Shavua Tov Indeed {Day 19}

A good week to all indeed. I love recovery weeks. After the highs and lows of the chemo working its way through Sammy's body my real Sammy comes out on the other side and is his funny, snarky, hungry, lovable self. After so many months removed from the HOT unit, I had forgotten why he was so irritable a week ago, and that transfusions were in order, until the doctors recommended it (duh!?). And this week I am thrilled to be with my lap counting, energetic, starv'n Marvin, hamburger guzzling little boy (over 20 full-size hamburgers and counting in 4 days).

Sammy started his Shabbat morning with me bringing all the siblings up to keep him & Ima company. He took everyone for laps including Zayde (Bubbe said she would keep an eye on the room, just in case, since we had an entourage Vince Chase would have been jealous of). 

Sammy had a great time taking everyone for laps and showing him how he counted them on the board. He even let Yael hold his counter and keep track for of the laps for him on it. Solly loved the running (when we couldn't catch him), but was really frustrated by not being able to play in the playroom. (But whhhhyyy?) Everyone had an incredible time hanging out together. Throughout the day Nurse L took such amazing care of us with her winning smile and endless good cheer. 

When the whole mishpacha (family) left we weren't sure what we were going to do with the rest of our days (other than order and eat more hamburgers).  Just after lunch Pete Holm arrived from www.Frog4Life.com, that's when the day really took off. To honor the memory of his son, Joshua, Pete comes to the HOT unit to allow the kids to build a stuffed animal. Sammy was entranced. Pete's son and a friend entertained Sammy and the kids for several hours by making it snow (spraying the stuffing everywhere for a burst, with permission of course), and stuffing a boatload of animals for all the kids and their siblings who wanted one today. Sammy stuffed a frog (are you surprised?) and dressed him in a karate outfit (foreshadowing for the evening movie). 

And then the fun really started. The boys took out their yo-yos. From there the entertainment began. I wish I could have taken pictures of all the tricks the boys showed Sammy, but there were so many and the yo-yos moved so fast. Sammy watched and watched, assisted with the animal making, and loved using the swifter after it "snowed" onto the floor. They even gave Sammy a yo-yo (two really) of his own so he could learn how to use one. He was simply in another world. And the boys rarely gave him a moment to breathe. They were both right there present with him the whole day. They reveled in having an audience and an apprentice. And I sat there and took it all in as Sammy stayed with them from the moment they opened shop until the moment they had to pack up and leave for their nearly four hour drive back to Eau Claire. The love and enjoyment was palpable. The boys were miracles in action and I swear the yo-yos almost never stopped moving unless an animal was being stuffed for a little kid.

After that we went back to the room, ate some more hamburgers, the Millers came to visit while up here for a family event and Aunty Jess Facetimed for a moment. We ate another hamburger and put the original Karate Kid in the DVD player. We swished, we brushed our teeth, we got our PJs on, turned out the lights and sang shema as we welcomed a wonderful new week and said good bye to a day filled with love, family, friends (new and old), gifts, hamburgers (of course) and my little boy full of smiles, good cheer, curiosity, humor, complexity and charm. If we have to be here it doesn't get any better than this.