St Jude – We still get lost

Extra nausea meds today…  Check.  Toast and Silk.  Check Check.

Today the parking thing worked out.  The nice woman at check-in yesterday mentioned that there are some additional spots for parking when you pull into the St. Jude compound right before the first parking garage.  Much closer than that garage as well.   I have seen the spots she mentioned, but I thought they were temporary.  Summer said they were previously handicapped spots.  Regardless, they were open and we snagged on at 8:30.  It was not a bad little walk and the weather was not too bad this morning.

We started off with a visit to the radiation clinic for a check-up and another MRI.  That was a bit of a wait.  Then, we ran to Chemotherapy (Medicine Room) so Summer could push back her time…  Someone in scheduling had overridden her Youth Group session at noon and she was having none of that.  The Medicine room bumped her till 2.  No prob.   When Summer popped out of her one hour in child life, she had made a small flower pot out of clay (Cindy might be on to something!).  Since she ran out of time, Childlife sent her home with some more clay to make leaves.  She is telling me that you can bake this in the oven to harden. Normally, if I were home, I would be skeptical… But I don’t use the oven at Target House anyway!  Just kidding… Kinda.

We hit speech therapy, then made a panic lunch stop in the cafeteria.  We had 15 minutes for food so we grabbed cold sandwiches.  Which stunk btw, since they were serving fried chicken and catfish today.  I would have used all my St. Jude “bucks” on chicken!

After lunch,  we tried to head over to the Medicine room again.  We went down one hall… Turned left…  Walked for a few steps.  And then realized we had no idea where we are.  Summer is hanging onto me the whole time, so I am not sure who is to blame…  But we both were laughing out loud in the hallway at our mistake.  We actually laughed a lot today and I wonder sometimes if it’s being too flippant with terrorized families all around us.  I’m not sure there is a right answer.  We will continue to be “us” until someone gives us a reason to shut up.

Once in radiation, I realized my phone was nearly dead.  And my laptop too.  Summer did not bring her cords and neither did I .  This is actually a first as we are the most plugged-in members of the family.  I sat in the Proton waiting room watching “A wrinkle in time”.  The receptionist who knows I am usually stuck downstairs by myself was laughing that I was watching the waiting room movie today.  She apologized it wasn’t “Bumblebee”.  I told her that was just fine!

I had a few people say “use the valet” in the comments.  We will… But not right now.  First off…  Summer is very mobile and we need those steps.  6K today and 7K yesterday.  I’m good with a walk when she can do it.  Also, because Summer is getting radiation and chemo at the same time every day… And she is older than most of the kids…  So, her radiation treatment is the final one of the day.  We have been getting out of St. Jude 30 minutes after EVERYONE including the valets have left.  When this happened to Angela, security had to get the keys and Angela had to get her own car anyway.  I already self-inflict a lot of problems for us…  I’ll avoid the potential for one more.

I’ll use valet when we come back after the break.

We got back and checked the mail.  We have come in late every day this week so we have not checked the box.  The night manager said there was a box for us, but when we got to the desk at Target House 1 (Where the mail goes) it turned out to be a few boxes and envelopes.  Plus a few cards!  We have 2 Amazon boxes that came and we have no idea who they are from.  If you fill out the “gift” message during checkout it will leave a nice note to identify the sender.  We got a bunch of hats, some markers, and a coloring book… Also a game of Smart Ass.  Apparently, this game is popular.  I have not heard of it!

Tonight, leftovers from the fridge for dinner, and I am doing laundry.  The 3rd time I have done it.  But who’s counting?