Colin Loves Tractors » Decisions

Intersections and Digressions of Math and Life

Mom — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 03:11:15 +0000

Thanksgiving is easy. With so much to be thankful for, our feelings of gratitude are readily at hand. Adding to that, Colin had scans only two days before the holiday as the hospital emptied out while families in treatment left for visits home and others avoided check-ups during the holiday week. An impending check-up always [...]

Summer Kick-Started with a Scan

Mom — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 05:47:21 +0000

Even on the cusp of summer, Memphis is unforgivingly hot, but the weather is nearly irrelevant when you’re back for check-ups at St. Jude, which we were at the end of June. I packed instead for the climate-controlled stasis of the hospital and the expectation that our days would devolve into a mad dash of [...]

Put Me in, Coach

Mom — Sun, 19 Sep 2010 15:10:10 +0000

As Colin’s trajectory moves unevenly but steadily upward, we have also been taking him out into the world to finally do what he could not a year ago. At the same time, we are still at the phase where we turn back the mental clock by a year, reminding ourselves of what Colin’s life was [...]

No, No, No, How are You Doing?

Mom — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 16:31:22 +0000

Perhaps I was naively unconcerned about Colin’s latest scan. We returned to Memphis after a month at home for a battery of follow-ups, most importantly the MRI of the brain and spine. The legendary furnace of early July in Memphis intimidated us, yet those first days turned out to be [...]

Parallels and Contrasts

Mom — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 03:32:40 +0000

It is all too easy to feed off of birthdays, anniversaries, and other meaningful demarcations of time. How long since, how long until? In the x days since returning home, we have done y activities and Colin has achieved z milestones, giving us something to plot and chart in three dimensions.

In Memphis, I had imagined [...]

Winding Down*

Mom — Tue, 04 May 2010 06:53:06 +0000

Our family’s time at St. Jude is drawing to a close. On Friday, April 16, Colin had his last MRI before he goes home. The suspected tumor, as we hoped/anticipated, remains stable, and the spinal scans are still clear. Furthermore, the blood clot has resolved significantly, with some pieces remaining and very good blood flow [...]

Operation Radiation

Mom — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 04:45:57 +0000

Colin’s final radiation treatments found us at Methodist Central, an adult hospital not far from St. Jude in midtown Memphis. The final dose of radiation was delivered on Saturday morning, when a normal child of his age is watching cartoons. We are in the home stretch of our time here in Memphis and the more [...]

Reset Button

Mom — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 17:43:52 +0000

Colin’s second week of radiation was grueling: vomiting, utter fatigue, dangerous aspiration and an unexpected stay in the hospital. The third week (days 9 – 13) was a completely different story. After going back inpatient at St. Jude, Colin slept for two days straight, waking on Friday morning at 4 am to let me know [...]

Predator vs. Alien

Mom — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 06:08:38 +0000

Since finding out about Colin’s blood clot, we have settled into a normal non-medically intense lifestyle punctuated by the possibility of crisis. On Superbowl Sunday, Colin became inexplicably agitated and then very spaced out, eyes unfocused and suddenly falling asleep sitting up. The pseudomeningocele on the back of his head had become an even larger, [...]

Sword of Damocles

Mom — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 23:55:14 +0000

Colin is always full of surprises and has continued to not disappoint us. It would be funny if it weren’t so worrisome, with Friday bringing the need for another burst of medical education.

Friday, Colin had his two week post-op MRI to determine the disposition of residual tumor. As we all had suspected, there is a [...]