Quote of the day: "A mother is the truest friend we have, when trials, heavy and sudden, fall upon us when adversity takes the place of prosperity when friends who rejoice with us in our sunshine, desert us when troubles thicken around us, still will she cling to us, and endeavor by her kind precepts and counsels to dissipate the clouds of darkness, and cause peace to return to our hearts." ~ Washington Irving
We are still aglow from yesterday's Walk! These memories will carry us for days to come. I still can't get over the level of community support and spirit! Thank you! Some of you asked me whether I actually said "Ooga booga" at the Walk! Yes indeed I did! Apparently Mattie has started a trend, and many of you who wrote to us today signed off your messages with, Ooga Booga!
Before Mattie went to bed last night, he said he was sad. We tried to figure out why he was sad. It turns out he was sad that his cousins left for the evening because he enjoyed playing with them, but was happier to hear that they were coming over on Sunday to play with him again. Mattie and I both were exhausted and we did not get up until noon today. That was a mother's day gift unto itself. Even if Mattie did wake up early, Karen (my good friend who was visiting from NY) was going to get up with Mattie and play with him so I could sleep! Mattie and I were just too tired to move. When Mattie woke up, he was very excited to give me the Mother's day craft he made at the Walk for me. He colored his own "Mom is #1" bag for me, and inside the bag was a beautiful card cut out for the word MOM that Mattie hand colored. It was a special gift, and Peter brought me a beautiful plant with a balloon. Since Mattie's illness, we have removed all plants from our home. I miss my plants, and seeing this green friend was a wonderful symbol of the end of chemo that is approaching us!
Early this afternoon, Mattie's cousins came over to visit. I took a picture of this foursome together. Mattie had a great time playing with walkie talkies and his race track! I am happy they could have this time to say good-bye to each other. Mattie really craves this normal kid time now!
From left to right: Nat, Will, Mattie, and Sydney!My dad and I drove Karen to the train station today, as Karen was headed back to NYC since she has to teach on Monday. It was a great visit, she was extremely helpful to Peter and I, and she really connected with Mattie.
Once I got back from the train station, I encouraged Mattie to change his clothes so we could go out to dinner for Mother's day. That is where things started to turn south. Mattie did not want to change or get cleaned up. He started to shut down, and told me he did not care if it was Mother's day. He did not want to go out. I tried reasoning with him, but he insistence and comments only got more hurtful. I removed myself from the situation for a while in hopes he would think about his decision. Peter also spoke with Mattie. He had made this so unpleasant, that I decided I wasn't going to go out. But Peter came upstairs and convinced me to go out with my parents. Needless to say I was in a mood of my own by this point. As I headed down the stairs to leave the house, Ann called. We spoke about Mother's day and the Walk. This distracted me temporarily from my funk. Mattie was watching me while I was talking to Ann, and when I got off the phone, he insisted he did not want to stay home and wanted to go out instead. So to make a long story short, Mattie eventually left the house, but unlike Mattie who can pull out of a mood quickly, I am not as fortunate. It took the whole 30 minute car ride for me to regroup. But we all had a nice dinner together, and my parents, Peter, Mattie, and I played a super round of I Spy at dinner. Mattie ate like a champ and is clearly feeling much better stomach wise.As we head into Monday, I need to pack up tonight for our hospital admission. Mattie will be in the hospital through Saturday, receiving Ifosfamide and Etoposide. This is his LAST round of chemotherapy! How on earth did this happen? This is a major and frightening transition at the same time. Peter and I still have a central line dressing change ahead of us tonight! Lucky us.
We want to thank the Peterson family for a wonderful dinner tonight. Peter and I will be eating this beautiful roasted chicken tomorrow for lunch, and Karen your pie is always a hit with us! Thank you for this special Mother's day dinner. We hope all our readers had a wonderful Mother's day!
I want to thank Jan Holt, a SSSAS mom, for taking professional pictures at Mattie's walk on Saturday. It is my hope to post these soon for all of you to enjoy. She captured many wonderful moments! In addition, Jan wrote, "Mattie brought good luck to the SSSAS Varsity Baseball Team. SSSAS upset Georgetown Prep that afternoon after Mattie hit fists with the players at the Walk and now have home field advantage for the championship game tomorrow. Go Mattie!"
I end tonight's posting with four messages I received today. The first is from my friend, Charlie.
