Pre bedtime snuggles

Hi all – Nicole and I took a mental break from Sloan Kettering and the blog the last 48 hours. Everything with Sally is fine, we were actually just nervous that we may have to bring her into MSK as she has some irritation where her food tube was surgically installed a week and a half ago. We were able to to email a picture of it to the doctor on call who said we just need to keep an eye on it and should be OK until Sally returns on Monday.

Other than that, it’s been a much needed quiet couple days at the Kabel Homestead. We’re using the feeding machine at night, but using a large syringe to manually push the breast milk through the bolus during the day. Here’s a pic of yours truly doing it (ignore where I spilled on her leg):

Manually feeding Sally

We’re also still trying to get her to eat solids when we can, she had a bunch of pasta last night with Nicole and a cookie with me today. She does a much better job for Mommy, especially when she’s sitting with the boys.

Today Mommy was at work so I took the boys to soccer for the first time. I put their shin guards on the outside, which we learned right away when arriving that they go under the socks. Whoops. I couldn’t have done more to make them look like newbies. Both boys enjoyed it, but both also stayed away from the action and William at times was off to the side day dreaming.

Apparently the shin guards go UNDER the socks.

Yep, that’s our son, the one day dreaming in the middle of the field.

My sister Cindy is here and stayed home with Sally, which left me on my own. I enjoyed talking to several parents, some whom I knew prior, and some who knew me from the blog and came up to introduce themselves. Everybody wanted me to tell Nicole how beautiful she looked on Katie Couric’s show this week.

After I got home with the boys, I left them to their lunch and took Sally for a walk to run some errands. At our local farmer’s market I again had people introduce themselves, one couple who is even bringing us dinner on Monday. I also met some local people I knew through Facebook that have been supportive. Sally loved the attention (even though she tried to act shy) and it was good for some of these great folks to meet her. I then went over to the hardware store and a shopkeeper next door came out and wanted to meet Sally, I had never met her before but she also reads the blog, and gave her a toy with tears in her eyes. The hardware store owner, who overheard us talking, tried to not charge me for my purchase but I insisted on paying as I still get uncomfortable with that kind of stuff.

It was all very surreal. One mom who I knew previously said she reads the blog and asked if it was strange that people I encounter already know how I feel and what I’m thinking. Haven’t thought much about that before, but have always said this is more of a journal for us to look back on one day and know what was happening and how we felt along this long road we’re on. I also recalled a conversation I had with one of the women running our Bay Ridge fundraiser on October 5th who is part of Bay Ridge Cares, a local organization that helps neighborhood families in need. I told her how we knew families battling cancer in small towns who had the entire community supporting them, and me being from a small town knew that’s how it would be if  we were there now. I felt being in NYC, we wouldn’t get that kind of local community support as we’d get lost in the shuffle with all the people here. She told me that Bay Ridge is a small town, and to just wait and see.

The last few days have proven me wrong on that, especially today. Apparently more people here know about our family and our struggle than we thought. I guess people want to help but don’t know how, or wanted to introduce themselves before and didn’t know what to say. Meeting all of those people was a reassuring feeling, the more people rooting for Sally the better, and telling Nicole about it over dinner was an amazing emotional lift for us. Although Nicole told me that I can’t walk to the store half naked anymore (drat!). I also saw the first flyer for Sally’s fundraiser in a store around the corner, a children’s toy store named Kaleidoscope. I tried to go in and thank them for posting it but they were busy with customers, a great thing to see for a local small business, so left them to that.

Bay Ridge may be in one of the biggest cities in the world, but to us, it’s our small town, and we love it.

October 5th Fundraiser in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn.

Please keep Sally in your thoughts and prayers.

Matt