Tuesday, January 19th

We should have been in San Francisco last night. Instead we were home. When we checked Tristan’s blood counts on Friday, his ANC (neutrophil count) was only 500. Still neutropenic, and not yet high enough to begin chemo again today (Tuesday), as planned, though his platelets are at a high rebound level at 377,000 and his hemoglobin is good at 11.4.

But, THANK GOODNESS we were home instead of at Family House. If we hadn’t been home, I would not have been witness to an amazing moment in history. Last night we had a family dinner. In front of the the TV. I know, I know. Bad for your digestion, bad for your kids, etc. But it’s so fun, and we love it, and Oma just bought us all 78 episodes of the original Star Trek series, and we had contentedly settled down to watch two episodes, back to back. The kids were finished eating by the end of the first episode, and it had been a remarkably crumbly dinner involving both fried tempeh and cornbread. There were crumbs everywhere — small piles on the couch, a fine layer over the rug, a sprinkling on the dogs, and little pockets of them tucked in the folds of the kids’ pajamas. Then, suddenly…I don’t know how this unfolded…all three male members of the family were wielding vacuum cleaners. Armed with phaser-like hand vacs, Tristan and Gary went to work on the couch. Tomas deftly handled the the big push vacuum. I stood over the pile of laundry I was folding, stunned, unmatched socks hanging from both of my hands. The crumbs were sucked up, the couch was reassembled with its cushions, the vacuums were put away, and the Star Trek double feature resumed. We still haven’t discussed this event as a family. I’m afraid to bring it up. It could be denied, though I do have photo documentation.

I’ll take Tristan to do his labs again tomorrow at St. Joe’s. The suitcases will be in the car, and if Tristan’s ANC is high enough, we’ll be in the city by nighttime. Tristan will have chemo on Thursday, and I’m playing with the idea of driving straight home afterward…or we may come home Friday morning. With this recent delay, and assuming there are no others, he’s now set to enter Maintenance on March 22nd.

We found a beautiful spot to hang the 1,000 paper cranes — in the living room, above the couch, where they will bring good luck to my crumb-dropping kids. I hope you’ll all come to see them!

Saturday I took all three kids to visit a fire station down in town. The firemen didn’t hesitate to pull out an engine from the garage, have the kids help them hook a hose to the truck, and let them shoot an orange cone over with the jet of water. Even Phoebe was thrilled, and it was pretty clear that the firemen like playing with the truck and the hose as much as the kids do. It was a joy to watch them all having fun. I’d still like to suggest that firehouses offer daycare. Still working on where to submit that proposal.