Tonight's picture was taken in October of 2007. Mattie just LOVED fall festivals, jumping and playing in the hay, and of course pumpkins. In so many ways this was a glorious photo, because when Mattie was a toddler he was intimidated to play in sand and he most definitely wouldn't have gone anywhere near hay. By the time Mattie entered kindergarten, he had truly developed physically and emotionally and we thought so many of the challenges we experienced were behind us. Unfortunately we had no idea what a true challenge was until July of 2008.
Quote of the day: What is success? I think it is a mixture of having a flair for the thing that you are doing; knowing that it is not enough, that you have got to have hard work and a certain sense of purpose. ~ Margaret Thatcher
I am quite sure that all the activity I did this week has caused me to feel very sick today. As my faithful readers know, I have a bladder condition that can flair up at very unexpected times. My goal is to manage to Tuesday when I see my urologist. The irony is when Mattie was born, I developed this condition. I would say for the first year and a half of his life, I lived with terrible pain. However, over time it got better and then I went years without a single symptom. However, the condition resurfaced a month after Mattie died. The symptoms are horrific and despite getting this frequently, I have never learned to manage through this pain, like chronic headaches.
In the midst of pain today, I tried to focus on working! Next week, Peter and I have been invited to present at the Children's Oncology Group conference in Dallas, TX. The Children’s Oncology Group (COG), a National Cancer Institute (NCI) supported clinical trials group, is the world’s largest organization devoted exclusively to pediatric cancer research. The COG conducts a spectrum of clinical research and translational research trials for infants, children, adolescents, and young adults with cancer.
We finalized our Power Point presentation today for Thursday's presentation and yesterday we mailed the scientific research poster that was created by our psycho-oncology research team to Texas. The poster looks incredible and highlights what Mattie Miracle has accomplished so far on the national level with a standard of care. Somehow seeing it in print made quite an impression on me and I hope those who see it become equally excited about our vision.
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