Mattie's Blog and his Fight Against Osteosarcoma

Thank you for keeping Mattie's memory alive!

Dear Mattie Blog Readers,

It means a great deal to me that you take the time to write and to share your thoughts, feelings, and reflections on Mattie's battle and death. Your messages are very meaningful and help support me through very challenging times. I am forever grateful. As my readers know, I promised to write the blog for a year after Mattie's death, which would mean that I could technically have stopped writing on September 9, 2010. However, like my journey with grief there is so much that still needs to be processed and fortunately I have a willing support network still committed to reading. Therefore, the blog continues on. If I should find the need to stop writing, I assure you I will give you advanced notice. In the mean time, thank you for reading, thank you for having the courage to share this journey with me, and most importantly thank you for keeping Mattie's memory alive.

As Mattie would say, Ooga Booga (meaning, I LOVE YOU)! Vicki

October 8, 2020

Thursday, October 8, 2020

Thursday, October 8, 2020

Tonight's picture was taken in October of 2003. Mattie was a year and half old. This was typically how Mattie watched a video or TV show. He was the ultimate multi-tasker. As he had to be busy moving or doing something, but was still following along with what was on the screen. We kept all of Mattie's video tapes under the TV. As you can see, Mattie was taking out all the boxes. He then would stack and play with them. The only thing on the TV screen that would stop Mattie in his tracks and get his full attention was Elmo from Sesame Street. Mattie could be somewhere else in our home, but as soon as he heard Elmo's voice, he came running to the TV.

Quote of the day: Today's coronavirus update from Johns Hopkins.

number of people diagnosed with the virus: 7,589,353
number of people who died from the virus: 212,466

Last night before I went to bed, a felt a migraine coming on. But in addition to the headache, the area around my right eye had a stabbing pain. Unfortunately, the pain continued today. I would call the pain, excruciating, and it is more reminiscent of my one time experience with a cluster headache. Mainly because the pain is concentrated on one side, is around one eye, and the pain is ten times worse than a migraine. My issues are so significant today, that I can't spend much time reading anything or on the computer. Things were so bad that I went outside on our balcony with Sunny and both of us were lying on the ground. I needed fresh air and no other noise.

Sunny went for his monthly grooming today. After that we took him for a walk around Huntley Meadows. A park Mattie used to love.

Sunny was so excited to explore new territory, that he was practical running through the woods.

Huntley Meadows is known for its birds. Do you see this cute woodpecker on the tree?

There is an amazing boardwalk at Huntley Meadows. Unfortunately dogs are not allowed on it. So I went out a few steps to take photos. But Sunny wasn't happy being left behind.