School's Done!!

Bailey took her final math exam today, and . . . school's OUT!!! She and her teacher, Michelle, did a fantastic job plowing through math this week! They worked many hours to get done. I'm so proud of them. We truly enjoyed working with Michelle and seeing her smiling face every day. We'll miss her this summer. I just hope we're not still here in the fall when she returns but, if we are, it's comforting to know she'll be here too.

The staff had an "End of School" party for Bailey today. They brought in her favorite meal, Olive Garden fetuccini, and they had a big, delicious cake decorated so pretty. This place is so special - when we rejoice, they rejoice with us, and when we cry, they cry with us. We have grown to love each and every one of Bailey's medical team, and that includes everyone from the PSA's (housekeepers), doctors, nurses, Child Life, social workers . . . even the maintenance man who worked so diligently months ago in ICU to find the problem with the air conditioning in our room. We do love them all.

Did you hear Bailey on the radio again today? She joined J.D. Cannon around 3:30 and Mimi joined them again at 4:00. She was on until 5:30 when she had to go upstairs to get a couple of shots. It has been a great and fun experience to meet all the folks at WFMS. They really are as nice as they sound on the radio - each and every one of them. Thank you, WFMS, for letting us be a part of the Radiothon! We have had a wonderful time!! Bailey's meeting the Morning Show down in the atrium at 8:00 in the morning. I don't know if she'll be on the radio or not, but Jim said he's bringing his guitar and doin' some pickin' for Bailey.

The Miracle Ride (a motorcycle fundraiser for Riley) is on Sunday -- they'll be auctioning off the necklace that Bailey made for the occasion. The parade of motorcycles will be riding by the hospital around 10:30 in the morning and all the patients who are able are going to line the street and wave as they ride by. Given our near mishap with the battery earlier this week, we were trying to figure out how we can plug in her Berlin Heart down there. My thought was that we might not even need to plug in since the battery lasts a good 30 minutes, but they informed me that there will still be motorcycles going by after 30 minutes. How cool is that! I'm coming back early on Sunday with the girls to watch the parade with Bailey. That should be a neat sight.

Hey! Bailey received an envelope in the mail yesterday from NASA. It was an autographed picture of one of the Challenger astronauts, Roy Bridges. We'd like to know who made this happen, because there was no note inside - just the picture. If anybody out there knows how we got this picture, please let us know so we can thank you personally. It is awesome! [Hey, Jane and Bob, I just read your comment after I posted this update - haha!! Thank you so much for the picture! It's really cool!!]

Have a great weekend, everyone! I'll post some pictures this weekend. Talk to you again on Sunday.

Hugs to everyone,
Angie