Day 139

Monday January 3, 2011

I woke up with another stomach ache. Trepidation made my mouth taste bad so I went and brushed my teeth. Plus, I knew Nina would complain if my breath stunk! I brushed my teeth but the nasty taste still remained. I literally brushed my teeth a second time (I am a thorough brusher for those of you who are wondering...my brother may dispute this, but then again this is coming from the man who as a teenager barely brushed his teeth at all! What made me even crazier was that he NEVER had a single cavity and I always did!!).

I took Teddy to school. Todd and Nina slept in for a while. I did some chores until Nina got up. We spent the day playing games and painting. She has been into painting again, which is wonderful! She has also been into playing SpongeBob Operation. It is so much fun watching her try to take out the pieces without buzzing :)

Mid morning I got a text from Eileen saying that all her flights were on time! She would be arriving at LAX around 6:30pm and would take a shuttle straight to the Marbans. I could not wait to see her again!!! After a couple of rounds of playing games, it was time to go to the oncology office. I had decided to cancel the Avastin treatment for today and postpone it until next week. The last thing I needed was for her to get sick as I drove to Beverly Hills tonight. Worse yet, I was worried she might develop side effects that would keep her from being able to get the MRI on Tuesday. I desperately wanted to know what the MRI had to say!!!

We quickly went to the oncology office and met with the doctor. Pam did us the favor of accessing her port. I was worried about the imaging center at Cedars doing it since she was not used to them. I thought it would be easiest to have a familiar person do it. Nina is just so brave. She hollered as Pam tried to find the port, but once she was accessed she stopped crying. However, when we got back into the car she was furious! She was not happy to have the port accessed, with all the tubing and taping. She made it very clear that she did not like my decision, "Mama I don't like this on!" I tried to explain that it was only for today and tomorrow and that it would then be out. She was not having it at all!!! Her weight gain made everything uncomfortable, and she now had a ton of chest tissue that made the port harder to find. My sweet angel!

As we raced to pick up Teddy, Nina declared that she wanted to buy herself a pink suitcase. I thought this was a great plan. She'd been wanting the pink hard case carry on from Brookstone for a while. I told her that we go to the store after we picked up Teddy and then could go get an ice cream cone. She loved the idea and forgave me for my bad decision....at least temporarily!

Teddy was in a great mood and greeted us with wonderful hugs! I told him our plan and he eagerly agreed. As we drove to the mall, the kids got into a discussion about love! I quickly turned on my camera and place it on my dash, recording each precious word! What I captured is perhaps the most amazing video I have every taken of my children. It is amazingly hysterical, loving, tender, stereotypical, and darling! I have watched this video close to 30 times. I love hearing how they go back and forth discussing love, how Teddy is daunted about his sister going on a dinner date and how he'd have to be the butler and drive them around, how Nina comes unglued when Teddy proclaims that he loves her, how protective Teddy gets!!!! Each word in this video is a precious gift to me as their mom and to everyone who loves them!





After our hilarious love conversation, we went to Brookstone to find Nina's suitcase. Unfortunately, they did not have a pink or red suitcase. They only had black and grey, which were unacceptable girl colors :) Despite the disappointment, Nina did not get upset. The kids had a blast trying out the massage chairs and then going across the street to GAP Kids. As Nina shopped (literally going from rack to rack) Teddy sat down in a corner and played with my phone (how more stereotypical could we get!).

A few minutes later, I looked over and saw that Teddy looked sad. I asked what was wrong and he said, "I feel like such a bad son that I didn't get you a Christmas gift!" He had tears welling up in his eyes! I feel to my knees and hugged him, stating that he was the best son in the world and that he had gotten me a gift, a pair of speakers for my phone. Quickly he retorted, "I didn't go shopping for those. Dad just bought them. I didn't get to pick anything for you. I picked dad a perfect present. You didn't get any presents. I 'm a terrible son!" My heart broke! He is such a sensitive and caring boy. I explained that he didn't need to worry, that he and Nina were my greatest gifts. Despite all of my attempts he didn't buy it! I told him if it would make him feel better he could shop for a belated Christmas gift but that I never wanted to hear him say that he was a terrible son, because he was the loveliest of sons, and a gift from God!

We paid for our GAP purchases and went and got ice cream. Everyone was happy! At the ice cream shop, we ran into our friend Kim and her daughter Olivia. Nina was happy to see Olivia. I love to see Nina smile when she sees a peer instead of turning shy. It tells me she is feeling good about herself!

Once back home, I finished packing our bags and loaded up the car. Teddy and I then went upstairs to do some homework. He did his homework well but then got furious that he had tutoring! He started tantrumming and going on and on about how unfairly he treated me. I told him that the best Christmas gift he could get me was if he learned to stop tantrumming about homework and tutoring. I admit this was totally bitchy of me! Worst of all, it didn't help....just made him madder :(

Around 6:30pm, Mario arrived for tutoring. Teddy started complaining and lamenting about how unfair his life was. Nina started screaming that she didn't want to go to Beverly Hills!! The screaming got louder and led to smacking me! I kissed Teddy goodbye and he screeched more. By this point, I was convinced the entire city of Goleta could hear Nina screaming. She pleaded with Todd to not let her go. I picked her up and walked to her to car. She screamed and hollered even louder. I simply got in and drove off!!! My heart was pounding and my hands were clammy! By the time we drove out of our complex the screaming had subsided. By the time we reached the end of the block she had completely stopped. I pulled the car over and got her settled with pillows and blankets. I turned on Sponge Bob and off we were! As we pulled onto the 101 I realized I had left my coffee in Teddy's room! Dang it!!

Thankfully there was no traffic at all so we made it to the Marbans in record time! It was so great to see Linda and Eileen!!! Linda did not like my "goth" black hair at all! Eileen just enjoyed watching Linda and I banter! Nina was ecstatic to see Eileen! She didn't want Eileen out of her sight!! For the remainder of the evening we all spent time together. The Marbans were saddened by Nina's ataxia but astounded by the brightness of her spirit and personality! They understood why I was so hesitant to put her back on steroids!

Prior to going to bed, we watched Barbie Mermaidia! That has got to be the longest Barbie movie ever!! Nina proclaimed that the loved the name Alina. I love her proclamations :)

Nina didn't go to bed until 2am. This meant she'd sleep in! Hopefully the MRI day wouldn't be a total nightmare!! This had been an incredibly long day. I was glad to go to bed!