Tonight's picture was taken on January 12, 2009. Mattie was in NYC at Memorial Sloan Kettering. He needed to go to New York in order to qualify for an experimental treatment option. It was started in NY and then the drug was administered weekly at his hospital in Washington, DC. Needless to say, with the first dosage, Mattie got sick, and had a raging fever, was shaking like a leaf (which is referred to has rigors), and needed demerol (February 13, 2009's blog discusses the reactions to MTP, the experimental drug to a T). However, unlike at Georgetown, Sloan Kettering sent us back to the hotel after Mattie received his first dosage. They did not even keep him for observation. Needless to say, his reaction was severe enough that we had to come back to the hospital. In fact, at Georgetown, it was in Mattie's medical chart that he could not be released after receiving the weekly experimental drug. He needed to stay for several hours there after for observation, because trying to manage the side effects at home would be impossible.
Quote of the day: Life isn't about your age. Life is about living. So when your birthday comes be thankful for the year that has just past and anticipate with a happy heart what the coming year will bring. ~ Catherine Pulsifer
The restaurant we went to today likes to celebrate birthdays. So much so that when they bring you your dessert, they put on the music..... 16 candles (by the Crests). Naturally if you want to celebrate your birthday quietly, it isn't going to happen at this restaurant. I was introduced to this restaurant in Old Town, Alexandria by my friend, Margaret. Margaret was Mattie's preschool teacher and unfortunately is no longer with us as she died from ALS in 2014. Nonetheless, whenever I go to Le Refuge, I think of my friend Margaret. Ironically, I met Catherine and Jane in Margaret's classroom, as all our children were in Margaret's class.
In any case, today's lunch topics were heavy, as they ranged from illness to death. Needless to say I listened and absorbed all the topics and probably to no surprise, left feeling not upbeat but depressed. As I know illness and death quite up close and personal, and to me it is even worse when its the death of your own child.
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