Tag: soho

Soho and a Circus

Ro and I started off our morning the way we usually do. Cuddly and quiet. We sat and played in his bed and enjoyed our quiet time together. My mom came to the hospital with Tricia around 11. So happy to see my bestie. Ronan was not a happy camper at first, but he soon warmed up to Trish. It’s his whole I know my mommy is leaving thing that gets him into his little moods. I told him I was going home to shower and he agreed to let me. Thanks Sarg, as my New York Miss Macy likes to call him. I headed out the doors of Sloan with Trish and we went back to the RMH so I could shower and get ready for our few hours out. We figured out which Subway we needed to get on to get to SoHo… Woody  would have been SO proud. I am determined to master that thing by the time I leave here. We spent a few hours in Soho roaming the streets and had a bite to eat. It was so nice to catch up with my TT and to actually get to hear about things that are going on in her life. She is so concerned with mine that the phone conversations we have usually consist of what is going on with me and Ronan. I hate that. I hate that I feel like I am missing out on the little things that are going on with her, even if it is knowing what she is doing for lunch. I used to be so spoiled in that regard and would know what her entire day/night consisted of. I miss that so much. The simple things, the little things, the nothing is new because we talk 5 times a day about anything and everything and nothing. There is no more nothingness now as everything is wrapped up in this cancer cloud. The innocence has been lost forever in my life and I will never get it back. Neither will my best friend. But we keep holding on, telling each other that we will be stronger after all of this. Totally see a trip to Vietnam in our near future, TT 😉

After our Soho day out, we rushed back to RMH and I threw together my overnight bag so I could return to Sloan. My friend, Ed, emailed me a couple of weeks ago in regards to seeing a Broadway show. I told him about my mom and Trish coming into town and the next thing I knew we had tickets to “Billy Elliot.” Somebody he knows (a very kind person indeed) treated us to the show. THANK YOU, Ed’s friend:) I wasn’t able to go, due to Ro being in the hospital so I sent my mama, Trish, a woman, Barbra who runs this amazing organization called The Candlelighters in NYC, and a mom and daughter(who is 7 with cancer) to the show. They had an amazing time. It meant so much to me. This is my mom’s first trip to NYC and one of my wishes was for her to go to a show on Broadway. It should be something that everybody checks off their bucket list. It felt so great knowing that my mom was getting to do something that is so special to me; she deserves it so much. Thank you, Ed for organizing this. Thank you, Barbra, for taking such good care of my mom and Trish. They loved you and I cannot wait to spend more time with you. What you do for other cancer families is simply amazing.

I spent the night here with Ronan doing our usual thing. We made slime with the Childlife guys, played more Star Wars and I fed him dinner. We had a very special visit with my dear friend, Niki. It was comical and sad all at the same time. Niki, who is here with both of her young children put them in a cab and came to Sloan with cupcakes and dinner for us. I told Ronan that they were coming by and asked if I could go out to the elevators on our floor to say hi and grab our food. He said yes but was upset they couldn’t come in our room to see us. I left him in his bed and ran out to see Niki and the kids. I was greeted by the best giggles, smiles, hugs, and tears in the world. It was so nice to have my friend wrap her arms around me and hug me the way she does. She gives great hugs. I chatted with them for a few minutes then decided to go back and see if Ronan would come out to say hello. He agreed so I picked him up, and wheeled his “asspole,” out to the floor of our room. As I was wheeling it down the hall I was suddenly hit with a moment of panic wondering how Laely and Wesley would react to Ronan’s pole and the tubes coming out of his little body. My panic almost stopped me in my tracks but I then remembered feeling the same way over Laely seeing Ronan’s bald head for the first time and the conversation I had with Niki about it and how Laely didn’t even notice. To her, she was just seeing her friend, Ronan. She doesn’t get that he has cancer (they are the same age) she’s not scared of him… to her, he is the same little boy as always. The world is exactly as it should be in her eyes. Seeing those 3 kids tonight was the best medicine in the world. This is how our world works now, and we have to make the best of it. So tonight, Ronan got to see his friends through the glass doors of our floor as they could not come in and we could not go out. I held Ronan and watched as Laely and Wesley smushed their faces up to the doors and I got down on the ground and kissed them through the glass. We laughed, played, and loved. It was the best 10 minutes Ronan’s had in a very long time. Made both of our nights and we all parted way smiling.

