Friday, April 13, 2012Tonight's picture was taken in May of 2009. Mattie was in the clinic getting his weekly dosage of MTP-PE, a form of immunotherapy. As was typical after the infusion of this drug, Mattie developed a fever and rigors (which are intense chills and shaking). As we were riding out the aftermath of the treatment, Kristen came into the exam room to assess how Mattie was doing. Jenny (Mattie's art therapist) snapped a picture of all of us together. For my readers who are curious and want to put a face to a name, this is Kristen! Kristen is a very unique doctor who is not only competent but also assesses people and their situations very well. Which is an imperative skill to have when trying to help families living with childhood cancer.
Quote of the day: Happiness is not a station you arrive at, but a manner of traveling. ~ Margaret B. Runbeck
Just when I think it isn't possible for my days to get any more hectic, I always surprise myself. I had a three hour licensure board meeting this morning, which as usual is NEVER boring. Some of the ethical cases that come before the board at times just shock me. Today was no different!
After the meeting, something inside of me told me to drive to the Mattie Miracle Cancer Foundation mailbox. Thank goodness I followed that instinct because when I got there I found out that the post office closed our box. Naturally I was beside myself especially since we did not receive any notification that this was going to happen. The post office typically emails me when there is mail in the box. We set up that feature, which has worked very well. Well that is up until now. With the symposium and my own health issues, checking the mailbox toward the end of March weekly wasn't in my purview (especially when I did not receive my usual email notifications). As I tried to rectify this issue today, I found that only one individual in the post office was willing to help me. The other two employees dismissed me because their computer system was down and they did not know how to renew my mailbox using a check. Fortunately my favorite postal employee was there and was willing to help me. Since their system couldn't accept credit cards, I had to write a check. Based on the kind of day I was having, I naturally had no checks with me. So I had to go home to get one. Keep in mind that my licensure board meeting was in North East Washington, DC, the post office is in Arlington, VA, and I live in Washington, DC. So literally I drove all in circles in a short period of time.
I wanted this mailbox issue addressed and completed today, since it is crucial for the Foundation to have a functioning address. Thankfully, I was able to retrieve all our mail and we are back to business as usual. But I have learned that I can't rely on their electronic reminder messages, nor can I rely on their renewal notices to be sent. So now I have renewal reminders in my blackberry and on my calendar at home!
After I got that resolved, I went to visit Ann's mom, Mary. I was under some sort of delusion today that after my meeting, I was going to have a peaceful lunch and read a book, and then visit Mary on my way home. Well the day did not turn out that way at all, and I landed up not eating for most of the day. However, I had promised to visit Mary, and therefore kept to my word.
While all of this was happening, I sent many email messages back and forth to our Foundation Raffle chair, Carolyn. I had to break the news to Carolyn that we had more raffle donations to process from our mailbox today. To be precise, there were 15 additional items that had to be dealt with and added to our raffle selling paperwork. That may not sound difficult, but when I thought the baskets were already complete this sent me for a tail spin. Carolyn has been working on getting preraffle sales ready and these new additions added a kink to the process. If I were Carolyn, I would have lost it. But instead, Carolyn welcomed the items and was determined to find a way to make this work. I really needed her can do spirit today, because I was livid and on overload. It is now 10:45pm, and I can say that the raffle is back on track, and I feel that Carolyn and I are ready to take the raffle to another level. We could easily hold an auction for the Foundation in the near future.
I would like to end tonight's posting with a link I received from my friend Susan. Susan introduced me to Caine's Arcade. There is something about Caine that reminds us of Mattie. Perhaps it is his creativity, his ability to build things, and his love of cardboard boxes. To me this is a feel good story. You have to watch the whole 11 minutes of the clip to see the beauty of community spirit and the power of facebook.
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Society/2012/0412/Caine-s-Arcade-sweet-film-starring-pint-size-entrepreneur-goes-viral-video
No comments:
Post a Comment