Colin Loves Tractors » proton therapy

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 [...]

Out of the Nest

Mom — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 05:20:12 +0000

Colin Mugging for the Camera at Le Bonheur (Post-Ops)

Our little fledgling has returned to Target House for good, following his last inpatient stay at St. Jude (barring unexpected events, of course).

While we will spend every week day at St. Jude, our trips to the second floor will be restricted to social calls. This milestone [...]

Home Sweet St. Jude

Mom — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 06:44:36 +0000

Life doesn’t offer real do-overs, but there are times when an experience follows the parallel track of something that has come before. Returning to St. Jude after less than a week at Le Bonheur, I had the feeling that I was given the opportunity to completely repeat the past but improved in every way.

Rewind

When we [...]

This Tuna’s Not Going to Japan

Mom — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 08:10:29 +0000

Many years ago (well in excess of a decade), there was a magazine article about tuna fishing and the process of selecting the premium fish caught here in the North Atlantic that would fly to Japan. It is possibly “Those Wild Tuna Guys” by Anthony Tillett in Harper’s Magazine, published in 1987. However, I am [...]

Trick or Treat

Mom — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 06:41:19 +0000

The children of St. Jude are now asleep, comatose in the aftermath of an orgy of candy consumption. Halloween is the biggest holiday here, bigger than Christmas (when the doctors presumably arrange for many of the patients to return home). This year’s celebration was toned down, presumably from infectious disease concerns; inpatients and outpatients were [...]

TPN at 10 P.M.

Mom — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 06:01:58 +0000

Friday was an eventful day for the whole family. For one thing, it marked the arrival of Kiyoshi and Perry from Connecticut! Aidan got to play hookie and greet them at the airport with Dad, which was a much needed boost for everybody.

Back at the hospital, Colin had a very busy day, kicking things off [...]

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 [...]

Graceland in the Rain

Mom — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 06:42:47 +0000

Tennessee has been inundated with rain, and Sunday was no exception. Aidan was on a mission from his school back in Connecticut to take his class pet/take-home assignment on an adventure and then report back on it. We had no choice but to take “Elvis” the frog (stuffed animal, not live or, worse, soaked in [...]

A What Transplant?!

Mom — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 03:09:16 +0000

Today, we continued to put Colin through the paces. He sat up in bed a few times, sat in Mom’s lap, sat much more upright when he was in bed, and (drum roll, please) started on the tilt table with physical therapy today. It’s a fairly self-explanatory device that makes him look like he’s about [...]

Five Millimeters

Mom — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 04:09:42 +0000

Colin had a great day today. He sat up several times and is getting more opportunity to hold his head erect (more or less). We had speech therapy and physical therapy visit today, and we have asked that the swallow specialist return because Colin is definitely clearing his secretions better from his throat, suggesting that [...]