Course Complete!

Today Chester took his fifth and final dose in this month's course of chemotherapy. He was relieved that the biggest side effect was fatigue, which was managed with lots of naps and rest. He finished up just as the moon turns full, and we are hoping that he will regain his endurance and have more energy this weekend.

As part of Chester's occupational therapy session today, June had him go through the steps of getting a ride from Paratransit, so that if in an emergency he needs to use the service to go somewhere alone he will have already done it once. He made the phone call and arranged a pick up, met them outside and got a ride over to Dr. Tang's. June rode along to guide him through the process and I drove over and met them there. June had Chester go all the way up into Dr. Tang's office on his own, opening the doors, getting himself up the ramps, into the elevator, and to the office. Chester was surprised by the experience of being "on his own" (even as June and I walked beside him). There are so many little things we help him with every day that are invisible to all of us, and it was useful for both Chester and I to see him move through the world independently without help. The verdict? That he is capable of doing so much alone, but it takes a lot of exertion and concentration to get through it. In the dance of assisting him and also encouraging independence, we must find a balance that changes every day. When is it more appropriate to give him a hand to lift his leg into the car, and when should I stand back and let him do it himself? When is his "struggle" worth it, allowing him to build confidence and strength? We move with this every day, and the level of assistance we offer Chester changes dramatically. But more than not, we are leaning towards allowing him to do things alone, even if it takes longer and is a bit of a struggle. Especially now, when he is in overall good health and spirits, the efforting is often rewarded with a sense of accomplishment.

While we were there, we paid a surprise visit to Dr. Tang (reminder: Tang is the neurosurgeon that performed Chester's primary surgery on Aug. 30 and has been generously providing lots of after care and advice ever since). They were glad to see us, his assistant proclaiming "You are our favorite!" to which June responded "You are everyone's favorite, aren't you!". This got a blush out of Chester, who knows that his kindness and presence has fostered the same in so many health professionals we've met along the way. Dr. Tang took a few minutes between his scheduled patients to check in with Chester, look at his head wound and reassure Chester that it still looks like it is healing (slowly), and gave us a new prescription for 2 mg. tablets of Decadron so we don't have to quarter the 4 mg. tablets for Chester's evening 1 mg. dose. It was a very productive excursion.

Home now and resting. Chester is in bed listening to an audio recording of "The Secret Life of Bees." Tomorrow a friend comes for an overnight visit, and then another friend from Seattle arrives on Sunday for a week long stay leading into the breath class. All is peaceful and at rest.

Blessings to All of You on this Full Moon (in the Northern Hemisphere, at least! Blessings to all of our friends "down under" as well!) (Correction! Chester continues to teach me so much. . . . While out gazing at the moon just now, Chester corrected me in my assumption that the hemispheres have different perspectives on the moon- we are ALL under the full moon right about now, apparently- y'all in Oz are just a day ahead! So Full Moon Blessings to ALL of us, all the world around! )