Wednesday, November 30, 2011Tonight's picture was taken in October of 2008. Standing next to Mattie was his big buddy Brandon. Brandon was diagnosed with lymphoma and began treatment about a month after Mattie. Mattie and Brandon lived in the PICU together for months and though there was a significant age difference, these two fellows got along very well. In fact, Mattie really did not associate or play with any of the other patients on the floor. But Mattie allowed Brandon into his life. Though Brandon was sick himself and went through painful and horrific treatments, Brandon always mustered the energy to be kind, compassionate, and caring toward Mattie. Mattie related to Brandon and I know Mattie felt he could trust him, and that Brandon truly understood how Mattie felt. Which is why, Brandon will always be a special person to Peter and I. He was a true friend to our son, in a time when he really needed a friend to play with, talk with, and even be sad with. What I love about this picture was the dueling IV poles. Brandon has an artistic side to him and created some fascinating pieces while in treatment. One of the pieces he created was what I would call... "Wall-E IV pole." Wall-E was that animated movie character, who was popular in 2008. Mattie loved the movie entitled Wall-E, and when he saw Brandon's creation, he too wanted something on his IV pole. So Mattie went to clinic one day and decided to create the Hungry Caterpillar and velcro it to his IV pole, so that he could match Brandon's pole. But here is the touching part to all of this. When Brandon's treatment ended, he came to visit Mattie before leaving the hospital and Brandon gave Mattie his Wall-E creation so Mattie could use it on his IV pole. From that day forward, the Hungry Caterpillar came off of Mattie's IV pole and was replaced with Brandon's Wall-E creature. I think this is a beautiful story of connections and sharing between friends. Friends of different ages, but friends connected by their cancer battle.
Quote of the day: When I am happy, I see the happiness in others. When I am depressed, I notice that people's eyes look sad. When I am weary, I see the world as boring and unattractive. ~ Steve Chandler
My friend Charlie sent me this quote today, and as soon as I read it, I basically said.... this is brilliant. Whether we are cognizant of it or not, we do experience each day based on how we are feeling. Our moods influence our perception. When we are happy, it influences how we interpret people's thoughts and actions around us, and typically when happy we are most likely to put a positive spin on our observations. Naturally quite the opposite happens during a sad mood. On a sad, down, or depressed day, everything looks and seems blue and hopeless. I firmly believe in what this quote is saying and I know when I was a mental health educator, I tried to get my students to step out of their own framework and place themselves in the shoes of the person sitting in front of them. Understanding a person's perception of the issue or concern at hand is crucial. It is only through understanding that perception, will you be able to evoke or help produce change.
I began my day at the dentist's office. When I went six months ago, I had a horrific experience. My usual dental hygienist, Libby, was away and they reassigned me to someone who wasn't familiar with my sensitivities. It was such a bad experience and the pain was so intense, that when I was paying my bill after the appointment was over, I spoke my peace to the front office staff. This dentist office is an experience. It sits right in the heart of DC, it uses high tech equipment, the atmosphere in the waiting room is geared toward relaxation (since there are many of us high strung types walking the streets of DC) with candles, sounds of flowing water, and so forth, and the dentists are highly regarded in their field with awards posted all over the place. So with that kind of atmosphere, I do not expect to have an appointment where the hygienist and I are combative. So in May, I made it quite clear that I never wanted to see that hygienist again and told them that if for some reason Libby couldn't see me, I should be alerted to this and reassigned another appointment time.
When I saw Libby today, I told her about my experience in May. Needless to say, my cleaning today was painless thanks to her, who uses an ultrasonic cleaner (which literally seems like a power water spray which blasts tartar from one's teeth) before having to manually clean my teeth. This pretreatment makes a HUGE difference! In addition, through the use of a small laser (the process is called Diagnodent) she was also able to detect any tooth decay. To my great joy, I have learned that bite wing x-rays are now becoming a thing of the past, as new digital technology is taking over. Whoever discovered this new process should get a medal, because giving me oral bite wing x-rays has always been a painful process in which I usually land up crying. Since sedation dentistry is SO common now, I have deduced that I can't be the only one with these types of sensitivities. But bringing this tooth conversation back to my earlier point (which is understanding someone else's perspective), Libby said to me today that before she does anything to a patient, she first asks herself, "how would I feel if this was happening to me?" That is actually an excellent question, because if you can stop and assess that first, then chances are whoever you are working on or talking to, will have a much better experience. Seems to be my motto of the day.... perspective influences one's experience. If my perspective is that I perceive Libby, or my doctor, to understand me, then chances are my experience will be positive.
In the afternoon, I visited with Ann and while running around town, we bumped into our friend, Carolyn (the Walk's raffle chair). A rather small world indeed. Carolyn and I are already focused on this year's raffle at the Foundation Walk, and I prepped her for the fact that we will be going full force on this in January! The rest of the day seems like a blur, since I am not feeling well tonight.
Tomorrow morning, I have been invited back by Prof. Bob Bies to attend his Georgetown Business School class. There is a campus reporter who wants to interview Peter and I, and the class. It makes for a powerful story especially since Peter is a Georgetown graduate. In addition, one of the student groups we met on November 17, has connected Mattie Miracle to the University's Hoya Dreams program (this is a student athlete program which basically provides wishes to sick children at Georgetown's Hospital). This coming Saturday, Georgetown University is having a basketball game at the Verizon Center, and at half time, our Foundation will be featured. There will be announcements, a video presentation, and Peter, myself, and several children being treated at Georgetown will go out on the center court and greet the fans. Not being a basketball person (or sports person at all) this whole experience will be beyond novel to me! I am very impressed with the persistence and innovative ideas these students are generating and I am amazed that in a short period of time they have taken their ideas and brought them to life!
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