A Return to Normal

OK, that’s not exactly an accurate title for this post. We are nowhere near a return to the “normal” of our lives pre-cancer. But compared to where we were a year ago and even a few months ago, things are feeling a bit more like business as usual.

Case(s) in point:

1. This year, both of the girls are attending day camp. Last year, Clio went for all of three days I think — maybe less — before she ended up in the hospital. Her legs hurt too much to participate in most of the activities, and she came home with a fever one of the days.

Then, for most of the summer, while Clio was in the hospital, Elsa went to camp on her own. And it wasn’t easy. While she always had a good time once she was there and in the swing of things, there were a lot of tears when I was the one who dropped her off. (From both her and me.)

All summer, the poor kid was tossed around like a hot potato from parent to parent, program to program, grandparent to grandparent. But this year is (so far) the sort of summer we planned for last year. And while getting two kids out the door for day camp every morning — with lunches, snacks, water bottles, bathing suits, towels, changes of clothes and sunscreen — is no picnic (well, picnics are sort of a pain in the ass too, come to think of it. No buffet, maybe?) I’ll take it over last year.

2. This year, we are (knock on wood…) going on some family trips — all together. Last year, a planned week in Maine and a trip to the Jersey Shore became Elsa spending a week in Maine with my parents on her own, and Alastair and Elsa making a much-abbreviated trip to the Jersey Shore all while Clio was in the hospital. For our annual week on Lake Winnepesaukee at the end of the summer, Alastair and I tag-teamed, with Elsa there the whole time.

And even though we were able to take a few weekend jaunts over the past year, with Clio’s twice-weekly Asparaginase shots, we couldn’t do any longer than that. Now that those shots are over, we can work around meds and appointments such that we can actually be away for up to a week at a time, thus once again experiencing the agony and ecstasy of traveling with small children. We’ll be joining Alastair on a trip to DC for a show at Wolftrap, and hitting the Jersey shore, too. We’ll also do our Lake Winnepesaukee week — all of us! Assuming there are no unplanned medical glitches.

(Note to would-be burglars: there will be many eyes on our house while we’re gone, including those of our neighbors, and you do not want to f*#k with our neighbors. Trust me.)

3. Clio is more like Clio again! This is a recent development. Everyone told us that we’d see a big difference once she was done with the Asparaginase and doing low-dose instead of high-dose steroids, and we’re definitely seeing it. She has more energy, she’s less cranky, and she’s a lot sillier — back to making her trademark jokes and puns. I should qualify this by saying that the first time she did the low-dose steroids, while she had more energy, that energy magnified her steroid-induced crankiness and appetite. Which, in turn, drives her sister crazy. (The cranky part.) And we’re not big fans, either. It’s always something.

And there’s one little something that we’re headed to Children’s for today. We’re slightly nervous, because our regular doc at the Jimmy Fund wouldn’t really give us a straight answer. (Never a good thing.)

See, a couple of weeks ago, Clio had a follow-up echocardiogram to see how her blood clot is doing, and if we can stop giving her blood thinner shots. Our doc called and told us that the hematology & cardiology docs wanted to take a “conservative” approach and have her keep doing the shots. And, oh yeah, they want to see you. (Why? we asked. Is there a problem? Did something get worse? No! Not at all! So, I’ll go ahead and make that appointment for you…)

Anyway. We can’t imagine any other reason for us needing to meet with the hematologist other than that they have some other treatment approach they want to discuss with us. Whoopee. Cancer is fun!

Oh, and speaking of fun (for real) didja see this awesome piece about Alastair’s new album on Salon? Check it out — there’s a bonus clip at the end of Clio singing “When I Get Bald” at one of his shows. She’s very excited to be “famous.”

Stay cool out there, fellow east-coasters.

PS – Last summer, I remember one evening when I was home — while Alastair was “on duty” at the hospital with Clio — looking out at the rose of sharon tree in our backyard, in full bloom, and thinking how much I missed just being home, with it in bloom. It’s something I look forward to every summer. Just this morning, I noticed the first blossoms, and in a week or two it will be in full bloom. And — chances are — we’ll be here to enjoy it.

PPS – Notice how throughout this post I qualify all of our plans with “so far” and “knock on wood” etc. etc.? I wonder if I’ll ever break the habit — or should, even?

PPPS / Update: Turns out the visit to the hematologist was a whole lotta nothing. They just wanted to talk with us directly about why they want us to continue the blood thinners, the potential timeline, etc. And we may be able to cut down to one shot a day. (More normal-er!) Huzzah!