Full Moon ~~ Tuesday, Oct. 14, 4:02 p.m. EDST

Full Hunter's Moon -- October With the leaves falling and the deer fattened, it is time to hunt. Since the fields have been reaped, hunters can easily see fox and the animals which have come out to glean.

Sometimes a Great Notion. . . .

The evidence is perhaps equally strong, however, that the Bradley Effect does not exist any longer. As can be seen in the Hopkins paper for Harvard University that I have referenced many times, at some point during the mid 1990s the Bradley Effect seems to be disappeared.

http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/


Thinking back to the early 70's in Maryland, when busing was making peeps very angry. My second grader asked, "Mom, what's busing?" I said: "When kids get on a school bus to go to school." "No it *isn't* " he said. "If that's all it is, why is everyone so upset?" So I told him.

A couple of years later, he had a good friend in school. I was constantly hearing about this friendship. I was delighted for him (not a child who made friends easily). It wasn't until parent-teacher conference that his teacher told me that this friend of my son was a black child. A direct result of busing, which I absolutely supported. Something similar happened to my younger son in fifth and sixth grade.

During that period I read a study of the results of busing in other areas. The gist was that, in fact, neither group got a better education from the practice. But that what *did* change was that neither group was any longer *afraid* of the other group.

These children are 44 and 42 -- no longer even young voters. . . . And I have a very hard time imagining either of them voting on the basis of race. And I also imagine that much of America now fits that same paradigm. . . .

MONDAY, OCTOBER 13, 2008 11:06 AM, EDT

Monticore is HOME! (Our kitty has been living with Grammy and Grampa since February.)

Ally is having a fun time following her (Monti) around the house. Of course Monti is exploring and sniffing everything, and running away from Ally.

This weekend Ally has been eating, eating and eating! Her oncologist called us this weekend and told us we could cut back on her night fluids...which in theory is a good thing, but that means if her fluids start at 8PM they end at 4AM.

She has been gaining more energy and independence as well. She will play by herself for about 5 minutes sometimes without needing Mommy or Daddy to be with her! She is LOVING going outside. We went to the park yesterday and she was very happy to go down the slides with Mommy and Daddy. Of course the other adults were looking at us like we were crazy when we purelled our hands about a dozen times.

It has been a GREAT weekend!

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2008 04:30 PM, EDT

Today Ally had a number of things happen at the NH hospital.
1. Blood Draw - still no results from that.
2. a one hour infusion of an antibiotic she gets every 2 weeks for 3-4 months.
3. Her dressing changed
4. A kidney scan. Her left kidney works better than her right. They injected her with a super small amount of radioactive material and then scanned her. We were originally told she would have to be held down for about 2 minutes while the scan was happening because she needed to be still. Turns out she was their best patient today (they actually said that) and she sat still for them all by herself. Results: both kidneys are good, so as long as nothing else happens radiation is a go for the 20th.

Her oncologist is a little concerned about her weight (Ally's, not her own). Ally still weighs about the same as she did when she was diagnosed (in February). She would also like to see Ally drinking more, with the knowledge that Ally gets fluids all night long.

Have an awesome long weekend!

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 08, 2008 04:43 PM, EDT

Nothing new to say.

Ally continues to eat ALL day (a tiny bite here, a tiny bite there).

She is in a good mood most of the time. She loves helicopters, airplanes, lawn mowers and cars!

She goes to DHMC on Friday. I will post how that trip went.

A year

. . . . . for Sarge



feel the earth turning
toward that meridian

and the child you were
looking for the edges:
sky, knives, leaves, love. . . .

how shy we were
tongue-tied almost
trembling

one eye opens
the sunglight glimps'd
through lash fringes

heart runaway
simply t h u m p i n g
then still, so still

waiting
breathless
sweet


jjl
8 October 2008

Go, Peggy!!

"What don't you know and how will you learn it?"

from Peggy in Amherst, New Hampshire

MONDAY, OCTOBER 06, 2008 06:19 PM, EDT

Things are pretty much going the same. The nights are not so fun, she is very persistent about having Mommy (and sometimes Daddy) snuggle with her. It is better when she cries at 3AM rather than 11PM, because then we get a longer block of sleep. It is trickier to get good sleep with a baby head smashing into yours. Okay....I am done talking about the rotten sleep we are getting. The next time I talk of sleep will be when we get some of the good stuff.

