Tuesday, June 21, 2016

Tuesday, June 21, 2016 -- Mattie died 353 weeks ago today.

Tonight's picture was taken in June of 2008. We took Mattie to a baseball game and I snapped a photo of the two boys together. Ironically Mattie was like me. He put up with sports but did not gravitate to them. So at the park, we were more fascinated by the people, the reactions and the energy around us. 



Quote of the day: The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page. ~ St. Augustine


Peter and I are driving to Philadelphia today to attend the Coalition Against Childhood Cancer's (CAC2) Annual Summit Meeting. CAC2 is comprised of over 80 childhood cancer organizations across the Country and for the most part, just like many childhood cancer organizations, their focus and discussions relate to the biomedical care of the disease. We have been trying to expand that message, so when comprehensive care is discussed psychosocial care has a seat at the table. Given all that we have been advocating for, CAC2 asked us if we would like to put together a psychosocial talk for the meeting. What I decided to do was transform the talk into a panel presentation with Peter, myself, and four psychosocial providers. Psychosocial care is complex and in a way hard to advocate for because it isn't performed by just one profession. Medicine is performed by doctors, nursing by nurse, etc!!! There are many professional groups who take ownership of psychosocial care, which is great, but also makes it harder to create a unified and standard form of care. Here are all of the professionals who in theory provide psychosocial care: social workers, psychologist, psychiatrists, child life specialists, art/play therapists, educational specialists, nurses and HEM/ONC doctors. 

The panel presentation is geared to accomplish two things: 1) to explain what psychosocial care is and why it is imperative for effective overall care, and 2) to highlight the necessity of Psychosocial Standards of Care, because psychosocial care varies greatly from one treatment site to the next. 

Information about the Summit Meeting:  https://cac2.org/2016-summit-annual-meeting/

Last night was the summer solstice. The first day of summer and the longest day of the year was acknowledged with a HUGH Mattie Moon. 

Mattie Moon over the Washington Monument. 

A friend of ours sent me this photo of the big strawberry solstice moon over a lighthouse in Portsmouth, NH. She knew of my love for lighthouses and of course Mattie Moon!