Busy Couple of Days

It's been a busy couple of days. The rest of Thursday went off without a hitch (so to speak) and she actually got in to Proton Therapy only 15 minutes later than her appointment time. A new record, I think. After that, we went over to the Galleria Mall again so Charlotte could watch the ice skaters. She really enjoys this. Plus it's nice and cool by the ice rink. We also found a Sanrio store (home of Hello Kitty!!) and had dinner at Rainforest Cafe. It was good food and Charlotte liked watching the animatronic "wild" animals putting on a show with their noises and antics.

After that, we went back to the camping truck because Juanita's son Phillip was going to appear on the Speed Channel on the show Pinks All Out. It's a drag racing show and this episode was in Texas (he lives in Lubbock). He raced his green pickup truck (most of these cars are classic, souped up dragsters) and actually made it into the top 8.

Went back "home" and Charlotte wound down with an evening of books, videos, and playing with her horses. That has become a favorite diversion. She puts them in the green drawstring bag. Then she takes them out and puts them in the "barn" (the wooden shadow box they came in). Then she takes them out and moves them around the room. Then she puts them back in the bag. It's like the shoelaces but a new obsession.

We got some great packages in the mail including a set of about 30 craft projects with all the materials (conveniently placed in individual ziploc bags) from my Aunt Shelley. Just have to get her interested in those. She did like that they came in a plastic container with a pink and purple lid!!

She refused to take her accutane last night (I didn't do a very good job of hiding it). Oh well. This morning I had to wake her up and she started the day kind of grumpy. Again, I couldn't get her to take the medicine (this time in applesauce) and about the time Grandpa showed up, she had gone into a full-blown crying jag. Just very emotional. She screamed, "I MISS MY DADDY!!" and just sobbed. Poor thing. She has been so much more emotional lately. Some of that is actually a side effect of treatment (especially the accutane) but I think it is more a side effect of just STRESS. Her life is so out of control and I think that a lot of it catches up with her at odd moments so that the least little thing sets her off. It's become kind of a pattern. She usually calms down after a little while but I've learned not to push her to do something unless it's really vital.

We decided to head off to the Science Museum anyway and see how the day went. She definitely calmed after getting in the car and once we were to the museum, she was fine. Thanks to our Houston connections, we pretty much had free tickets to the exhibits we wanted to see. We spent the morning checking out the main exhibits (dinosaurs, other animals, a great Native American exhibit, a fantastic seashell collection, and a gem and mineral collection that was beautiful). We also went to see the butterflies. Very impressive as well and I think this was her favorite part. Charlotte was tolerant of most of the events but if I stopped at any one exhibit for too long she would say (from the stroller) "Keep pushing, mom!".

We left the museum after a huge rainstorm (that we thankfully missed) and headed over to the PTC. One of the patients (an older gentleman) who was having his last treatment was treating the other patients and their guests to a concert. He and his wife are musicians. She played piano and he played saxophone and fiddle and sang with a drum track behind them. It was pretty good and the crowd was lively. Charlotte even bopped to the music a bit. She went in kinda late again today (not too bad) and we did our "old routine": Go get some lunch, run a few errands at Target, etc. and head back to the PTC. She woke about 4 and we went back to the camping truck for dinner. I did manage to get BOTH doses of accutane into her by the day's end so that was good. Now she's reading her books and settling in for the night. I think we're going to head to Galveston tomorrow while we have family and a car available.

Good night all!! One week down, one more to go (for me) and 4 more to go (for all of us).

PS: Charlotte Says, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY AUNT B!!!!"

Rachel