Colin Loves Tractors » ependymoma

Survivor: Target House

Mom — Sun, 23 May 2010 13:10:43 +0000

There is no immunity challenge, and Jeff Probst doesn’t sit us around a campfire to discuss who is next to go, but living here is beginning to feel like a warped version of the Survivor reality show. So many families that were planning to leave after us are by now long gone.

The Simkins, who have [...]

Ode to Lady Liberty

Mom — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 07:31:34 +0000

“Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled [brain tissue] yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my [high-energy photon] lamp beside the golden door!”

On Wednesday, February 24, Colin had his first radiation treatment. We had originally expected therapy to begin a week sooner, but the complexity of [...]

The Sky is Falling!

Mom — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 07:03:24 +0000

Oh, wait. That’s just snow. Target House Elephants: Normally, this is a fountain, and through the holidays the pachyderms were adorned with white lights.

Memphis has collapsed into pandemonium over the thinnest blanket of white that lasted long enough only for extremely fleet shovelers to find anything worth clearing from sidewalks. The snow is nestled in stalks of [...]

No Mo’ Chemo!

Mom — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 15:46:17 +0000

The last chemo precaution sign. This indicates the time of the administration and how long we need to properly dispose of diapers and so forth (48 hours after the drug has finished being administered).

Well, it’s official: Colin’s I.V. chemo is done. He received a dose of vincristine Thursday afternoon at 3:22 pm. Chemotherapy will continue [...]

Chemoed Out

Mom — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 06:35:38 +0000

Colin is officially chemoed out. After blazing through Tuesday’s drugs, he sagged on Wednesday, and the latter half of the day through early Thursday he spent either sleeping or very green around the gills.

Despite talk of a possible discharge, Colin’s queasiness made that impossible, though we are still entertaining the idea for Friday. We welcome [...]

Home Again

Mom — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 05:45:51 +0000

Tomorrow, we plan on bringing Colin home again. After much planning and deliberation, St. Jude found another home health care agency to provide nighttime nursing. We met with three of the staff, including one of the nurses who would be taking care of Colin.

Following chemo, he was especially weak and tired, but every day he [...]

Beginning, Middle, End

Mom — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 05:03:08 +0000

MIDDLE We are in the middle. The diagnosis and first steps to treat Colin seem far behind us, but the future remains foggy. From this perspective, we still have a strong connection to both sides of this process though, with any luck, we will never reach the terminus.

We marvel with great wonder at how we arrived [...]

The Little Engine

Mom — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 06:15:55 +0000

Colin has made some big leaps ahead, and we can now really see the strength of his determination. He vehemently resists activities and treatments that he does not like and resents being subjected to uncomfortable procedures.

Unfortunately, we had to put him through two of those today. The first was the upper GI study, essentially a [...]

I’m Considering, I’m Considering…

Mom — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 04:42:56 +0000

Colorblind James Experience is much more obscure than Paul Simon, but fortunately they have a MySpace page, so anyone unfamiliar with the band can find their tune “Considering a Move to Memphis” online. Not surprisingly, the refrain chants:

I’m considering I’m considering A move to Memphis A move to Memphis

Perhaps the one lesson that we have learned from this [...]

(little)manscaping

Mom — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 02:25:46 +0000

Colin may have a budding career as a Geico caveman, or perhaps a more mundane sideshow act as a wolf boy. We have noticed thick hairs sprouting on his forehead, giving him the beginnings of uni-forehead (forget uni-brow — we’ve moved way beyond that). Dark whorls grow like moss on his back.

The new hirsuteness is [...]