Tonight's picture was taken on December 31, 2008. Mattie went through several food cravings while on chemotherapy. For the most part he did not want to eat at all, but there were times he really wanted something and Peter and I would jump through hoops to make it happen. That particular day Mattie wanted Chinese food, particularly shrimp! Honestly he never ate shrimp before he started treatment, but his tastes changed and and we went with it. I loved that Mattie wanted to use chop sticks and learned to use them quite well.
Quote of the day: Today's coronavirus update from Johns Hopkins.
- Number of people diagnosed with the virus: 49,661,145
- Number of people who died from the virus: 794,648
My day started at 2:15am. I got up this early because I wanted to shower and dress before I had to pack all our luggage up and dress my dad. Now I have to allot much more time to do anything with my parents in tow. I factor in a good extra 30 to 40 minutes. Somehow I got it all done and we were down in the hotel lobby by 4:15am, in order to meet our car pick up. Last night, I went down to the hotel lobby and brought up a luggage cart and kept it in the room with me. Which made loading luggage and getting to the lobby on time much easier.
We had a lovely and easy car journey to the airport and our driver understood that we needed to make sure my parents were dropped off first and that I was going into the terminal with them to get their luggage checked and a wheelchair for my dad, while the driver waited for me. My parents insisted that I couldn't be on the same flight as them. That wish made sense when they were mobile, it doesn't make as much sense now. I did comply, but I knew I had to intervene at check in today. Once I got them set up, I jumped back into the car and went to my airline terminal.
I honestly couldn't keep my head up throughout the flight. A four and a half hour flight felt like an hour. My parents landed at Dulles Airport and I landed at Washington National. Peter picked them up and I took a car service to the house. My driver was from the Democratic Republic of Congo, and was delightful. We literally talked the whole way to the house and he said I made a long car ride breeze by. He commended me for taking my parents in and mentioned that not every child would do this.
I would like to say my evening was smoother and more restful, but it wasn't. I cooked dinner for all four of us, I unpacked for me and my dad, I did laundry, got my parents situated and got my dad ready for bed. The problem as I see it is there is no rest or down time to be had for me, as the routine starts again tomorrow morning bright and early. As my dad's wakes up and wants immediate attention, not to mention that his best hours are probably 8am to noon.
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