Day 109

Today was an emotionally difficult day for both me and Bailey. Thank goodness for good staff. Dr. T's staff caught drift of our difficulties today and took care of us. His nurse practitioner, Beth, came by offering us moral support, and then Dr. T came up and asked if we wanted to go over to Methodist with him while he did his rounds over there. So we went for another train ride over to Methodist - Beth went with us for medical (and emotional) support. While he was rounding, he sent us to the gift shop . . . but he wouldn't give us his credit card - and I asked, too! Beth was a sweetheart - she took Marissa in the gift shop to buy her something, and Marissa picked out what Beth thought was Play Dough. She had Bailey pick something out too, and we went to the lobby area to wait for Dr. T. Marissa opened her "play dough" and it turned out to be noise putty. If you don't know what that is, it makes a terrible noise of . . . passing gas. Beth was soooooooo embarassed. She apologized to me at least 5 times on our trip back to Riley. She was so embarassed, yet she was scheming with Marissa to walk up behind Dr. T and "let it rip". There's quite a walk involved in going back to the train and then to Riley, and Marissa was hovering around Dr. T the whole time, "letting it rip" about every 10 steps or so. He was a good sport! She was so adorable - belly laughing when she'd rip a good one! Haha!! When we got off the train at Riley and walking down the long cat walk back to the hospital, Dr. T was pushing the machine and he was getting faster and faster and actually started jogging with it. Of course, Bailey is attached to it by a 6-foot cord and had no alternative but to jog right along with him. He enjoyed that! I think he just has to prove to himself on occasion that he still has power over her. (I wonder if that's a first - a patient on a Berlin Heart jogging?) We got back to the room to find Colin and his dad waiting on us. Colin came for a follow-up appointment today - his heart is looking better and he's feeling great. It was good to see them - they really are like family now. Marissa and Josie had a good time visiting with him too. Marissa was having so much fun, she didn't even cry when she left to go home! She whispered to me before she left, "Mommy, I think Colin and I are getting to be good friends." And Josie has a crush on him. I don't know if I can handle motherhood! We're still chopping away at homework. She's only about 1 day away from finishing up science and social studies for the year. Really the only subject she's working hard on is math, and she's got an A- in that so far. She's doing very well, and will be very excited for summer break. The teachers here at Riley take the summer off too, so that will be nice and relaxing not to have to worry about homework. Looking forward to a good night's sleep for both me and Bailey. I'm really trying to get her to move to an earlier bedtime (like before midnight - preferably 11:00), but it's difficult. Lots of things to work in at night like dressing change, medicines, homework, etc. It just seems like it's midnight before we know it. But I'm still working on it! She was very difficult to wake up this morning at 11:00 when her teacher came, which started the whole day off on the wrong foot. Hopefully tomorrow will be better. Wish me luck! and a prayer would be helpful too! Love to all, Angie P.S. - Hey, David - Congratulations on your new job! We're all very proud of you!!