Charlie wrote, "I was so thrilled that I was there to see the outpouring of support for you and your family. So many people with loving, caring hearts who joined together on a day to celebrate life and hope for a better tomorrow for Mattie and others like him. It was so nice to finally see the people I read about in the blog daily, especially Ann as well as the wonderful people from Georgetown who give so much of themselves on a daily basis. I stand in awe of all they do. The march and the day exceeded my expectations and I know you felt the same way. It was just amazing to be there and connect with all those people who in very separate spheres, do so much for your family on a daily basis. Just so that you know as I circulated through the crowd, I heard people mention Mattie's relayed "ooga-booga means I love you" comment and everyone thought it was cute or endearing or very Mattie."
The second message is from my dear friend, Lorraine. Lorraine wrote, "Five hundred people! Last night, it felt like: wow -- did that really happen? What a huge community of incredible, special, caring people that you and your blog have brought together because of Mattie. I'm sure you spent some time talking with Mattie about his day, and I hope you feel that he too got a lot out of the day from his perspective. As you wrote, so many people now know each other through the blog. Between your families, GW, your friends I have met at Mattie's parties and visiting Mattie, and the blog, I found myself knowing and talking with a lot more people than I would have expected. What an amazing tribute to Mattie and to your huge community of friends and supporters. A miracle in and of itself, Vicki, what you have created. Including seeing almost all of GT's pediatric oncology department there, feeling very special and appreciated."
The third message is from Emily W. Emily is a former babysitter of Mattie, and a student I worked closely with at GW. Emily wrote, "I just read the blog from yesterday and WOW! WHAT A SUCCESS! I want to apologize to you again for not being able to make it down to DC for the walk. I wanted so badly to be there. I hope you know that although I was not there physically, my heart and love is always by Mattie's side. I am so thrilled to see how wonderful the walk turned out to be! Last night Adam threw me a surprise party for my 25th birthday and like I told you a couple weeks ago, I made a wish...a wish for Mattie's health, strength and a cure for Osteosarcoma. I will make this wish again when I blow out the candles for my real birthday this week. But I want you to know that not a day goes by that I do not think about, pray and wish for my Mattie to be healed- I just figured that birthday wishes may have some kind of extra power!! The other reason I wanted to email you was to wish you a HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY! You are such a wonderful mother that a one-day holiday is simply not enough to celebrate the love, support, kindness, and strength you have as a mother. I read the blog every day amazed at how you could possibly be human!?? Mattie is extremely lucky to have such an amazing mother. I have always said that his Mighty Mattie-ness (his ambition, strength, love, and courage) isn't a shock to me because his mother is nothing short of a superhero herself. I want you to know that you have been such a role model for me not only as a leader in the counseling profession/academics, but as a person, wife, daughter, friend, and most of all, a mother. I love you very much and am thinking of you always. I miss you all so much-Please give Mattie lots of hugs and kisses from me and tell him that a wasp tried to sting me the other day but I immediately thought about what Mattie said to me 2 summers ago when he saved me from a big nasty wasp...He said, "Now, Emily...Remember what happened to you last summer...You have to stay calm and be very quiet. You go in the house and I'll fight the wasp!" Mattie saved me from that wasp that day...and he taught me a lesson on how to fight off bees. But Mattie has also taught me so many more invaluable lessons since the day I met him. He has taught me about having fun, being playful...he has taught me to imagine...he has taught me that we have power, strength and courage within us whether we think we do or not. So even if Mattie says, "EW, YUCK!" Please tell him that I send him lots of hugs and even more kisses!"
The last message is from Julia. Julia is a RCC mom and a friend. Julia's daughter, Kate, and Mattie were in the same preschool class together. Julia wrote, "Kate and I were wowed by the # of supporters and all that was pulled together for the event. Kate had a lot of questions about Mattie, the cancer, and why people wear bracelets/t-shirts as we were driving home. So in addition to getting friends and family together in an impressive show of support for Mattie, Vicki, and Pete, the Walk sparked conversations and questions. And who knows where these thoughts and questions will lead - eventually to a cure, right?! We also realized, in talking, that if all the people there walked a mile for Mattie, that we had all marched (I thought it was 300, but 500!) for Mattie and our determination to stomp out osteosarcoma. We thought this was really neat, and we were proud to be a little part of something so important."
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