Ronan and I then came back to our room to prepare for our nightly walk. Tonight though, he insisted we take all 4 of his guns with him and the very special balloons that were delivered to him from Dr. Maze today. I tried to talk him out of him out of taking the balloons with us, but he went into complete meltdown mode. (Thank you, Aubrey… you would have loved the smile those balloons got you:))) Ronan wins. I tied the bundle of the biggest, cutest, animal balloons in the world, onto his pole and I somehow managed to walk the halls with him for 30 minutes without breaking my neck. I couldn’t see a thing and everybody kept saying we looked like a circus. We got a lot of laughs tonight and went on a very special mission to try to find our nurse, Jen, who was hiding from us on the floor. She would jump out at random places and Ronan would blast her with 2 of the 4 guns that he made me carry. Very entertaining night around here. I swear, I’ll do anything to hear Ronan laugh these days.

After our walk, Ro was worn out so we came back to his room and snuggled in his bed. He kept telling me how much he loved me and we sang our nightly “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star,” together and he soon drifted off to sleep. I am listening to his little breaths as I sit beside him and write this. It’s my favorite part of the night, watching him sleep. We’ve been in the hospital for 3 weeks now, 21 days, 504 hours…. this is complete insanity and unfairness. I would give anything for this to all go away. I would give anything to be at home with my family, where I belong, taking care of my Liam who had to stay home from school today because he is sick with the flu. I would give anything to be the normal mom again. Except this time, I wouldn’t whine about my child throwing up all day due to the flu. I would be SO VERY THANKFUL. I cannot wait for the day that Ronan is well and this happens to me. One of my kids gets sick with only an ear infection, a cold, or the flu. It will be one of the best days of my life.

While I was sitting here writing tonight, I got an email from my friend, Jon who is cousins with the little girl, Phoebe I talk about sometimes on here. She was Ronan’s last roommate at Sloan and I just had lunch with her mom the other day. Jon came to visit us a couple of weeks ago before he took the train to visit Phoebe and her family. Love him.  I’ve been feeling pretty strong these past few days but a paragraph into Jon’s email and I was bawling like a baby. Not because I was sad, but because the things he wrote to me hit such a nerve. His words were filled with such truth and light and it was as if a little light bulb went off in my head. “DINGDINGDINGDING!!!!” I am doing this. Woody is doing this. Ronan is doing this. Phoebe is doing this.  We are all doing this and we are all going to get through this. We are too strong not to, Ronan is not going to let this cancer crap win and neither am I. Jonathon, somebody who did not know us at all, knew this after only spending a few days with us; just like the way I knew it about Phoebe within a few minutest of meeting her. She had this look in her eyes and I just knew she was going to come out the other side of this only more beautiful than ever. The same look that I see every time I look into those baby blues of Ronan’s. Fuck the statistics and fuck the odds. I refuse to listen to them because they have nothing to do with Ronan.

I’m ending my writing tonight with  Jonathon’s email (with his blessing) because his words are raw and real and give me strength. I love you and your beautiful family so much. Thank you for this gift tonight, my friend.

Goodnight to you all, my lovely souls. Thank you for all of your kind words, thoughts, prayers, support and love. But most of all, thank you for BELIEVING.

xoxo

Maya,

This is a quick note, not meritorious of a response. I’m writing tell you that you are a fucking badass. I’ve attempted to think of other ways to write this, less vulgar, more poetic, but fuck that.
I met a lot of folks at Sloan, visiting Phoebe for 6 months, or 8 months, or 10 months, or whatever the hell it was. And I worry about her every day, still. But the point of this note is to tell you that I knew you and Ro for only 4 days, and I saw that you were tired, and pushed against a wall, and still, more than anyone else I’d met, I knew in your eyes that you’d already won.
This was easy to see. I saw your resilience.
I don’t know anything about life. You called me out as a young fool, and you’re right, I know jack shit.
But I saw you, and Ro, your chests held high, and your smiles wide, and I felt your presence. Through those hideous turquoise plastic-felt curtains they threw between us, I felt your laughter, and your brilliant fuck-all attitude regarding the drivel we go through.
So this is one STRONG vote, from a kid in Chicago, saying laugh at their shit. Laugh at the crappy cots, and laugh at the exuberant candy-stripers, and laugh at the folks with FAKE smiles, because, let’s be frank, this is some bullshit. But that’s okay. Bullshit is bullshit is bullshit, and when I saw you, and Ro, and Woody, I saw the people I’d stake my livelihood on. I saw people I’d lay down in front of a train for.
Thanks for making me proud. Next time you feel that it’s too much, don’t worry. Just know that you’re already the most badass person I’ve ever met. You can do anything.
With love,

