Mattie went to bed on sunday attached to an IV for hydration. The thinking is that prehydrating him will enable him to meet the given criteria to start a methotrexate infusion almost immediately after admission to the hospital. It appears that every time we enter the hospital for methotrexate we land up waiting around for 6-7 hours while Mattie is getting hydrated in order for his pH urine level to become more basic (a requirement for methotrexate admission). However, this time, we opted to prehydrate him at home, in the hopes of not waiting around for 6-7 hours in the hospital. Unfortunately, I noticed at 4am today when I was awakened by Mattie that the IV was dripping and puddling all over the floor. I did not like the look of what I was seeing, so I stopped the hydration process. Mattie received about half of the hydration he needed. So though our intentions were good, we still had to wait 6 hours today in order to sufficiently hydrate Mattie.
Before we left for the hospital this morning, I received an e-mail from Dr. Jeff Toretsky. Jeff is in Israel now attending a cancer conference. As you know, Jeff is Mattie's lead oncologist, and he told me that he would be visiting the Wailing Wall and would include Mattie's name in the wall. I asked him to take a picture of this, and this morning my request was attached to an e-mail. Thanks Jeff for remembering to take the pictures and for intiating this touching and meaningful prayer for Mattie. Jeff wrote, "I am attaching the photo of my inserting Mattie's name on a piece of paper asking for a recovery of his health. The second photo gives you a larger sense of the activity at this wall. The Western Wall is not part of the Temple. It is the structure that the Temple was build upon. It is the last remnant of the activities that date back over 2000 years." Specifically, the Wailing Wall or Western Wall is the remains of the great Jewish temple, which had stood for close to 500 years. It is thought by Jews to be the most sacred of places, because the temple itself was thought to be the place where God resides on earth. Praying at the Wailing Wall signifies being in the presence of the Divine. Jews from all countries, and as well as tourists of other religious backgrounds, come to pray at the wall, where it is said one immediately has the “ear of God.” Below you will see a picture of the Wall, and then the picture of Jeff inserting Mattie's name in the wall. Let's hope that Jeff had God's ears today!
When we got to the hospital, we were greeted by Linda. Mattie was thrilled to see her, and of course to have the opportunity to play with her. Linda played with Mattie so I could get settled into the room. I was wondering why the transition went so smoothly, or why I wasn't so stressed out, and the bottom line was Linda kept Mattie busy. Mattie and I played with legos today, we did computer time, and then Whitney and Lesley came in and we all walked to the childlife playroom. Mattie did all sorts of projects in the playroom, such as transforming me into "Cousin It." Any one who has seen the Addams Family, knows that Cousin It, is a character whose hair is in front of his face, and so much hair that you can't see his eyes or any part of his face. Mattie was having a great time at my expense. Then Mattie created a spider and a disco ball as his craft activities. I think that Brandon, Mattie's buddy, inspired him, since Brandon apparently has his own disco ball in his room. You will see the picture of Mattie's spider and disco ball below. The ball is SMALL, but it is hanging from our ceiling! We are now ready and open for parties (kidding of course!). Also check out all the items Mattie carries around on his IV pole. He has it decked out!
This evening Mattie received a new Scooby Doo video from Grammie and Pop Pop, which was a hit! As he was watching the video, he ate an entire plate of spaghetti (thanks Grammie and Pop Pop) and then pizza. The meal was topped off by cheesecake! He had an excellent appetite today! But he is sworn off ALL hospital food, so I always need to have food on hand for him. We want to thank Tom and Kim Strombus for a lovely dinner tonight. Mattie loved the pizza and the cheesecake. Thank you for your thoughtfulness and generosity, though we do not know each other, it is our hope to have the opportunity to meet you one of these days. Below you will see Mattie's face while eating his pasta. There is a certain level of joy and satisfaction he gets from eating and twirling spaghetti.
Mattie's methotrexate infusion began at 8pm. CR (Cecilia Rose), Mattie's nurse, began his infusion. We are saddened that CR is leaving Georgetown. She is leaving for a nobel cause, she will be serving as a traveling nurse in Africa with the PeaceCorp. Some of you may recall, that CR e-mailed me on the day of Mattie's surgery. CR went to church on the day of the surgery to pray for Mattie, and then sent me a very meaningful e-mail. She is a very special person and we wanted to capture her on camera. She has a beautiful smile and is genuinely passionate about helping others. Notice in the picture that CR is wearing those famous chemo rubber gloves I mentioned in prior blog postings. The shocking blue gloves and the highlighter yellow chemo will leave a lasting impression on me!
Tonight, Mattie was visited by Nancy, the art lady. Nancy helped Mattie create a stained glass turkey. No glass, just tissue paper and contact paper, but it looks just like stained glass. Mattie, Peter, and I enjoyed working on this together, and our proud turkey is currently being display on our window. Take a look at Mr. Turkey below.
I want to thank the following individuals who kindly sent Mattie greetings through his PO Box. Thank you Bunny in IN. for the elf story, in which Mattie is the central character. Thank you for following Mattie's progress and all your support. We thank the Hammann and Barker families for their halloween card! Though we do not know Mrs. Bordeleau, we want to thank her and her kindergarten class in Los Angeles for the wonderful bunch of “get well” teddy bear cut-outs. Mrs. Bordeleau is good friends with Hal and Lauren S., a colleague of Mattie's Pop Pop. Thank you Mrs. Bordeleau and all your children for this care package!
On the electronic front, thank you Jay (for the great magic show video), Karen, Cousin Donna, Janie and Sandy, Coach Dave, Susan, and Cousin Rosalinda for all your wonderful e-mails. It means a lot to us to have your support! As we head into the evening, we have no idea how Mattie will react to Methotrexate, nor what our tomorrow will be like. Peter and I meet with Dr. Nita Siebel (from NIH) tomorrow morning. We hope she can shed some light on our confusion about Mattie's post-surgery chemo options. As I sign off, Mattie is wide awake, and building with legos!
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