Tonight's picture was taken in October of 2007. We took Mattie to Butler's Orchard in Maryland to go pumpkin picking. After picking a pumpkin right off the vine he went into their barn and literally had a ball jumping into the hay! The ironic part about all of this was when Mattie was at his first preschool in Washington, DC, we came to this farm as a field trip. All the kids loved jumping and playing in the hay except for Mattie. However, looking at this photo, I am sure you wouldn't have known this fact! That is because by 2007, Mattie was a completely different kid. I strongly believe that with early physical and occupational interventions and providing him with positive social and emotional environments, Mattie was able to develop to his full potential at a very early age.
Quote of the day: The greatest gift of human beings is that we have the power of empathy. ~ Meryl Streep
When my doctor left Washington Hospital Center, believe it or not, the Hospital never called me or even sent me a letter to tell me that my doctor had left. They did not alert me that she left nor did they alert me of her replacement. The only reason I knew she left is because my friend also happened to see this same doctor and when I met with my friend this summer she alerted me and also gave me a head's up that our doctor was relocating to Baltimore! She knew this information because she had recently seen this doctor right before her departure. Of course when a doctor leaves a hospital, she can't take her patients with her per se. But there are some doctors who you have a special relationship with in your life, and an oncologist is just such a doctor. In my perspective driving to Baltimore today was worth the three hour round trip car ride. This is a person who has been working with me since 2012 and knows my history and also understands the stresses Peter and I have lived with and continue to live with. That to me means a lot.
Naturally you know I am going to have a funny story, because, I can't visit an office without having one, can I?! Before seeing the doctor, her assistant came in and took my vitals. After she took my blood pressure, she looked at Peter and then looked back at me and asked me why I looked so sad? At which point I told her I was sad because I had to be back here visiting the doctor. She let that be absorbed for a moment and then she asked why I was visiting. I told her my symptoms and that I was in pain, she began to connect the dots. After she left the room, Peter commended me on not popping her one. I told him I was very perplexed by her question since the office we were in was an oncology office. How could one NOT be sad???
I later learned from my doctor that many of the patients who come to the office are in post-treatment, meaning they are in survivorship mode. Which may explain her assistant's attitude. Yet to me this is still quite judgmental since there are a host of issues even in survivorship. Of course survivorship could look different for adults than it does for children. It isn't pretty for children at all because survivorship is fraught with many long term and in some cases serious health issues! I told my doctor that her assistant should consider herself lucky that I did not have my full game on today. I am much more aggressive as a caregiver than a patient.
Any case, I am going for more testing tomorrow and hopefully will know more. She put my biggest fear to rest today and gave me some ideas about what the issue is that I could be dealing with. So having a plan is a great thing and knowing I have someone who is working with me on this plan and will be taking me through the steps of the plan makes me feel better. Someone I know I can trust. But right now I have two medical issues going on simultaneously and it was very important for me to tease out what was causing which pain and to make sure I had a doctor to turn to for help on both medical issues.
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