The Difference a Day Makes

...and a caring group of doctors and nurses....

So, the day after my hissy fit in the hallway, the medical team came in for rounds and told me they were getting us our own room. It wouldn't be guaranteed for any length of time, but they did some shuffling around and freed a room because they knew how it may well lift the gloom that was hanging over me. (Not Jill, ME.) By the way (a sidenote! Ha! Isn't this entire blog supposed to be about Jill???).....Jill is doing amazing!!! She finished her chemo on Friday. Finished. Done. Over with. No waning appetite this time (quite the contrary)...no nauseousness (yet), no rashes, no fevers. She has exploded through this final phase with guns ablazin'. She is our solid gold dancer. Our hoop and holler and shout "Alleluia! That baby got things under CONTROL." She has been a ball of freaky fun (even during the party like a rockstar night we had when I almost lost my mind). Her last chemo was administered as a shot in her thigh....she let out a little whimper and it was done. The nurse who gave it to her was way more nervous than Jill was. Jill even thanked her when it was over and told her she did a good job. Does this girl have any flaws????

Tonight, my good friend Tanya and her 7 and 9 year-old beauty queen daughters Makaiya & Keona (Kaiya & KiKi, for short) came to dazzle Jill with their presence/presents (Troy and Gabriella dolls and the coolest ever dress up outfit Jill has ever ever tried on...I will post a picture as soon as I get them uploaded....slinky red dress, dangling silver earrings & necklace, ruby slippers--borrowed from her own box--and ruby red glittery-rimmed glasses....HILARIOUS....no, what made it really hilarious was the dancing....I almost forgot the glittery silver microphone she held right up in her grill while she shook that booty like it wasn't fastened on! Ha! Man I wish I could figure out how to easily upload a video so everyone could see this crazy child in action!! She's a sight to behold...costume or not....). She had us all in stitches.

It was so great to have friends out...they made the time go by so fast (man, did we have fun!). Jill totally looks up to her "more mature" girlfriends and Tanya was so playful with her too! It delights me that people take so much interest in Jill....she's kind of hard to ignore, I guess :) She's so dang smart too! She said something about "srying" tonight...which I knew was "crying", but I wanted to show her off to Tanya (when I act like I don't know what she's saying, she finds a way to get it through somehow)...so I said, "what do you mean, 'sry'?" Here I thought she'd say, "Like this...(and make a crying sound)"....but she delved into this big explanation..."You know, 'sry'...lite when I dit a bonkey (I say "bonk" whenever she hurts herself) and Dr. Salo says, 'You otay? Lemme put a bandaid on nat.' And I say, 'Owwie! Dat hurts!' Den I sry." And tonight as she was falling asleep, I recited "Goodnight Moon" to her and I got all the way to the end "goodnight noises everywhere" and she said, "And doodnight toyhouse....you didn't say dat." And I said, "Yes I did....didn't I?" (I could've sworn I did) And she said, "No....(and she sits up...looking pensive, like she needs to be sure)....no, you didn't. You need to say 'doodnight house and doodnight mouse'." And then I remembered...I DID leave that part out. Wow. Wow. Where did she come from and why do I get her? Needless to say, I am grateful.

Our friend Lisa came out on Saturday and brought pizza for the girls and then made strawberry shortcake with them (with sprinkles!!) and played POGS (remember pogs??) and with felt cutouts and watched one of the myriad of movies she brought....all while Matt & I went to dinner at Outback (thanks Sonia!!). Neither of our children even looked up when we left (or returned)....just goes to show how much Lisa means to them. Thank you Lisa.

So many people have called or emailed to try and offer a little rescue to us in our (my?) time of need. Thank you. Thank you for your good wishes and plans to visit/stay with Jill (especially overnight...that is really big....and we know just how much). Every little thing means a lot....we would be nowhere without every single one of you. Can't wait to see so many friends this week!!