We started our morning with a breakfast delivery from Ellen. It was such a nice surprise to see her and to have coffee, tea, bagels, muffins, and fruit delivered. Peter really can't start his day unless he has coffee, so this act of kindness was greatly appreciated! Thanks Ellen!
At around 9:30am in Mattie's hospital room, the two residents who we have gotten to know well, Dr. Kristen Cantor and Dr. Christina Jung walked in. They normally don't come in together, so I suspected something was up seeing them paired together this morning. They said their good morning greetings, and then they couldn't contain themselves. They immediately told us the good news that Mattie's neutrophil count jumped up significantly from 50 yesterday to 560 today. They said we could pack up and we were being discharged. Peter and I were thrilled! But I could also see that Drs. Cantor and Jung were also moved by Mattie's progress. They were not just going through the motions of being happy, but were genuinely happy that Mattie was doing better, and that they could parole us at least until thursday. From my observation, the residents and the nurses work extremely long hours, and with these longs hours I have had the chance to get to know them as individuals. Dr. Cantor said good-bye to us today because she is rotating to the pediatric transplant unit, and I felt as if I was losing a friend in the process. In a way, she has evolved with us through the last several weeks of Mattie's treatment. I remember during the first week of Mattie's treatment, when I was walking the halls of the unit looking shell shocked, Dr. Cantor took the time to come over to me and ask me how I was doing. I must admit I have never had a medical doctor before take an interest in knowing how I was really doing. But I am seeing these oncology folks are different from their other medical counterparts. In any case, when Dr. Cantor asked how I was doing, I basically lost it. But instead of running the other way, she listened, was visibly moved, and gave me a hug. From that moment on, I could see she was not only a competent doctor (as I saw her interact with Mattie each day), but a deeply feeling person, who was on this journey with me. I will miss Dr. Cantor this week, and I have no idea if she will read this blog, but I wanted her to know she made a difference in how I experienced the first two weeks of Mattie's treatment.
It is also interesting to see the nurses interacting with Mattie. Each one works very hard in trying to get to know him, his likes and dislikes, and his personality. They all have his number, and they always ask him about his art work, or what game he played today. For those of you who have visited me, you know that Mattie's rooms are like two by fours. They are narrow, dark, drabe, and I could go on. But despite the lack of decor (and don't get me started with the fish/aquarium theme going on in the hallway) and the rooms being way too small for a family, all of this can be overlooked because we have an amazing group of nurses standing behind us. I don't say this lightly either because my physical environment usually deeply impacts how I am doing and feeling.
So after hearing the news from the doctors, we started packing things up. At that point, Linda came into the room, and Mattie was a happy camper. Linda had promised Mattie the opportunity to get his own hospital ID. So Mattie told Linda he wanted to get an ID before he left today. So while we were packing, Linda took Mattie on an adventure. When they got back, Mattie literally had a hospital ID badge. It looks like an official hospital ID badge and it says "Mattie Brown, Pediatrics" and it has his picture on it. Mattie loves his ID, and has shown it to everyone. He even wore it to bed tonight. Thanks Linda! Mattie felt very special today. Peter and I were thrilled to leave the hospital today, but Mattie was dragging his feet. I asked if he was happy to be going home, and his response was.... "you mean I don't get to play with Linda?" I told him Linda would see him on thursday. He seemed okay with that answer.
We got home, and had to unpack, clean up after the cat, and I did some laundry. Some how keeping busy makes me feel better, especially after being couped up in a hospital room. We had several visits from JP and JJ (our resident Jack Russell Terrier). You can't help but feel energized after being with JJ! Then I pulled up Mattie's e-mail for him. He received a wonderful photo and e-mail from his buddy Kazu today. Mattie loved the fact that Kazu was wearing a Red Sox t-shirt in the picture. Mattie also received his first video clip e-mail from his good buddy, Charlotte. Charlotte sent three videos, one more hysterical than the other. In one video, Charlotte is making silly faces into the camera, and Mattie just couldn't stop laughing. Mattie is not a phone person normally, but he decided he wanted to talk to Charlotte after seeing the video. So those two had a cute conversation together, and Mattie was walking all over our home while chatting with Charlotte giving her a play by play of what was happening in each room. Thank you Charlotte for the great bathrobe too! We just opened it up today. It will be coming with us to the hospital on thursday.
We also received a wonderful e-mail from John Bonds. John is a good friend, amazing person, and also a cancer survivor. This past weekend, John participated in a Livingstrong Race. John sent us some wonderful pictures today, and on the back on his cycling racing shirt, it said that he was dedicating his race to Mattie Brown. It was very moving to see this. John fought this battle and won, and I find it deeply meaningful that he wants to pass his courage and strength along to Mattie. I will find a way to download that photo so that I can post it to the blog.
At the end of the day, we had a visitor, Kathie Stoltzfus. Kathie was Mattie's occupational therapist for over two years. I have gotten to know Kathie very well over the years, and she and Mattie have a wonderful rapport. Kathie has been through the highs and lows with Mattie, and I always tell her that the reason why Mattie can do all the great physical things he can do today, is in a large part due to her skills and patience. Kathie brought us dinner tonight. I am not sure how she knew this but I am a major olive fan. So pasta with olives and olive bread went over very well tonight. Thank you for the tasty dinner and for being a good sport as Mattie gave you a tour of his room. Below you will see Mattie, Kathie, and I in his room. Mattie asked us to bury him under a pile of stuffed animals and the picture shows him breaking free from the pile (kind of like when you bury someone in the sand at the beach, only with stuffed animals).
After dinner tonight I had a 90 minute work related conference call to moderate. Part of me did not know if I was coming or going, or even making any sense. But I got through it. Thank you all for your continued support and love!
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