St Jude – Meandering to Memphis

This is a big week.  No doubt that it has all been building up to this.  I was content to believe for the past 2 weeks that Summer would be packing her bags and exiting by this Friday if things kept falling into place. 

I gotta tell ya…  This morning was rough!  So rough, I have no idea where our week will lead.

We hit the road to Memphis from Tremont around 9 or so…  Summer didn’t even make it to Lincoln before she complained she had a headache.  When we were closer to the exit for Lincoln, she said we should stop and get some painkillers.  We have 20 vials of pills of assorted function in the car… But no painkillers!

The Lincoln Circle K was out of Tylenol but had some generic pills.  Summer requested a Coke as her chaser and we headed down the road.

I think we were 3 minutes onto the interstate before she grabbed one of those handy St. Jude “fluid bags” and proceeded to fill it a 1/4 of the way.  She had one sip of Coke… I am not sure what the rest was.  She said she thought it might be the morning oatmeal.  Regardless…  The painkillers were not going to help, now that they left her body.

We stopped about 20 minutes down the road at a Love’s Truckstop and Angela found a squeezy bottle of applesauce to attempt this all over again.  It worked and Summer tried her best to rest all the way to St. Louis.  We had a verbal agreement to take Angela to the Arch today so she could keep up with Summer’s Jr. Ranger status and grab one for herself today.  I had a second option, and that was Grant’s Farm.  It’s also a Jr. Ranger opportunity and both are missing it.  Plus, I know for a fact it has to be a lot less walking than the Arch.

We passed by the gateway to the west and headed south to US Grant’s St. Louis home.  It was indeed very small and easy to navigate, even when you are sick.  Angela asked Summer if she wanted a wheelchair.  I totally expected her to decline because she rarely takes one.  I was wrong.  Summer was happy to be pushed around the small Presidential park and fill out her Jr. Ranger program.

The Park Ranger who gave us the tour was super nice and spent a lot of time making sure we were going to make all the stations required.

When it was all said and done, they both pledged to visit more parks and be good stewards of the park system.  The Junior Ranger program has been a classic Mom and Daughter activity for many years now.

20 minutes down the road is Mastodon State Park.   The park is 400 acres and they have many hiking trails, but that was out of the question.  Summer did walk to the Visitors Center with us and watched the informational movie. 

I think that was all we were going to get out of her today.  The trip kind of reminded me of our first venture down here after her time at CARLE.  We tried to make it a scenic trip with the ultimate landing at St. Jude to be an afterthought.

This, honestly is one of the first trips Angela and I have taken together to Memphis since Christmas?!?!?!  That was a haggard affair to say the least.  So, even with the rough start.  It was a nice little bit of family time.

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Summer will have a full day of visits at the hospital on Tuesday.  Wednesday, she will have bloodwork done early and then the MRI.   I am not sure yet on the lumbar puncture…  But it will be soon after.

Summer is dog-tired.  Historically, that is a sign her “counts” are off.  As she pointed out in the car today…  If her counts are bad.  She’s going to get transfusions.  If she gets transfusions.  The exit date of this weekend starts to get really muddy.  Plus, we have plans to be in Carbondale for Nate’s graduation on Saturday morning.

Prayers, good thoughts, and any juju are appreciated.  This is a big week.