Day 161......Welcome Home

Wednesday, February 27, 2013 

This is gonna be a long one.......

We had a wonderful adventure of leisure on our drive home from Denver.  We stopped often to stretch our legs, go to the bathroom, run around, and eat.  It ended up taking us 11 hours for a 6-1/2 hour drive.  We had lunch in Pueblo, Colorado, and dinner in Las Vegas, New Mexico.  We came upon a closed highway at Raton pass near the New Mexico boarder while they cleared the road from a sudden snow storm.  We stopped and ran around in the cold, blowing snow at as many rest stops as possible.  We ate junk food.  We listened to music and sang.  We laughed a lot and we were truly relaxed and just enjoying our time together as a family.  When we finally pulled into our neighborhood both kids were sound asleep but Sean and I were chatting quietly.  I noticed a few balloons on a tree in front of a house several houses up from ours and I thought to myself...."Oh, I wonder whose birthday it is."  Then I saw more balloons, and then more balloons.....and then I realized that they went all the way down the street (we live at the end of the street in a cul-de-sac).  At that moment of realization Sean and I both saw the first sign....yes a sign.....posted on the fence of a neighbor a few houses up from ours.  Then the next sign....and finally our house with balloons and another sign.  WELCOME HOME DILLON with glow in the dark paint, sparkles, ribbons.  It was dark, it was snowing, and the tears flowed freely.

Green and white balloons of course (Celtics colors)...see the sign on the fence with the gold ribbon trim??

Sign on the fence in front of our house

Balloons on the fence in our front yard

Sign next to our front door (they attached a marker below so that people could stop by and write notes on the sign)

What we found out later.....my mom took these photos in the afternoon.  She had come over to the house to do a final dusting before our arrival.  Several neighbors made the signs and blew up the balloons.  They had to hang the balloons twice because as they were hanging the first set there was a crazy wind storm with some hail and many of the balloons popped....so they had to go back and blow up more and start again. 

The past week has been overwhelming for all of us....but I think hardest on me (could anyone see that coming??).  I am trying not to rush myself and worry about getting "everything" done in the first few days.  The list of tasks to handle is daunting and I have had myself a couple breakdowns with lots of tears.  I think I was in such a state of stress and anxiety for so long, that my body and my mind are finally relaxing a little bit and the release of emotions is huge.  We have now been home almost a week and we are settling in nicely.  Dillon and I took Luca to school on Monday and Tuesday.  We were completely inundated with love and support and hellos and hugs and much attention both in the morning at drop-off and in the afternoon at pick-up.  It has been a beautiful gift to finally give the hugs and share a smile and a tear or two with many of the people that have been supporting our entire family all these long months.  Dillon has been shy when coming upon friends....they are nervous and awkward and are not sure what to say to each other....plus Dillon has to wear his mask and he feels quite self-conscious about that in such a familiar setting, especially when everyone is looking at him as we walk by (both because of the mask and because most of them are seeing him for the first time since he left school in mid May).  So to any of you Waldorf kids that are reading this....just walk up to Dillon, say hello or even give a hug, try to talk about something you are doing in school or at home, or ask him to join you in an activity like walking around or playing basketball. 

A bit more about Dillon....that is why most of you are here reading this blog in the first place, right :))  He has had more energy and is more relaxed.  His humor is back....he laughs and jokes and teases (which was something he did not do much in Denver).  He talks more and he interacts more.  If you were one who tried communicating with Dillon while in Denver you know that most of the time he refused the phone call and when he did accept it he did not talk much...but now he is Skyping and Face Timing family, and talking on the phone......in fact insists on answering the phone most of the time and is eager to chat with whoever is calling.  He is playing with the neighbor kids.  Luca is glued to his side....they do everything together right now.  Luca is sleeping in Dillon's room on the floor because he just cannot bear to be away from him for all those hours in the night.  Dillon is eating fairly well and still has to work each day to drink enough.  His stomach has been upset a couple of times but I think those were more situational (nervous, excited, ate something that he was not used to).  Today (Wednesday.....exactly 2 weeks after his port and broviac were removed) he is going swimming.  This is something he has missed terribly and bitterly ever since he was diagnosed.  Dillon was angry and disappointed all summer at not being able to swim....so this is a BIG DEAL.  Luca (who also loves to swim will be in school when Nana takes Dillon swimming) was nothing but excited for his brother....not envious or angry or even wishing he could go along, just plain old happy that his brother was getting to do something fun.  The surgery sites have healed beautifully. They are completely closed without so much as a scab.  It took weeks for Dillon's original port insertion site to heal (his body was in a state of debility and assault from both the cancer and the chemo).

It has been too cold and windy for Big D to play any B-ball yet....but that hoop is outside waiting for him as soon as it warms up a bit.  Oh yeah.....one of the first things the boys did when we got home was play music together....and I wanted to share the sweetness of that moment with you.  Dillon is on viola and Luca on cello.

Now a quick flash back to our last days in Denver.....Here are some photos of the fun stuff we did.  We packed, we cleaned, we hung out at Brent's place, and we had fun reestablishing ourselves as a family.

First is an indoor trampoline park called Jump Street.

Resting at Jump Street

Sean and Luca flying high

Sean stuck in foam pit

Dillon relaxing in foam pit (boy did we sanitize after he got out of there!!!)

Dillon on a tramp under a hoop...practicing his fade away jump shot

Luca was laughing so hard he could not get out of the foam

Next is the Celtics game.  We only had phone cameras so we did not get any good shots of the players on the court.

Celtics warming up on the court in Denver

Luca with his all green outfit...he even has on green shorts with black long underwear.

Dillon in his official Celtics gear.  

A couple of cool things......one is that the boys made posters to take to the game.  Luca made the I "heart" my Celtics poster.  Dillon, on the other hand, made something so heartwarming and original.  First a little background story.....one day at clinic a couple of weeks before the game Dillon and his nurses were talking about the Celtics and one nurse joked..."oh, you should make a poster that says I love my nurses."  They all laughed but then Dillon told them he was going to do it.  The nurse told him that she was just kidding around but Dillon insisted that he was going to make that poster.  I am sitting and observing this scene and I think to myself...."yeah right...Dillon is going to make a poster...he dislikes crafty projects."  Well....I am happy to say that I was wrong.  I underestimated my boy.  He was very serious about this poster.  It seemed like he wanted to say thank you for helping take care of me, thank you for being here with me through this entire process, thank you for caring about me .....

Dillon's game poster.......priceless

Luca designed this all by himself...he was very proud of his work

One last Celtics game story.  Before we left for Denver in August one of Dillon's good buddies told him about the Denver vs. Celtics basketball game and that he and his dad were going to the game in Denver in February.  This boy is as big a Celtics fan as you will find.  We ended up getting to see them at the game.....what a treat on our last night in Denver.

I think the smiles and the green and white says it all!!!

Homeschooling math is calling my name so I am closing this for now.  We head to UNM in Albuquerque on Friday morning (1-hour away for those of you who are not familiar with New Mexico) for Dillon's first followup visit.  He will be seen once a month at UNM and once a month in Denver.