A Happy Thanksgiving with the Bookmaker
Well pass the turkey and a pillow, it’s Thanksgiving! Happy Thanksgiving all!
Last Saturday my wife decided to attend a Wonders and
Worries workshop. This turned out to be
a really beneficial trip. The kids are
growing not only more aware, but are increasingly concerned with the
situation. One or both are routinely
waking up in the night and coming downstairs to share their fears and then Nita
comforts them and takes them back up to bed.
Well at this workshop there was a suggestion to create a magical worry
box. Each night before bed we sit around
as a family and everyone expresses any worry that may potentially keep one up
at night or make one sleep less soundly.
We then write down our fears/concerns and put them in the magic worry
box. Josie added that we have to shake
it exactly ten times for the magic to work.
Connor added we need to pray to God for the box to work all night. So of course both are now part of the pre-bedtime
ritual.
What this essentially does is allow the children to take
their fears and deposit them into a repository to hold until morning, freeing
their minds of any concerns while they sleep.
If they choose or remember they can pick up their worries or wonders the
next morning after a refreshing slumber. And lo and behold it worked. As of Thanksgiving morning, only one kid has
come down with a fear or nightmare and that may have been due to the alien talk
at dinner Monday. So a well-rested Nita
is a much happier Nita which makes for a much happier Marco. J
About those aliens.
So my mother allows the kids to use her computer at her home without
supervision. Thank goodness they are 7
and 5 if you know what I mean (nothing that rhymes with corn). Last week,
however, Connor was curious about aliens…so he googled them and started
watching youtube videos (I’m told). Full
disclosure, Nita is an X-phile. She loves and loved all things X-file and I’m
frankly shocked she’s never suggested that we Halloween as Mulder and Scully
in our 12 trips around the sun together. So when the kids started talking
aliens at dinner Monday, she rolled up her sleeves and got to work. The conversation
turned to how we protect the house including shooting lines and escape routes. Josie had just taken a school field trip to
the fire station and she was all about fire safety and having more than one
exit, etc. In any case, we played along
with the most impossible and irrational scenarios and were laughing for the
entire dinner. At one point for fun, while
determining friend or foe, I asked Connor, “But what if the alien knows your
name?” He stopped, turned and looked me
square in the eyes and replied with a completely straight face, “Dad that would
be ridiculous.” That brought down the
house. Nita couldn’t catch her breath for
almost two minutes and it was quite possibly the best dinner conversation we’d
had in a year. It might sound silly or
stupid, but I honestly wish the entire thing was on video, it was hold your
side, tears in your eyes funny. And it
provided a full 20 minute escape from reality.
Speaking of amazing staff, I had an employee situation this week and which has created an exciting turn of events (not in a good way). The good news is while I have to go to
Houston to meet with some of our customers and make sure everything is okay, my
lovely and talented wife was able to reschedule my MD Anderson visit to
coincide with that schedule. So customer
meetings by day, scans and prodding by night.
I feel like a super hero and hope my body holds up like one. Special thanks to my best friend’s boss for
allowing me to use his condo again which is only minutes from the MDA campus. We really do have a talented group at my
company who are constantly going above and beyond. It makes a huge difference, trust me. And my boss specifically has been amazing in
his support through my ordeal. It’s a
tough combination to beat and it allows me to truly focus on what needs to be
done. All you management students out there
checking your “hierarchy of needs” chart, I’m pretty close to the top of the
pyramid and it feels pretty good.
Last Friday I received another white blood cell
booster. I was given a compliment that I
looked good and didn’t show signs of distress at a staff meeting on Monday (yes
I still go to the office). However those
WBC boosters really set into my hips, femurs, and a little in my lower spine. I guess that is where the magic happens in
the marrow regeneration. It isn’t
debilitating and I can power through it, but it does hurt. And I now know that my game face is pretty
good, we’ll keep that going for a while.
