posted September 17, 2008 11:50 PM         

This has been such a long journey, and really getting out of the hospital is the first part. The next part entails getting him able to walk. At least he doesn't work construction...

Dr. Prow will do restaging after the last chemo. I hope that we never have to do that again!

I realized that it's as much due to Dr. Prow as anyone else, that Kevin made it to his 35th birthday, and as I cried, I wondered to myself, how can you ever thank someone for that? How can you express yourself in a way that truly conveys what joy is in your heart? I came to the conclusion that, healing people is why she got into this profession in the first place, and that going on with your life is probably the best thanks you could give. I guess handing out hugs might be good too...

I met a very nice man today on 5, and after talking with him for a while, I went back to finish eating my sandwich, and he came in a short while later, and handed each of the children a bill, and myself a bill, and told me to 'go get yourself something' He said 'You've got a lot more on your plate than I do.' His wife was in for a masectomy, and they think it's not cancerous, and that they got it all.

Life is strange, yet wonderful.

I had to put on my marine hat again today, he wanted to weasel out of afternoon PT. The turning point was when I leaned down to hug him, and started to cry, and whispered in his ear 'I wish I could do this for you, I really do, but I can't. I need you at home, and you have to do this to get there. If I could do it for you I would. Since I can't you have to. You can do this, I know it is in there somewhere. I believe in you.'

He sat up completely unassisted. Then he transfered himself via board from the bed to wheelchair, and then proceeded to wheel around the 5th floor, and then went from wheelchair to bed again. LIsa was floored. They didn't really help him at all. Afterwards, he thanked her, and after she left, he started to apologize to me, and I said, 'No apologies needed. Just make my efforts and sacrifices count for something. Don't waste it. Show me that it means something to you, what I've done. That's the best way to thank me for what I've done.'

I need to go to bed after a bit, and I still need to write up tomorrows schedule, so I better quit here.

Lovies, and Huggies,
Amanda

------------------
The truth is ... everything counts. Everything. Everything we do and everything we say. Everything helps or hurts; everything adds to or takes away from someone else. ~ Countee Cullen

We are weaving character every day, and the way to weave the best character is to be kind and to be useful. Think right, act right; it is what we think and do that makes us who we are. ~ Elbert Hubbard