Clouds ascend like sculptures, backlit by the setting sun. Wispy pink columns stand in dramatic array, the clump on top of one stack embellished with a viciously straight contrail that angles upward like a laser beaming from a cyclopean eye. It is a tiny thing but still audacious enough to pitch a galactic battle against an unseen enemy. The day closes over the Mississippi, with stormheads threatening their bounty of rain from the south. Colin and I have left the gentle wash of music and companionship of old friends on Mud Island, a sanctuary of gentile life only a stone’s throw from the urban grittiness that awaits patiently on the east shore of the mighty river.
Continue reading Same as it Never Was
Category: Physical Therapy
Fast Forward
First, I offer apologies for the unintentionally long silence. (From a technical standpoint, if anybody visited the site in the last few weeks and got a malware alert, Google was correct and I have fixed the website, so it is currently safe.) The very short synopsis is that Colin is doing great and his last trip to St. Jude in August went well. However, so much time has passed that we are literally back in Memphis and Colin is in his MRI, so this seems like the ultimate deadline to update for eight months of excitement and change. In Colin’s world, that is a lot of time. Continue reading Fast Forward
Counting the Years
After the absentee winter thawed into spring, Colin returned to Memphis for his four-month check-up. This visit marked two years from the end of radiation and a juncture I hadn’t dared contemplate when we were still at St. Jude. We are also nearing his fifth birthday, simultaneously the third anniversary of his diagnosis. These milestones have snuck up on us, with the pleasantly mundane realities of daily life overshadowing the gravitas that cancer tends to impose. Continue reading Counting the Years
Taking a Plunge
Wow, we just got back from an amazing week at Camp Sunshine in Casco, Maine. It’s not just about the fun activities and plethora of friendly volunteers but the incredible sense of community and support. This is a place where the kids, patients and siblings alike, are embraced for who they are and encouraged in everything they do. By the same token, parents are able to come together and share their stories, fears, insights, and anything else that comes up. Dealing with life threatening illness has a tendency of beating up every member of the family, often in tiny, invisible increments. Continue reading Taking a Plunge
Full Circle
Colin returned home, nearly a year from the completion of radiation and two months short of his fourth birthday, with a good scan and no trach. Continue reading Full Circle
True North
Colin is in remission, and it now seems easier to utter the words aloud. His scan from January was still “stable,” with Dr. Gajjar now asserting that the sliver of “whatever” that cradles Colin’s brain stem is scar tissue. Continue reading True North
Finding the Narrow Path
Life is normal, or at least a simulacrum of normalcy that is close enough to count. Continue reading Finding the Narrow Path
Put Me in, Coach
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. Continue reading Put Me in, Coach
Parallels and Contrasts
It is all too easy to feed off of birthdays, anniversaries, and other meaningful demarcations of time. Continue reading Parallels and Contrasts
Reset Button
Colin’s second week of radiation was grueling: vomiting, utter fatigue, dangerous aspiration and an unexpected stay in the hospital. Continue reading Reset Button