My sister crushed it this week. I get compliments on keeping this blog during our journey with Summer… But I know for a fact that I am uneven and all over the place. It’s great to read the daily adventures through someone elses eyes and see what stands out to them. I love my sister’s smooth and confident style of writing.
I also have to say… Summer is an angel for letting us write about this every day. Thanks to her for allowing us to “broadcast” the daily news from St. Jude while she is the one manhandling this cancer every day.
The Friday Dispatch (last one from Sylvia… For a while I suspect)
Memphis Day 5 – My last day…. We made it back safely last night, Summer to Carbondale and me to Springfield. I started the day off early doing laundry, working, and last minute cleaning. Summer got to sleep in a bit before we headed to the hospital for lunch and her first appointment with OT. They worked on some fine motor skills, which the way Summer explained it seemed like less fun versions of arcade games and “Find the Difference” puzzles. She said it was a bit stressful. I can imagine it’s frustrating to struggle to do “simple” things that would have been easy 6 months ago, but all these activities are supposed to help rebuild those nerve connections and hopefully help with her vision and the fine movements of her hand.Then, we were off to chemo and afterwards speech therapy. She got a call that the were ready for her in radiation if she could get done with her other appointments early, but that didn’t happen. On Friday afternoons, they start shutting down early and there wasn’t anyone to check her in at the speech before her scheduled time. Sort of a bummer, but such is life.Radiation was scheduled late, but thankfully it is quick now. I was a little nervous when I sat down as the main menu for “Annie” was blaring over and over on the TV and there was no one at the reception desk to turn it off. I can only hear the first bars of the instrumental version of “It’s a Hard Knock Life” on repeat so many times.… But, fortunately, it shut off after not too long.And then we were on the road between 4:30 and 5:00. Memphis traffic wasn’t that bad getting out of the city at rush hour, which was nice. Especially since Summer said I’m not an aggressive enough driver for the city.I told her I’m just out of practice. There were no hiccups on the drive and we had more good conversation. Except for the part where I was trying to explain blood transfusions and described it as “peppy blood” vs. “sad blood.” Not my best moment, but got us a laugh. I dropped her off with Nate just before 8:00 and continued north.
I was glad to get home to my boys, but it was a great week in many ways. It was eye opening to see the process at St. Jude, and I really enjoyed my time with Summer. She is truly in the best hands possible, and they do everything they can to take care of the kids and families they treat there. As I said before, I will gladly come back if needed. 10/10 would visit again.