Karen
had a real bad nose bleed today. No
matter what grandma or mom did, it wasn't stopping so they took her to Monmouth Medical Center 8-1-73 Wednesday
This
was a very strange day! Pop is home and
settled in his room. He has a manual
wheelchair and a special hospital bed that has a trapeze bar to help him sit
up. Grandma put a TV in his room, plus a
radio. Pop looks a lot different
now. I don't think he's had a drink
since he fell in June; his eyes aren't all red and bloodshot. Today he hired me to roll him some cigarettes;
I got a penny for every cigarette I rolled.
It was easy 'cause he had a cigarette rolling machine. All you had to do was put in the Top Hat
paper, put in the loose tobacco, wet the paper, and pull the handle all the way
over and poof, a cigarette rolled out.
In half and hour I had made one whole dollar, and he actually paid
me! This was the kinda work I wouldn't
mind doing for Pop. Today I actually
pushed him in his wheelchair out on to the front porch where he gave me another
job, another real one! That was great
'cause Mrs. Pennsy died last week and I was out of work. He sent me around the side of the house where
the hose was. I turned on the water
faucet like he asked; keeping the nozzle off and I brought it back to him. From in his chair he began to water the front
yard. He told me to pay attention and I
did. He had turned the nozzle on to a
very light spray, moving the hose back and forth, rapidly. Pop told me it was important not to drown the
grass, but to gently water it, then he handed me the nozzle. "Go ahead, show me what you can
do." he said. I moved the nozzle
back and forth like he had showed me and he told me I was doing a real good job! But that wasn't even the strangest thing to
happen - you'll just never guess! Pedro
saw me with Pop on the front porch and yelled over to Pop. "Hey, Frank, send her over to my house
when she's done, I've got some work for her, too." I thought, here it comes, now I'm really
gonna get it, but Pop told him no! I was
so surprised I almost dropped the hose.
Pop told Pedro he had more work for me to do and I would be very
busy. Boy, that garden worked real
good! I would never have thought that
Pop would save me from Pedro, never, ever - but that's what happened today,
believe it or not. I can't wait to tell
Karen. I can't go up to visit today
'cause Karen's throwing up so bad she can't leave her bed to come to the
waiting room. I gave mom my best stuffed
lion to bring to Karen and I sent a kiss and hug for her. Mom thinks Karen should be home by the
weekend, but she'll still have to go to the hospital for chemotherapy. Mommy said that Karen will probably lose all
her hair. Mom was saving as much of her hair as possible. It made me happy to know that mom was saving
her pretty hair, but it made me so sad that she was losing it. Bye for now.
Today
starts summer Bible Camp at church and Walter came up with the idea that saved
the day! Karen came home on Friday and
was feeling a little bit better. She
said she hates being in the hospital and always feels so much better once she
comes home. I know I sure do feel much
better when she comes home! Karen really
wanted to go to Bible Camp but didn't think she could walk there. It was only walking one long block, but it
was too much for her. That was when
Walter came up with the idea to use the wheelbarrow. He said Karen could sit inside the
wheelbarrow and he could push her around the block to church - it worked real
well! Walter's gonna do that every day
for her. Both Karen and I were overjoyed
and gave Walter a big hug. What a
strange world!?! I would never have
thought that Walter would be so nice when he didn't have to be. Between him and Pop, I'm not sure of anything
anymore! I'm getting along better with
Mrs. D. too. She took me, Kathy and Lisa
to a Disney movie in a real theatre in Red Bank. We had popcorn and everything! Mrs. D. told my mom that she could cut my
hair, if it was okay with her. Mom said
yes and I'm going to go over tomorrow and get my hair cut. Mom's calling me for dinner, so I gotta
go. Bye for now.
Well,
some things never change; Pedro got me again today. It was kinda dad's fault. Dad decided to make a soapbox derby racer and
as soon as it was done Pedro, Roger, Walter and dad were driving it up and down
the street. Pedro was talking to dad
about his garden, that he had too many tomatoes and did dad want some. Of course dad said yes. You know what that means don't you? Yep, I get to be the one to go with Pedro to
his house to get the tomatoes. I should
have stayed in the house with Karen instead of watching the boys with the car,
so I guess it's kinda my fault too 'cause I know better. Anyway, Pedro couldn't take too long 'cause
my dad was waiting for the tomatoes, so it was real quick. I'm really good at pretending it's not
happening now, so I almost don't even care.
