Tonight's picture was taken in October of 2002. Mattie was six months old and I have to say this photo makes me laugh. It makes me laugh because Mattie for the most part hated his crib. Sleeping and lying in his crib were not things he enjoyed doing. In fact, I would put Mattie in his crib for short periods of time (like you see here) just to get him used to being in there. But I would say for the first three months of his life he slept on my shoulder. Than after that, he slept in his car seat which I placed inside his crib. Eventually Mattie transitioned to his crib.... but it was a process.
Quote of the day: There is no education like adversity. ~ Benjamin Disraeli
I will share more photos from the Walk, but before I do so, I visited two hospitals today. I was at Georgetown in the morning for a meeting. While there, I bumped into Jey, Mattie's "big brother." For our faithful readers, you know that Jey was the man who worked in the radiology department and transported Mattie and to and from his scans and procedures. Jey came into our lives early on and understood Mattie's fears beautifully but he also respected Peter and I. Jey would visit Mattie each time we were in the hospital, and since we were always there, we saw Jey often. Jey shared with me his memories today of Mattie and of course the day Mattie died. Jey is the one who took Mattie's body to the hospital morgue. He wouldn't allow anyone else to transport Mattie! Jey was very protective of Mattie and shortly after Mattie's death, Jey left his position at the hospital and took a position in hospital security, working OUTSIDE the building! However, he still helps patients and their families. You should see him outside talking to people, making them smile and feeling like they MATTER! As I said to Jey today, you don't need a title or a degree to help people. It is simply in his nature, he is the ultimate patient ambassador and we are lucky enough to have found him in 2008! Jey helps me keep Mattie's memory alive and like he told me today.... HE CAN'T LEAVE GEORGETOWN, and guess what? I wouldn't want him too! He is one of the few remaining people left that is our institutional knowledge!
Then later in the afternoon, I went to Washington Hospital Center. I went in for a usual check up and came out with my head spinning because my doctor wants me to get rescanned! An issue which I thought was done and finished, she wants me to follow up on. The problem with this doctor is her insensitivity because she doesn't realize how she just sent me from zero to 100 with anxiety. Needless to say, I have already emailed my oncologist because in her mind when I saw her in the Fall, she was fine with my status. So apparently these two doctors are not on the same page. Lovely! So after dealing with her, I got back on the phone with Georgetown Hospital today to book my scan for next week. All I know is Mattie isn't the only one at this point who needs a child life specialist!
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