Sydney's Journal - October 2005
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A few months ago, my doctor got in touch with a doctor at the Children's Hospital in Boston and he agreed to take a look into my condition. He's a pediatric hematology specialist there and after reviewing my history decided it would be a good idea to see me in person. We were excited to have another doctor try to figure out what was going on with my blood.
So, Mama and Dada and I packed up and made the big trip to Boston today. It was my first time on an airplane. Mama and Dada weren't sure how I was going to handle it, but I enjoyed it like an old pro. The only thing I didn't like was all the sitting around. Sitting around at the airport, sitting around in the plane, sitting around in the rental car -- it was a lot of sitting, but I guess that's what you do when you travel long distances.
Fortunately, our family knew some wonderful people in the Boston area who let us stay in their house while we were there. We had never met them before, but they welcomed us into their home and let us use it like it was our own for a few days. Thank you so much. Tonight we get a comfortable night sleep and tomorrow we go in to town to see the doctor. Little did we realize until we got there that some people called the Boston Red Sox were playing a game called baseball in something called The World Series... at home... on that day... at the same time as our appointment.
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We all hopped in the rental car and made the trip into town today. We left quite early just in case the traffic was really bad from that World Series thing that was going on. Fortunately we arrived there in plenty of time.
Wow, Boston is a big place and the Children's Hospital is big as well. Lots of children come from all around to find help there. Eventually we found our way to the Hematology department and met Doctor Heeney. He was very nice and spent a lot of time with us asking and answering lots of questions. Unfortunately, he didn't have any answers to my problem but he did want to order some more tests. Although there weren't many more tests left to do since my doctors back home had done so many already, Dr. Heeney wanted to have some genetic testing done on my blood to see if any answers could be found there. Apparently genetic testing takes a long time, so we may find out something after several months. In the mean time they took another sample of my blood and our visit was over after a couple hours. Despite not finding out anything new about my condition, we were grateful Dr. Heeney spent so much time with us after we came all that way.
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We had a couple days until our flight back home so we looked for some interesting things to do in the area. Our hosts suggested a small zoo close by so decided to check it out. It was a bit of a cold and dreary day so it wasn't very crowded. In fact I think we might have been the only people there for most of the time. The zoo was quite nice though. Most of the animals were out and about. I love to watch the animals. I especially liked the lions and the snow monkeys. One of the monkeys came to the front of his cage and made faces at me and cracked me up. It was a fun morning and a nice way to spend our last day, but we eventually had to leave to get ready for our flight back.
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It's that time again. Off to the clinic for my next transfusion. My hemoglobin is down in the 5's again and I'm feeling it. I'm looking forward to feeling better tomorrow.
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I had so much fun seeing the animals at the zoo on our trip that Mama and Dada decided to make another zoo run. This time we went to the Central Florida Zoo and it was even more fun because Nana and Papa joined us too. It was a beautiful, cool, sunny day and the animals were all so interesting. We saw silly monkeys, all kinds of noisy birds, aligators, snakes, an elephant show, and a bunch of other four-legged animals. Dada even raced me around the boardwalk in my stroller. I'm a budding thrill-seeker. I love going fast. Although when Dada put me up on his shoulders to get a better look at the elephant show I wigged out. I guess I'm afraid of heights. I'll have to work on that one.
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Mama took me down to a local pumpkin patch today. I never knew such things existed. One day, big empty field. The next day, pumpkins as far as the eye can see. There must be pumpkin fairies or something that sneak all those pumpkins in overnight. It was quite a site to see. I got to roam free through all the pumpkins and look for the perfect one for me. I even helped other people I didn't know look for theirs too. Eventually I found one that was just the right size.
The next day we went to another pumpkin patch and looked around some more. Mama wanted to find another one that was bigger so she could carve a face into it. She said it was a surprise so I have to wait to find out what it is going to be. I love surprises.
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October must be my lucky month. Today I got to go to my third animal park in one month. Some guy called Walt Disney created this place called Animal Kingdom and brought in animals from all over the world. What was neat about this place was that none of the animals were in cages and we could still get a really good up close look at all of them. I got to come practically face-to-face with gorillas, hippos, tigers, birds, fish and all kinds of other animals. We even got to go on a real African safari and ride on a train. What a fun place. There was so much to see and I didn't want to miss a thing.
By the time we left the park, I was totally bushed. We got back to the car and the next thing I know I'm home in my PJ's getting ready for bed. Time really does fly when you're having fun... or sleeping.
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Mama has been looking and looking but she hasn't been able to find me just the right halloween costume. Most of them don't fit or just aren't me. She was getting worried she'd never find one, until today. There it was, the last one of its kind, hanging all by itself on a rack in Toys R Us, and in just my size... a ladybug costume. I don't have to tell you, I love ladybugs. Red is my favorite color too. So this outfit was just perfect for me.
We tried it on when I got home and I haven't taken it off since. It's a little warm inside, but I don't care. I especially wanted to be wearing it when Dada came home from work. Sure enough, he loved it. In fact, he couldn't stop smiling. Later on he took me out for a walk around the block with all the other trick-or-treaters. Get this. If you go up to someone's house in a costume and knock on the door, the people inside will come out and give you candy! What a deal. I've got to try this again tomorrow.