Colin Loves Tractors

Taking a Plunge

Mom — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 03:46:42 +0000

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 [...]

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 [...]

Indestructible

Mom — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 05:03:21 +0000

Before launching into the latest long-overdue update, I want to post information about the 2011 St. Jude Give Thanks. Walk that is taking place across the country this weekend. We are going to New York City on Saturday, November 19, to support the hospital in a walk across the Brooklyn [...]

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 [...]

Happy Birthday, Colin!

Mom — Sun, 12 Jun 2011 15:18:50 +0000

Today, Colin turned four. To be crass, we didn’t know if he’d live this long. Happy Birthday, Colin!

Some would say I’m macabre, but I think it’s just funny to contemplate the myriad ways we can look at it. Colin was diagnosed at two so, mathematically, he’s doubled his money. This seems like a pointless calculation, [...]

Full Circle

Mom — Sun, 12 Jun 2011 07:20:29 +0000

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. Well, we have plenty of trachs, but none actually inserted in him. Anticipation of the possibility that Colin would come home without that annoying, formerly life saving appliance swept [...]

True North

Mom — Sun, 20 Feb 2011 05:24:41 +0000

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. He further stressed that surgery would not help and would only cause more damage (duh!). All [...]

Finding the Narrow Path

Mom — Sat, 25 Dec 2010 09:11:14 +0000

Life is normal, or at least a simulacrum of normalcy that is close enough to count. Since the last scan (in sum, stable), Colin has started school again and is finally able to live without the specter of chemo hanging over his head. If he’s tired, he’s just tired and maybe coming down with something. [...]

Latest Photos

Mom — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 02:36:36 +0000

quad-2010-050 ◄ Back Next ► Picture 1 of 75

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 [...]