handled very well. While riding in the backseat of the car, my phone rang...it was Dr. Frantzis' office, giving me an update of the pathology report from my surgery.  Of the 14 lymph nodes they had removed, and the tissue surrounding the areas where the tumors had been, there were ZERO CANCER CELLS detected!  I'd had what they call a Complete Response to the chemo...it truly had KILLED MY CANCER, just like I'd been telling myself it was doing during those long five months of chemotherapy earlier... I'd gotten a miracle!!!
 They let us drive that car back to Jackson to think about it some more.  The good news gave that car a positive vibe, kind of like we'd gotten a sign to get that car...

Drake drove me home, as I was still taking narcotic pain pills and couldn't drive, Steve drove the prospective car, and we told them we'd think about it.  The next day we went back to the dealership, Steve driving Drake's Grand Prix, to trade it in.  We discussed the route he'd take ahead of time, as he didn't want to go more than 30 miles an hour...I followed him, and every time he went over a railroad track or a particularly bumpy part of road, he'd raise his arm, pumping his fist...you see, we were warned the other strut tower could collapse at any time.  Well, the Grand Prix made it to Jackson Dave's, we made a deal, and Drake got his new car.

Looking back at the week post-surgery, I can't believe I had the energy I did to car shop.... Drake loves his new car, and I'm glad it all turned out.  I don't think I was totally on my "game," like I'd normally have been...which means I would have looked for cars until I was satisfied I'd gotten the absolute best deal, but I think we got a great deal, and didn't have to worry about what to do with the Grand Prix.  It turned out to be a win-win for all of us.