Loose Strife

The last ten days or so have been warm and sunny causing spring to finally burst in New England. The trees are budding, the grass turned from brown to green seemingly overnight, the peepers are singing by the pond. Everything has just popped and it’s been a wonderful and welcome sight.
This past week was spring break at the preschool, so the kids have been home with us. We considered going somewhere for a few days, but you can’t find a much better spot than Ashfield right now and it’s good to be home.
As soon as it hit the 60s, Lily and Naomi were in their bathing suits, playing in the sprinkler. And once the daffodils started opening, the girls have hardly stopped picking them. My inclination was to savor the flowers while they lasted, but seeing that we have probably hundreds in the yard, Laura told them to pick all they liked. And now I’m glad they did.

Friends have been visiting throughout the week and we’ve been catching all sorts of critters: salamanders, tadpoles, bugs, frogs eggs, fish, and snakes. Thanks to the contagious enthusiasm from the other children, our girls shed some of their squeamishness and hesitancy as they got caught up in the excitement of squiggly things trapped in buckets and plastic containers. I admit that I keep hoping that interest in dress-up and princesses will wane in favor of outdoor adventures. But I’m up against personality and gender and marketing forces that are way too tough for me to compete.

Still, I built a bridge across the creek and the girls had some fun splashing in the water. I put together a climbing dome outside and hung a tree swing. I think I’m making some progress. The other day, Naomi dressed up and then spent time with the hose making mud soup for the prince.
The irony among all this spring happiness over the last couple weeks is that Laura’s legs have been feeling progressively worse. Getting around the house and outside is becoming increasingly difficult for her. Both legs are weak now. She takes a long time to pull herself up the steps to the second floor. I built a handrail outside so she could get into the house. On flat ground she appears to almost walk OK, but says that she can feel her legs getting weaker as though they might collapse. Last night she told me she was getting worried.
So late last night and early this morning I had numerous phone conversations with her oncologist, neuro-oncologist, and neurosurgeon. It seems likely that the problem is neurological and very unlikely that her shunt is malfunctioning. But nothing is certain. It would be good to know for sure and Laura doesn’t want to stew over the “what ifs” for too long — particularly if her mobility worsens.
The health care system is such that your problem is either handled “normally”, which means 1/2 week to multi-week delays for each test and appointment, or an emergency, which means the hospital ER. We wondered how urgent the situation was and that was one of the main reasons I wanted to talk to her doctors. The upshot seemed to be that things weren’t truly critical, but to get things happening quickly everyone would say it was an emergency.
So at about 11 this morning her oncologist worked with the hospital to get her in for a brain CT scan at noon. We quickly packed the girls off to a very kind friend for the afternoon and rushed to the hospital. With the scan now done, Laura will see her neurosurgeon probably Monday or Tuesday to get a neuro “work up” to try to definitively determine what’s going on.
We headed back home this afternoon. Oh yeah, it’s Naomi’s third birthday today. I picked up some hostess cupcakes at the convenient store and after dinner poked a candle in one and we all sang for her. Pathetic, I know, but no surprise that the girls thought these amazing little cakes were the bomb. And so it goes.