We are still here. Got through our joint teaching and Dayssi's first 3 weeks of delayed intensification in one piece. We had lots of extra help, including Grandma, our hero, who toughed it out on a futon mattress every night because the girls wanted to sleep with her. She also brought a couple of gifts, invented new games (e.g., tennis in the trampoline), walked India to school every day, babysat on Saturday so that Jim and I could go to a friends' BBQ and actually relax there, and, on top of everything else, made it look like she was enjoying herself.
Dayssi is swollen from the steroids, and her hair is falling out in clumps, but today was her last dose in this phase and we are relieved, like last time, that the course of drugs has ended without any major explosions. The dose of steroids was higher this time, and Dayssi was even hungrier, eating around the clock and, on occasion, waking at night for a snack. We had dinner the other night at our friend Liz's house, and she took in the feeding frenzy with big eyes. Liz was ready for anything and responded with her characteristic grace and generosity, but she finally let a few chuckles slip when, after having enthusiastically devoured two eggs, toast with butter, cantaloupe and avocado before dinner, Dayssi announced that she was "starving" for the homemade pizza she helped to make. Dayssi seems more self conscious this time about the changes in her appearance, I am sad to report, but otherwise her mood has been good. She is full of hugs and kisses and proclamations of adoration, for anyone who will receive them. What an amazing gift she is.
India is thriving. Today is picture day at school and we got up extra early to do some primping. She chose her outfit -- the blue dress that Granny sent recently -- and took a shower to calm her curls. She feels beautiful today, as she does most days, and as she should. I hope she can always see herself through such loving eyes.
I am emotional after all of that teaching. It is hard work pretending that everything is fabulous.
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Dear Deb and Jim, I cannot believe you both have such terribly draining, long (6 hours a day) teaching schedules, and at the same time as each other and as the intensified protocol. To do that long teaching makes a zombie of any of us, and to combine that kind of teaching load with all that you are doing for the girls is amazing. Your love and delight in their antics, as well as all the details of the protocols, are a gift to everyone. thank you and much love, Joanne
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