Speaking of Friday the kids are out of their minds excited
for the day after Thanksgiving. We
decided to do an indoor campout. The forecast
calls for rain and cold Friday and Saturday: so we’re breaking out the sleeping
bags; I’m building a huge fire; we’re going to roast some marshmallows; and
sleep in the living room as a family. The
Kids have already put new batteries in their flashlights and have told us what
games we’re going to play as we “stay up super-late.” In all honesty I’m excited too. It is a way to get the family to do a camp
out without exposing me to the elements.
I’m sure at some point we’ll hit the great outdoors together, but we’ll
see what my scans show that second week of December.
So the week of December 7 will tell us a lot. The CT scans will show if my tumors/lesions are
shrinking, growing, or unchanged. It
will have been the fourth round of chemotherapy and I would think some effect
should have taken place. If not, we
could either keep going (perhaps it is still not long enough for a full assessment)
or switch to the Folfox (the neuropathy side effect). By the way, quick aside, the B complex worked
and the pain and sensitivity to heat in my fingertips is minimal/tolerable. So we’ll hope and pray that either the
current regimen is working or switching to the Folfox works. During testing it was discovered that I have
a genetic mutation to the third chemo option so that would leave only clinical
trials as the remaining viable option.
The downside is my insurance company may be reluctant to pay for any “non-gold
standard treatment.” They’ve already
denied funding one genetic screening test which would have enabled the MDA
researchers to test the malignant tissue taken out during my surgery against
some of the trial medications. Plus it
would require me humping it back and forth to Houston each week instead of the
friendly confines of Texas Oncology just up the road. And I would miss out on Alien-centric dinner
conversations which may not sound like much but it would be devastating to my
morale.
Don’t ring out. That is
the mantra. I think anyone who has been
reading long enough and/or is a wristband wearer knows what it means. My SEAL
buddy told me to find one thing, hold it, and use it to find a way to win. I guess you all know by now that my family is
my one thing. The antics and laughter of
my children. Their morning hugs and
kisses make each day a new gift. The beauty and strength of my wife and her
hugs and kisses help me keep fighting and make me want to be a better person. Those moments hold me together when the pain
sets in and doubt momentarily flashes in my mind. No offense to the rest of you. My support group is extremely important and I
cherish your feedback, prayers, notes, letters, cards, prayer shawls, calls,
emails, texts, and acts of kindness and generosity. I love you all, thank you! They are all immensely important to my frame
of mind and confidence to keep on keeping on. We should take you up on more of
your offers, so don’t feel like we don’t appreciate them when we try to hoe
our row alone for a while…while we can.
We will eventually accept, so please don’t take our independence as a
refusal or lack of appreciation.
So Happy Thanksgiving.
I am thankful for the gift of family, friends, strangers who care enough
to come into my life and help, and those whom I have never met but are praying
for us anyway some even continents away.
I am thankful for my staff, team and boss at work. I am thankful for my neighbors who are very
present. I am also thankful that I found
that pumpecapple pie/cake on the interweb.
It came on Tuesday and it is beyond decadent. I’ll post the picture of
the uncut product because I fear when we try to cut it for dessert I’ll accidentally
destroy it...which will only impact the presentation not the taste. The kids saw it when it was delivered and while
it was being moved it to the beer refrigerator.
I am still in awe of the size and depth of it. It measures (this is not a typo) 11 inches in
diameter and 11 inches in height. Read
it again, I’m including a picture next to a dos equis for scale. One final thank you. Yesterday I received a gift that is so
profound I can’t even mention it, but it is nothing short of life
changing. Thank you R and K (to protect
the innocent/guilty)! Now go hug
everyone in your home, tell them you love them.
Call those who can’t be with you and cherish each moment today even the
stupid political argument you are bound to have. Click your heels, appreciate and notice the
gifts you have been given that have been around you all along. And while you rest in your tryptophan induced
nap, may you dream of friendly aliens who know your name (the good ones). God
bless you TeamMarco@austin.rr.com.
Adding the actual pie with the cuts.
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