What I care most about is making sure Karen doesn't get hurt by anyone,
anymore! She's hurting enough
already. After I brought the tomatoes to
dad, I went and got Karen so we could plant the new garden. Karen told me she knew I got sent to Pedro's
and she said we should plant the garden to change Pedro but I said no. We had to plant it for her to get
better! I told her she just had to get
better! I told her that I needed her -
you know what she said? She told me she
will always be my best sister and my best friend, that I didn't ever have to
worry about that. I told her I would
always be a good sister to her too; but I'm still worried. I told Karen that we should practice singing
the new song Mrs. Mount taught us, The Rebel.
She agreed and we got to work. We
made a really nice little garden - I sure hope it works! I'm gonna pray real hard tonight too. We're going to be practicing after dinner
'cause we sing special music in church tomorrow. Both dad and Walter will be playing
guitar. Karen has a new wig that she's
going to wear for the first time tomorrow.
The wig's okay, but I sure do miss her real hair. The wig's not even the
same color her hair used to be. Oh well, I don't think Karen minds it much at
all. Gotta go. Bye for now.
We
did a great job in church and everyone applauded us! After church, everyone came up to my parents
and said what a good job we had done. I
watched as most everyone had to reach out to touch Karen. Her smile was so
bright and her face was flushed with happiness, people just had to connect with
her, touch her. It was easy for me to
see how people looked at her because I can be invisible when I want to be. Okay, not really invisible, but there is a
way to become so small, people don't notice you and I'm getting real good at
that, too. I'm hoping maybe my parents
won't see me and I'll hear something about what's wrong with Karen. They've been very careful so far, but I'll
try anything! Even if I don't find out
what's wrong with Karen, I do see what's special about her. She makes people love her - you just can't
help it. People are starting to send her
cards and money! Some people even
donated blood for her. I know that I'm
lucky she's my best sister and friend. I
would do anything for her 'cause I know she loves me more than anybody else
does. She's proven that many times
already. I only wish I was old enough to
donate blood for her, but I promise to donate blood when I am old enough
anyway.
We
went over to grandmas after church like usual, but it's not so bad
anymore. Pop sure is different now that
he doesn't drink and has no legs. He
tells us the funniest stories! My
favorite is the one about the man who took his date out to eat, but only had 50
cents. It was a very funny sing-songy
poem about the way his date "said she wasn't hungry, but this is what she
ate", and Pop goes on and on about all the food she's eating and "he
has but 50 cents". In the end, the
poor man gets beaten up all because he has only 50 cents. I never knew he could tell such funny
stories.
Dad
came up with the idea of bringing Pop over to our house so he could go
swimming. At first Pop said no, but dad
convinced him and helped him change into shorts. Everyone got real excited and mom took all us
kids home so we could change too.
Grandma said she would come over with dad and Pop.
Dad
brought Pop over to the pool, then lifted him out of the wheelchair and put him
over the side of the pool in to the water.
Pop floated real good! He said it
almost felt like he had legs again and he swam around the pool really enjoying
himself. Karen didn't go in the pool at
all, but the rest of us kids got in with Pop. He got tired pretty quick so dad
and Walter had to put him back in the wheelchair 10 minutes later, but he
really enjoyed his swim. We had a
barbeque with the Digory's for dinner.
It was a wonderful day and I was almost sad when Pop and grandma went
home. What a strange world this is.figure
out how I'm gonna get up there. There's
got to be some way, I just know it! I'm
so worried and scared for Karen; nobody should bleed that much. I'm gonna read a book, I have to do something
or I'm going to go crazy. I hate staying
at the Digory's. I mean Mrs. Digory is
nice, she tells me to call her Mrs. D., which is what my sisters call her, but
something about her makes me feel funny.
I really wish Karen was here.
This stinks.
You'll
never guess what Karen did! She decided
that there was nothing in the world that was going to stop me from coming to
see her - so she went on a hunger strike!
