Welcome to Jandyland!

Thanksgiving 2008

Nov 27, 2009 - 09:02 AM

Hello all.  Andy & I hope that you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving yesterday, full of love, family and of course….lots of food! 

Andy asked me last night if I would mind writing a blog for him regarding Thanksgiving 2008.  He wanted to tell some of the stories of last Thanksgiving, which sadly was our last Thanksgiving with Greg.  But fortunately, was full of a lot of laughs with Greg and stories to tell.  I, of course, and happy to do so.

Thanksgiving 2008 was exactly one year ago yesterday.  Greg was in isolation at KU Med after his first bone marrow harvest using his own bone marrow.  I was still working at the radio station and unfortunately had to go work the Plaza Lighting ceremony later in the evening, but we went to see Greg for quite a while before I had to go to work.  The week of Thanksgiving Greg had just completed an intense round of chemotherapy to prepare his body for the healthy bone marrow that had been harvested before his chemo began.  Due to high doses of chemo, you could not even enter the room where Greg was at for a couple of days if you had certain medical issues, including pregnancy for women and other things.  Because, what was coming out of Greg’s body was so toxic that even airborne could effect some people. 

As we arrived to the isolation ward where Greg was staying, we entered the decontamination section, where we left our coats, washed our hands and signed a form stating that we were not carrying any illness into the ward.  When we finally gained access to his hallway we were greeted at Greg’s door with a sign that said something along the lines of: “Any males entering this room must wear a gown, gloves, mask and booties.”  Andy thought that it was odd that he would have to do that since it had been a few days past Greg’s chemo and bone marrow transplant, and that it was odd that his Dad hadn’t mentioned that.  And I thought it was odd that it was males only.  We turned around to the the nurses desk and asked them if this was correct and that males would have to basically suit up just to enter the room.  They said that yes, it was correct and the reason that females didn’t have to do it was because of our basic hormones, or something like that.  Well, Andy obliged and suited up.  As we entered the room, Andy was greeted immediately by Greg taking a photo of him on his phone and laughing like crazy.  Andy was confused (and I saw right away what was going on.)  Greg couldn’t stop laughing at the way Andy looked in his full medical garb.  Greg had worked out a deal with the nurses to put that sign up and to go along with the joke just for the benefit of Andy looking ridiculous!  Greg told us that he worked it out with the nurses to play that joke and when Andy asked “What if someone else had come to visit you first?”  Greg told Andy that he told the nurses that people says that he looks like him even though he doesn’t see it and that he’ll be wearing a hoodie.  Sure enough….Andy was wearing a hoodie (how predictable is he?!? )

Pat recently sent Andy the picture that Greg took that evening, here it is:

We had a really great visit with Greg that night.  We pointed out the peaks of a couple of buildings that he might be able to see the Plaza Lights on from his hospital room and we watched as all of the helicopters started to make their way to the Plaza.  We watched part of the Christmas special for the show “Monk,”  Greg loved that show and Andy likes it too….I’m not that big of a fan.  I just remember us talking and laughing a lot that night.

We were so thankful for that night.  At the time, we were so thankful for Greg’s spirit, health and determination to fight cancer.  We are still thankful for all of that, because we know that’s what kept him with us even longer.  A lesser man or woman would not have fought as hard as Greg did.  We are so thankful for these moments with Greg, for the laughs, for the stories, for the memories.  And although we would much prefer Greg be here with us now, we know that somewhere Greg is looking down on us and watching over all of us for the rest of our lives.  He is our angel, and we feel his presence everyday.  And for that, we are eternally grateful. 

– Posted by Jamie. There have been 5 comments.

Comments