Progressing thru Day 4

Mireya had another good day overall. There are times she clearly feels rotten, but gauging from Day One she's managing well. Thank you for your prayers! Our last round of chemo is in the morning and then there is a small break leading into the transplant on Wednesday.

We had a small issue this morning because Mommy got the wrong impression. We managed to get through it with minimal collateral damage. When we arrived last week, we had a fabulous nurse named Len who is very caring, dynamic, and thorough. We really enjoyed having her for our first few days. Our evening nurse has been great too and very good with Mireya. Mireya can be a tough one to crack at times. She is sweet as pie, but don't get it twisted, she is the more guarded and resistant one. When you throw separation, chemo and multiple medications on top, it's definitely hit or miss.

Len was off yesterday, but I knew she was coming back this morning and 'assumed' we would have her again. Mmmm...no. Yesterday we had Tim and he was really good too. Very personable and great with Mireya. 'Nice and good' with Reya are most important, but remember 'thorough' is key to Mommy. Len took it upon herself to determine 'how' informed we wanted to be and she was excellent at keeping us in the loop on stats, vitals and counts. So this sort of set her apart for me, because these are things we've been staying on top of since the beginning of this illness. I mentioned to Mireya that we would be seeing Len this morning. So when Tim strolled in Mireya shut down and was most uncooperative for his first few visits in the room. I felt bad and confessed my unintentional hand in the madness. Being the Facilitator and Peacekeeper I am, I found Len and had her stop by to see Mireya. I was happy she stopped by and so was Mireya.

I'm not sure what the system is for assigning patients each morning, but I think it's called he who yells the loudest? Both Len and Tim expressed during the shift changed that they wanted Mireya back as their patient (remember she is easy, breezy, beautiful...Cover Girl), but Tim won that battle. He is so unassumingly gangsta. Len is going home tonight and work on her game, because she plans to go hard and get Mireya back when she comes in later this week.

So a few things to know about Mireya. I'll call them Reya-isms;

• don't roll up her like you know her just because you can say her name. If she doesn't know you, then it doesn't matter if you know her mother, her father, sister or brother. She has to know you for herself or at least spend some time with you and come to the conclusion that she 'wants' to be around you.
  

• Reya can see you today, be your best friend and still react as if none of that ever happened the next day.

• You can offer her the world and everything in it and still get your face cracked. She is rarely moved by 'things'.

and

• overall Mireya just has to be in the mood. The mood for you, the mood for the activity, the mood for the situation. Everything has to be right and aligned (including the stars) for Mireya to be an active participant. The flip side is when she is comfortable, she is easy and flows. That is her nature. Jalen, Paris and Makinley are super extroverted, animated and in the mix off the bat. Makinley has a bit of reserve depending on how you catch her, but Mireya will make you work for it.
  

It's been a long, full day. Reya finally drifted off to sleep and I'm about to do the same, but I must share the funniest thing that happened today. We have this whole mealbaby sign up for meal delivery to the house and for food drops to the hospital (thank you so much). My dear friends the Grinnages were on tap today for food detail at the hospital. They stopped by Whole Foods and picked up some fresh 'juices and berries' for us to enjoy. Kyle is a vegetarian and the Queen of 'fusion'. Over the years, she has managed to turn me on to some interesting things. I'll also admit there was a time or two I've not cared for something, but I'm always open to trying it (within reason). Kudos to her and Whole Foods on those smoked chicken quarters, they were delicious.

Okay so the amusing part of the story is on the Transplant floor you cannot have fresh fruits, vegetables, lives plants, flowers, etc. So when Mother Earth rolled up here with her pint of fresh strawberries, and several veggie, bean and rice concoctions she was looking like Snoopy when he arrived at the hospital to find ole' girl and the booming music/voice came on saying 'No Dogs Allowed'. Needless to say she had to reroute this meal to my house before she set off a floor wide outbreak. I know we will be laughing about this for quite some time. We (Quentin or I) can eat these types of things, but the patients cannot be exposed them. It has to be consumed off the floor. Lesson #1 when your vegetarian friend says I'm coming to bring you a meal and puts 'TBD', get the facts. Love you Kyle!