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Dear everyone,
Unlike a year ago when minutes and hours crawled by, and everything was punctuated by the beeping of pumps and timing of meds, these days are flying by with amazing milestones and many moments of joy.
This week and a half has been amazing lots of emotion. The biggest excitement around our home was that Travis turned seven years old on November 4! Like any child, he was obsessed with the daily countdown until his big day -- which he got to celebrate with no school (conferences!) and a family dinner. We just can't believe how he's grown -- in height and even in maturity, although he's always been amazingly "knowing" since birth. And to think that last year, we woke up in the middle of the night to decorate his hospital room (that we'd been admitted to at 10 minutes past midnight) -- and we celebrated there, in the germ-free environment to control the latest complication. This year was as close to pure normalcy as one can get. His kids party was this weekend, and while Joe and I ran around like crazy ringmasters, the kids had a ball. Whew -- success! And normalcy -- it feels so foreign, but we're diggin' it big time.
We had Spencer's conference this week, as well. It was another beautiful meeting -- maybe even more powerful because of our concern for Spencer's emotional well-being this past year. To be honest, with all of Spencer's ups and downs, especially this last few months, we weren't sure what we'd hear about his life at school. But we did know that he's been doing SO much better at home than back in August / September (remember, I started back at work, he began school, etc.) He had a lot of anger over this last year (justifiable, to be sure), and seems to have truly worked through so much of it (thanks, too, to Muriel, his sensitive, wonderful counselor). And the report from Spencer's teacher was such a relief -- I got misty at this one, as she described a child that his happy, attentive, bright, well-liked and overall, very well adjusted in Kindergarten. This is definitely a huge milestone for us. We are so proud of Spencer. He is an amazing child to have come through this "cancer sibling horror" and be so grounded right now. He has become so loving and happy -- its an amazing transformation. Maybe, like us, he's not so scared all the time for "what's happening now?".
Also, these last few weeks brought back a lot of feelings for Joe and me -- and maybe the boys as well, as my Dad had major surgery (Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm). I was very surprised at the depth of fear I was feeling -- and recognized that this was a lot of my backlash from this journey we've been on. Thank God, my Dad is doing phenomenally well -- is home and making more strides every day to full recovery. (-:
And there's more to our amazing week, we were just visited by Paulette, one of the local Make-A-Wish Foundation volunteers, as she was the official bearer of good news. It was a hoot, as she lugged two larger than life sized stuffed animals of the boys' favorite Disney characters (M.A.W. had asked about that during their last visit) and the boys were hopping around giggling and wrestling with their new Bugs Bunny and Tweety friends. Then, Travis received an envelope addressed to him, from M. Mouse, Disneyworld, Orlando, FL. And inside was an invitation for our whole family to be with Mickey at Disneyworld in January 2000! Unbelievable! I don't think the boys realize the magnitude of this wish they both shared and now have granted. What an enormous gift. Travis was really tired this morning (we think / hope from talking with Spencer late into the night in their bunk beds), so his response was a bit more subdued (and he'd been wrangling with Bugs Bunny -- which took a fair amount of energy), but he seemed really pleased that this is going to happen after all. And Spencer expressed his gratitude with a typical Spencerism -- "THAAAAAAAANK YOU EXPLAMATION POINT!" What a great thing to look forward to as a family. Apparently, we'll be staying at Give Kids The World (GKTW) for five nights, six days -- and have heard great things from other "wish families" about the fun and royal treatment shown to the kids and families. More details on this as we experience the magic.
So, that's it friends. Can you believe -- what a difference a year makes. We're still trying to hold onto our hard-learned perspective of "what's really important in this life" as the nightmare gets farther behind us (we hope for good). It's an important outcome that we don't want to ever forget.
I'll write another update after Travis' checkup in Milwaukee this week. We're planning on nothing but more good news! (-: Thanks for your continued love and caring. You've taught us so much about giving to others.
Love,
Melanie, Joe, Travis and Spencer
P.S. Thank you, thank you, Marge (even though we just talked, here's another PUBLIC acknowledgment!) for helping us get Travis -- and our whole family to "see seven". Much love from us.