She refused to do anything the doctors asked her to do until they finally
relented and they bent the rules for Karen and me! I was the only 10 year old kid that was
allowed to go up to the third floor pediatric waiting room where Karen and I
could meet. We were both overjoyed when
we got to hug, we both cried. She looked
so very tired. She had IV tubes all over
her little arms. Karen told me that she
started taking some medicine called chemotherapy. It was supposed to make her
better, but right now it was making her throw up a lot. That's not good 'cause she's already not a
good eater and way too skinny. She told
me that her hair is starting to fall out.
I feel so sad for her. I told her
that I would keep praying hard for her and that she just had to get better - we
were a team! She smiled and held my
hand. We stayed quiet for awhile, just
happy to be sitting together. Mom left
us alone and went to talk with the nurses.
I told Karen that Pop was supposed to be coming home today, but he won't
have any legs. I told her that at first
they had amputated Pop's legs below the knee and he might have walked again,
but the gangrene stuff forced them to amputate again above the knee, so now his
legs were just 7 inches long, and he'll never walk again. If he can't walk then he can't walk down the
basement stairs. We were both happy
about that. It meant we really were
saved by God! Now, God had to save
Karen. I told Karen we had to plant a
new garden for her. She said that was a
good idea and we will do that when she feels better. I could see Karen was getting real tired, so
when mom got back I told her to take Karen to her room. I needed to let her get
some sleep. I put my forehead against
hers and told Karen I would come and see her every single day. I told her how much I loved her and then I
finally let go so mommy could wheel her back to her room. Karen smiled and waved at me, I waved
back. I felt so much better seeing her,
but I also felt real sad. This was one
monster that I couldn't help her fight and that made me feel real weak and
miserable. All I can do is pray and
visit with her as much possible. I'm so
glad I can visit her now.
Karen
went back in to the hospital today, another nose bleed that just wouldn't
stop. We had to stay with Mrs. D again
today. I was so worried and scared. She said I could talk to her, but how can I
do that? She doesn't know how Pop used
to be, Mrs. D. has only seen him since God fixed him, and he's much nicer
now. How do I explain how important
Karen is to me? All I know is how I feel
and I never tell anyone except Karen how I feel. Most times I don't even have to say anything
at all; she just knows what I'm feeling.
Then Mrs. D. did the best thing anyone could have done for me; she gave
me a really good book. She said this
book was her most favorite book when she was a young girl and she thinks I'll
like it. It's called, "The Lion,
The Witch and The Wardrobe" by C.S. Lewis.
Mrs. D. is right, it is a wonderful story, I'm almost finished with the
first book already. When she saw how
quickly I was reading, she told me there were seven books total in the series
and it was called, "The Chronicles of Narnia" and she has all of
them. She somehow knew I could get lost
in such a magical book and I certainly needed to do that; I'd go crazy
otherwise. Reading
I
turned 11 years old today and started the sixth grade. I feel so lucky and happy - Mrs. Manhiemer is
not my teacher! There's a brand new 6th
grade teacher named Miss Silberman and she got all the sixth grade students
that Mrs. Manhiemer didn't want. I
thought that was funny. She didn't want me as a student because she already had
Walter, but Walter and I are very different students. I like school and I love to read, Walter
hates school and hates reading. We had a
lot of the same teachers in Broadway school and after having him as a student,
they didn't expect much from me. It didn't take long for them to realize we
are brother and sister, but we're not the same person. I don't care at all that
Mrs. Manhiemer didn't want me 'cause I know I didn't want her! It's too soon to tell how good a teacher Miss
Silberman will be, but she seems real nice.
I'll have to let you know.
Karen's
supposed to be coming home on Friday, but she won't be starting school when she
gets out. Mom said she's too weak to
walk to school so she's going to have a tutor come to grandma's house to teach
her. I'm real glad that she doesn't have
to walk to school yet, 'cause when I saw her yesterday, she was so very
tired. She came out to the waiting room,
but was too exhausted to play any games, so I just read some of "The Lion,
The Witch and The Wardrobe" to her.
She loved the story, too. Now
that Karen knows about Aslan, she always keeps my very best lion with her in
bed and it makes both of us feel better.
I
hope Karen gets a good tutor, someone nice.
Mommy said the tutor will start working with Karen on September 10th,
next Monday, so I might get to meet her then.
Well, that's all the news for now, bye.
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