Another Treatment Day Down and Wrapping up the School Year--a Little Early

Sorry the blog posts seem to be fewer and farther between as treatment progresses. I am a little less motivated in all things now--except taking a steady supply of toxins and drugs designed to cure cancer by killing all the fast growing and allegedly nonessential cells in my body.
The good news is another treatment day is in the books. Karen Davis was kind enough to keep me company and supply moral support and great conversation this week, while Annette Hurst wrangled Tadman for several hours and let him have the job of watering her lovely plants.
When Karen and I arrived at MSTI, I was thrilled to see the puzzle still out Justine and I had started the previous week. Apparently everyone else who goes there has the same experience I do. Every time you get started on those puzzles they call you in for the next part of your appointment. They're just far too efficient for good puzzle building at that place. Although Karen and I didn't place many pieces this week, we did find the important key pieces we were looking for for the most part.
Everything went smoothly and according to schedule as usual. My port was accessed with ease, my blood counts were good, the nurse practitioner saw me in place of Dr. Montgomery, on a graduation trip with his son, she gave me a good exam and recommendations for supplements to help with the nerve damage being done to my feet and hands, and then infusion was quick and painless. Karen participated in all the action, asked questions, kept the time flying with interesting topics, and it was over. At the end I met with the genetic counselor who gave me a quick run-down on genetic testing, reasons for it, possible outcomes, benefits, and costs. I have decided to do the testing if my insurance company will pay for a good portion of the test, and maybe even if it doesn't, since I think the test will give me valuable information I can use to determine the extent of surgery I should undertake and the possible increased precautions my children should take in the future as they do testing and start families and that sort of thing.
So treatment was delightful as always, and after Karen took me to Berryhill and Company and we had the tastiest lunch in the most beautiful setting with ideal weather and excellent food. I highly recommend that restaurant for lunch. They have a superb patio for outdoor dining.
Treatment days always seem to end up being super busy in the afternoon the past few weeks. After Karen dropped me home I remembered I needed to pick up Tadman. As I mentioned earlier I found him happily watering plants in Annette's garden and riding on "his" bike in her back yard. I got to see Annette's house, which is beautiful and happy, for the first time, and got a content toddler back.
When I got him back I decided to take him with me on a few errands, primarily the banking type, then remembered I had to get home to take Parker to the doctor's office for a group session. Tadman had fallen asleep in the car in the meantime, so I sat with him while he slept so Parker could do his group. Fortunately it was a breezy day, so with the windows open the car stayed cool.
In the meantime, Hunter called to say he was doing a little job holding one of those street corner signs and needed to be picked up, so immediately after Parker's appointment we headed to pick Hunter up. There was more waiting in the car while he finished up. Then he wanted to go to Joe's sporting goods to see some football cleats, but when we got there it was already closed for good. I picked my starving kids up a burger snack on the way home, Hunter was off to hang with his friends, and the other kids enjoyed joining Kate and Rachel in the swimming pool. I even got a little yard work in before we all had dinner and crashed for the evening. And at last another treatment day was in the books for good.
Today I enjoyed sending Kate off to school for "purple" day with her purple shirt and purple eye shadow and a happy smile before heading to Lowell Scott to see Parker get a well deserved award from Mrs. Evans as the most improved student in her class. He seemed so happy to get the award and so optimistic, maybe the happiest I've seen him all school year. He was only worried about serving his last half day of suspension tomorrow because yearbooks are being handed out that day and the day will be devoted to signing those yearbooks. So, foolishly, I decided to see if I could speak with Mrs. Bernal and see if I could take Parker home for the rest of the school day to serve that half day of suspension so he could come for the yearbook day and last day of the year. I went to the office to seek her out, but was told if I wanted to talk to her I'd have to go talk with her in the lunch room. I approached her with a handshake and introduction to which she responded, "I know who you are." Off to a bad start already. I asked her about the possibility of taking Parker home for the rest of the day so he could attend tomorrow and she said "Absolutely not." She explained that she'd reviewed her records and felt like she'd been very lenient on Parker already and she was absolutely not flexible with the suspension in any way at this point. This was all a surprise to me since in an earlier conversation she had told me she had no preference of days the suspension was served. But everyone has a right to change their mind. I am continually flabbergasted by the way she has handled this situation, simultaneously saying she understands Parker's offense was unintentional, that he's a good kid, and yet at the same time emphasizing this punishment as much as she possibly can, talking to me harshly and inflexibly, and just being generally unpleasant and difficult. It's the natural punctuation mark to a very difficult year, but since he's not going tomorrow it's now officially over. And Mrs. Bernal has very graciously offered to give me Parker's yearbook on Thursday or any day in the two week window following Thursday, so he'll have a lot of fun with it then when his few friends are scattered for the summer. Give us a few weeks and maybe we'll have figured out what Parker was supposed to learn from this unpleasant end of year experience. I must say I have a whole new appreciation for Mr. Jochum, the former principal. He was extremely on top of things, level headed, and easy to deal with. Every issue I discussed with him was well handled and efficiently dealt with.
Other than that unpleasantness and the fact that Rachel's come down with a cold and ear infection for her last few days of school, everyone else seems to be pretty happy with the end of the school year wrap-up. I am mostly looking forward to having them home for the summer, but feel like I need to offer them more structure and more jobs than a regular summer so we can stay on top of the chaos of leisure time. That's the plan anyway.
Thanks again for helping our family keep on top of a busy life by helping us with meals and cleaning and other needs. Laurie, the roses are beautiful and inspiring. Karen and Annette, treatment day was a pleasure because of your help. And to Mrs. Bernal, thanks for humbling and challenging us and helping us grow by keeping us scratching our heads.