Our trip to St. Jude started out last Tuesday (my birthday), before the crack of dawn. I had the clock set to wake me at 4:00am, to catch a 6:20am flight. After laying awake in bed, waiting for my alarm to ring, I decided to get up at 3:30am and hop in the shower. I got Pete up just after 4. He was bright eyed and bushy tailed, as usual! I desperately needed coffee!!
We picked up my dad and headed to the airport. It seems that getting to Memphis just gets harder and harder... We had three connections this time (Medford-Salt Lake-Cincinnati-Memphis) and got to visit an airport we have never been too - Cincinnati. While we were in Cincinnati, we called Jeff to let him know that everything so far had been on time. Pete wanted to talk to his daddy. Pete informed Jeff that we were in "Cincolina." Jeff traveled to North Carolina a few weeks ago and Pete combined it with Cincinnati to come up with this new word... After Pete hung up with Jeff, he got a worried look on his face and said, "I forgot to pack my tooth brush!" I asked him if he had packed anything? He said no... Lucky for him, he has me to think of tooth brushes and other necessities. We finally arrived in Memphis around 5:30pm, picked up the rental car and headed to the Memphis Grizzlies House (St. Jude's hotel). We ordered pizza (to be delivered of course) and went to bed early. Man, it was a long day and just the beginning of a long week!
The next day, Pete had to be at Assessment/Triage at 7:00am. Two nurses searched for a good vein for about 30 minutes (Pete's poor hands were turning blue, after the tourniquet was put on and taken off sooooo many times), they hit the vein on the first try, drew blood for labs and placed his IV. Woo Hoo!! I hate it when they have to poke him more than once. Pete, in true hero fashion like always, handled it without any complaints. My dad on the other hand, was having a tough time watching the whole thing!
After Triage, we had a quick clinic visit, to be cleared for sedation and then it was on to MRI. They called us back before I could even finish the paperwork. Pete had to change into a hospital gown. In order for me to be allowed into the MRI room, I have to walk through a metal detector and it always goes off, because of my bra. One time, they made me put on a hospital gown and the ugliest orange Crocs, just to go into the MRI room until Pete was sedated! This time, when I walked through the metal detector, the guy looked at me and said he didn't hear it go off (which of course he did). I told him that I was pretty sure my bra wouldn't fly off my body, with the force of the MRI magnets and decapitate someone! I was happy that they didn't make me change into a hospital gown this time. After about 2 hours, we were called into recovery, where we were greeted by our happy, smiling, groggy boy! I have to say, this kid makes everything look so easy! I'm pretty sure most kids don't take such things so well.
After a quick visit to the cafeteria for a milk shake and some food, Pete was almost feeling like his normal self and it was on to E-Clinic, to meet with Pete's doctor and hopefully get the results of his scans. While I checked Pete in at the front desk, my dad sat down with Pete, next to a couple of women and a little boy in the waiting room. When I came back out, one of the women asked me if that was "Peter Jacob Martin" sitting in the wagon. I looked at her a little perplexed and said yes. As it turns out, she is someone who visits Pete's CaringBridge website. She is with prayer group called Angel Wings and has been checking in and praying for Pete for a few years now. Once, she mentioned her name, I knew exactly who she was, because she has been signing his guest book for some time now. Wow, what a small world! What are the chances of meeting someone who only knows you from a website??!!
We had a good meeting with Pete's doctor. He was happy to see Pete looking so well! He told us that the results of Pete's MRI were not back from the Radiologist yet, but that he had peeked at them and didn't see anything obvious. It was great to get the thumbs up from Dr. Broniscier. Even though we didn't have the final report yet, it helped to put my mind at ease. Later that day, we received the official report for the MRI of his brain - No Evidence of Disease. The next morning we received the final report for the MRI of his spine - it continues to have No Evidence of Disease! Whew, now we could finish the rest of our appointments/trip with much lighter shoulders!
All of Pete's other appointments (Endocrinology, Physical Therapy, Speech Therapy, Audiology, Ophthalmology, Psychology) over the next two days went very well. It was also nice to have the afternoons free. On Wednesday, we visited one of our favorite places, the Memphis Zoo. Pete was excited to show Grandpa around the zoo! This time, Pete's favorite part was the herpitarium. He said he like all of the snakes. The weather was a lot cooler than the previous day and it turned out to be a perfect zoo afternoon.
As many know, Memphis is famous for a few things... Elvis, Sun Studios, Martin Luther King Jr., Isaac Hayes, Justin Timberlake, Beale Street, Jazz music, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and it's BBQ to name just a few. I have had real Memphis BBQ shipped to my mom & dad and sister & brother-in-law in the past as a special treat, from a very well known place downtown called Rendezvous. After the zoo, we took my dad to Corky's, for a different Memphis BBQ experience (they also ship all over the country from their website). I'm not much in to ribs, beans and coleslaw but we couldn't bring my dad to Memphis without taking him out for BBQ. He was pretty happy with the slow cooked grub!
Well, we lived in Memphis for a year and from my experience, it's thunder storm/tornado season all year long. This trip wasn't any different. After all our hospital business was done, the final night we decided to stay in the hotel, watch a movie and order pizza (again for delivery). I had just ordered pizza and Pete was watching Hook when the phone rang. I answered and it was the front desk. They said, "You might want to go ahead and come downstairs because there is a tornado warning." As I hung up the phone, I went to the window and opened the curtains... I decided immediately that yes, it was indeed time to go downstairs! I have never seen a more ominous looking sky! It wasn't even 5:30pm, it looked as dark as midnight outside and it was torrential downpour! We were evacuated to the conference room and as it turns out, the tornado was just across the river - only a couple of miles away. The storm did quite a bit of damage in the downtown area.
The end of our trip began much like the beginning - very early! Again, we woke up at 3:30am (this time Central Time) to return the rental car and catch a 6:40pm flight. This time, we only had two connections (Memphis-Salt Lake- Medford). On our flight from Memphis, my dad sat in front of us and next to a woman who slept most of the trip. Toward the end of the flight, she woke up and she and my dad started talking. Here comes another "small world" experience... Dad told her we had gone to Memphis for Pete's checkup and that he had had a brain tumor. As it turns out, she currently has a brain tumor (also in the pineal region but not aggressive like Pete's). She was 60ish and had a pediatric brain tumor - what are the chances that two people on that plane (one behind the other) would both have brain tumors in the same region of the brain??!! It's just too weird! She was very interested to hear about Pete's surgeries and the treatment he had received. I could tell that it did her good to see how well Pete is doing. Isn't is just amazing how things happen and the people you meet along the way? Life is a journey to an unknown destination. Life is good!
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