Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Happy 11th Birthday to Alex

On monday our boy turned 11, I can hardly believe it! With Nancy here for the weekend we packed a lot into 48 hours, let me tell you!! On friday night we took Alex to see the new Star Wars Clone Wars movie and he really enjoyed it , complete with the $20.00 worth of popcorn and snacks! Hey, it's not often we take him to the movies so I splurged, he deserved it!

Saturday we had a family get together in Staten Island with all of my nephew Jason's cousins and aunts on his mom's side of the family. I can hardly believe it was 2 months ago that Jason passed away and getting to spend time with all of his aunts, uncles and cousins was really special, we had a great day. Jason's mom, Fran, passed away in 2004 from cancer and she had 2 sisters and we went to the home of one of her sisters, Rosette. I loved her back yard and the main reason is because there is no grass so no worries about mowing!! It is all paved and there is a beautiful pool which Alex thoroughly enjoyed especially since there was a 'cousin' there that was only a few years younger and they got along great and had fun all day together.



Jim had 2 guitars in the trunk of the car and it was fun to see him play and enjoy himself with his brother all afternoon and well into the evening. Everyone enjoyed the live music and we ate amazing food all day! I had made a basket out of a watermelon and put fresh cut up fruit salad in it and I couldn't have done it without some great help! Alex helped me cut up the watermelon and Nancy helped me cut up some of the fruit! Thanks sis! :) One thing that happened that I thought was hysterical and I told Jim about it and we laughed is that when Jim walked into the yard with the 2 guitars Alex was in the pool with Michael and I overheard him say, "Your dad has guitars and he thinks he's going to play!" to which Alex replied, "Oh don't worry my dad plays awesome, he has his own rock band!"


On sunday we took Alex out for his birthday shopping trip at Toys R Us and he picked up a few things that he liked and then after a quick stop at White Castle for some lunch we headed over to Boomers amusement park where he spent the next 4 hours on all the rides! He must have gone on the roller coaster 20 times and Jim and I just sat on the bench and watched him run to get back in line after each ride, it was quite comical to see. The one down side was that he is about 55-56" and you need to be 58" to be a 'driver' on the Go Karts so he was pissed off that he had to ride as a passenger and decided to be pissy with Jim and I for a while...he even blamed me because he is short...lol...ok, whatever..he got over it eventually but not before playing an entire round of miniature golf all the while telling Jim and I to stay back and give him his space and let him play alone...it is pretty funny now that I think about it.

The bumper boats are always a hit and the line to get on them is usually long and when Alex was on them he was squirting the water gun at the crowd waiting in line for their turn and at the end they applauded him and as he walked by after his ride everyone was giving him high fives because they were happy that he cooled them off, I thought that was pretty funny!!


Yesterday was mom's first appointment at Stonybrook Cancer Center and so many good things happened there I can't even begin to type it all out but I will try because I know a lot of her friends and family read my blog. (HI MADELEINE!!!)

I had made the appointment with Dr. Gabig because mom's doctor in Florida told me to see him because he knew him and said he was a great oncologist. When I made the appt. no one asked me what type of cancer she has and just gave me the appointment. We get there and the nurse does all the vitals and takes us to the room and then Dr. Gabig's assistant comes in and tells us that he is a lung cancer doctor and wanted to know why we had made the appt with him and I explained why! So, long story short now we are told we need to see Dr. Wu who is the brain cancer specialist there. What is amazing about this to me is that when Jason was on the hospital I met a woman outside who had just had brain surgery performed by the same neurosurgeon who took care of Jason and she told me that she has the same cancer as mom and that she would be seeing Dr. Wu at Stonybrook!! She told me that if I got mom up to NY that I should seek out Dr. Wu because he is the best for brain cancer and has a great track record! Wow....I remembered his name and when they told us that mom would be seeing him yesterday I told her the story about that woman I met at Brookhaven hospital back in June! The other part of the story is that this woman also lived in Florida and when she found out she had brain cancer she moved back to Long Island to be near her children and grandchildren so I told mom that story to show her how much it means to us that she is with us now so that my children can spend time with her that is precious, making memories and just being together.

Here is mom waiting to see the doctor.


This is a really long post but hey...sometimes I get diarrhea of the keyboard and that's just how it goes. The last thing I wanted to share is my gift to myself that I bought on Ebay...it's my new TV in my kitchen...so now I can watch the news, or Oprah...or my boy Curtis (Take home Chef on TLC) while I make dinner!! Whoo!! I had a small 9" tv on the kitchen counter for a while but it recently broke and I've wanted an under counter one for a while now and this one was a great price, I love it!!

9 comments:

Scrappy Gal said...

What a great post! Sounds like Alex had a wonderful birthday! I love your new toy in the kitchen!!

Anonymous said...

Your mom looks so beautiful in that picture. I'm glad she is doing well, and I well continue to pray for her.

Anonymous said...

Linda, sounds like Alex had a great birthday!! And your Mom just looks so happy in that picture. That is great news about having such a good report on the doctor, and turns out he's the doctor your Mom is going to have.

Hmmm, I know nothing about 'diarrhea of the keyboard' LOL

I also like the under the counter TV, that's just cool.

Hugs and prayers

Anonymous said...

Great post Lin! Looks like Alex had a fantastic birthday weekend!

I'm glad that things are going well with your mom's transition to the new medical team.

Love you,
Mary

Anonymous said...

happy 11th birthday to Alex
thanks for the update

love Madeleine

Laura said...

Happy Birthday Alex, looks like a fun day! Your mom looks beautiful too!

Can't wait to see you guys tomorrow! We are going to have so much fun! :)

Anonymous said...

Happy birthday Alex. Your mom looks great Continue prayers to you and your family.

Nancy said...

DUDE! That coax is too long. I will make you a short piece. Give me a measurement.

Ginger said...

Happy Belated Birthday to Alex!
You're mom looks great and I totally love the TV!

Congrats on Dr. Wu. I know everything happens for a reason and God will take care of your family! {hugs}