Ally enjoys the following to eat:
english muffin with cream cheese
waffles and syrup (or pancakes or french toast)
yogurt and whipped heavy cream
grasshopper cookies
apple juice, milk, pediasure (about 2-3 ounces a day)
It is great she likes all these things, but she likes them a couple bites at a time, over an hour period, and then she will want to switch to something else. She eats ALL day, and it amounts to as much as I could hold in my hands.

She is cracking us up with all of her chatter and games. She is very big at hiding on people who come home, she rips any paper product she can get her hands on and likes to peer out the window and spy on the neighborhood dogs.

Wild Hearts. . . .

Hugz, baby, hugz!!

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 05, 2008 07:40 AM, EDT

So, the sleeping thing is not going as well as we would have hoped. The pump was good last night and Ally did make it by herself until about 3AM this morning. She is very persistent and wants to snuggle with someone...emotional reasons I suppose and perhaps because it is COLD in our house! We will keep trying. I can't wait until she no longer needs night fluids...although I think I remember them saying something about being on fluids throughout radiation.

Ally is trying to eat and drink more!

Hattip to EasyBakeCoven. . . .

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 03, 2008 08:22 PM, EDT

Here is a lot of random stuff:

The report is that Ally did well today at the NH hospital. She ended up not getting platelets. They moved up to 28 all by themselves. A nurse will come and draw blood on Monday to check her levels again.

She did get some magnesium through her central line today, and they changed her nighttime fluids to include magnesium.

Of course she was super cute with the nurses and doctors today. The word is she gave and extra special kisses (she makes kissing noises and sometimes brings her hand to her mouth) to her primary oncologist as she was leaving Ally's room.

Ally ate more today than she has since she has been home. She decided to take one long nap in the middle of the day, so she went to bed a bit early tonight.

Here is some extra good news: The last round of chemo she had included a chemo drug that damages hearing when given in high doses. She got a super high dose of it. BUT.....when I whisper to her she hears what I am saying! She may have some hearing loss, but it seems, at least at this point, that she will not need a hearing aid!

One more thing...they told us Ally would get 5 tattoos. I counted 7 last night when we were getting her ready for bed. Maybe we can connect them into a cool pattern when she turns 18.

Here is to a "restful" night as we try to let Ally do her best by herself.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 03, 2008 07:38 AM, EDT

We got a call last night from Ally's doctor. The blood they took from her on Wednesday showed her electrolytes were acting funny. Also, her platelets dropped to 26. She is on her way to the NH hospital this morning for more blood work and probably platelets. They are going to order her some new fluids for the evening with the electrolytes she needs in them (that way she won't have to take yucky potassium or magnesium orally).

Pretty good sleeping last night.

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 02, 2008 06:34 PM, EDT

Ally had a good day with Grammy and Grampa. She got to go for a walk (and got caught out in the rain...poor Grammy and Grampa were wet, but Ally was bundled up nicely).

Last night Ally was sleeping well and then at 11:00 we were woken up to beep beep beep beep beep beep....
Her pump had air in it. Daddy looked it all over, could find no air bubbles (tiny ones are okay, big ones, not so much), finally made it stop beeping. We were sure Ally would need a grown up to sleep with for the rest of the night, but she went right back to sleep.....until 11:45 when it happened again. Stupid pump, just a tiny air bubble and it beeped like crazy. This time she needed someone to sleep with. It was Daddy's turn, because Mommy had to get up earlier. Ally wanted Mommy. We switched, and then when it was time for Mommy to get up Daddy had to do another quick switcharoo and take my place. Our girl Ally is smart. She rolled over, felt Daddy's face and was not fooled.

Wish us luck for quiet pumps and a baby who sleeps at least most of the night by herself. We have decided to "break the habit" starting tomorrow night.


listener sent along those words of wisdom:
"A habit is easy to break; a need is not."
Sure hope they are all sleeping well soon!