Jon

Empire State of Mind

 

I just spent the last 48 hours with Quinn and it was blissful. We woke up yesterday and I asked him what he wanted to do, as we had the whole day to spend together. He chose to go to The Empire State Building so we got ready for our adventure of the day. We stopped by Sloan before  as we went to say hello to my childhood friend, Jennifer, who came by to donate her platelets to Ronan. It was so nice to see her and introduce her to Quinn. We stayed for a little over an hour until she was ready to get started. We then headed out and grabbed a Taxi. It was a super busy Saturday there, as expected, but Quinn did so well and waited patiently to get to the top of the building. Once we were at the top, he was a little scared to go outside. It is so high up…. even made me a little nervous. I coaxed him into going outside and it was absolutely breathtaking. We stayed for a good hour and enjoyed the sights. Once we were safely back on the ground we hailed a cab and went and walked about SoHo and had dinner together. It was a perfect day with a perfect little boy. I bought him a journal at the Paul Frank store and he was so excited. He sat at dinner and wrote all about our day. It was adorable. After we finished dinner, we headed back to the RMH and then to the hospital to see Woody and Ronan. They opened up the playroom for us again so we could all hang out together. We stayed for about an hour and then Quinn and I returned home while Woody stayed at the hospital another night. I am so thankful that he spent so much time with Ronan while I had some one on one time with Quinn. The break from the hospital was nice as well.

This afternoon Quinn and I went to Delizia’s for his pizza (surprise, surprise) We ordered some to go for Woody and Ronan so we could bring it to them and let Quinn see Ronan before he and Woody got on their plane to go back to Phoenix. We spent some time in the playroom together and soon it was time for Wood and Quinn to leave. I tried to not cry but it was impossible with seeing how sad Ronan was. His little lip quivered and he buried his head in his knees. We said our goodbyes and I walked back with Ronan to his room. I sat and held him and quietly explained how Quinn and Dad would be back soon. My words didn’t matter or stop his little tears from falling. I let him cry and told him it was o.k. to be sad but it was my job to make him feel better. After he settled down, I talked him into taking a sponge bath. I filled up a tub of water and he ended up putting all of his Star Wars guys in it to bathe them before he took his bath. This occupied him for a good hour. We spent all the afternoon doing silly things like that and he finally laid down to take a little rest. He seems to be feeling better but his ANC is still at 0. Boo.

While Ronan was napping, my phone rang with a number I did not know, but I picked it up anyway. So happy I did. It was my sweet Charisma calling all the way from Australia where she is working. I was so surprised to hear her voice and so happy she called. She hasn’t been able to read my blog in a few days and just wanted an update and to see how we were doing. I updated her on some things and vise versa. She asked what our plan was and I told her that as of now, it was impossible to have one. We will have more of a plan once the results of Ronan’s scans on the 13 and 14th of April, come back. We will then decide what direction to move forward with all of this. Until then, we will just sit and wait and take things day by day. We will make the best out of each day that we have and take all the positives that we can get. It was good to talk to my friend and I told her to try to get some work in NYC so she could come and visit us. I miss her dearly.

My mom is taking the Red-Eye out tonight and arrives at 6 a.m. EST. I told her to just go to the RMH, get some rest, and we would call her when we got up so she can head over to the hospital. We can’t wait to see her and it will be so nice to have her here and her help. Now, if we could just get out of this hospital. I think we’ve been here for almost 2 weeks now…. without counting our 24 hours of freedom we had. Praying for his ANC to come up, very, very, soon. This hospital life is getting old for everybody… especially my little man.

For everyone who has been asking where you can mail things to I will give you the address to the RMH. It is

405 East 73rd Street, New York, NY 10021

Just address it to Woody, Maya or Ronan Thompson. You all are the sweetest friends/little rockstar fans/family. Thank you for all the well wishes, cards, and surprises you have sent us. Brings many smiles to our faces. I hope you had a lovely weekend. I’m going to cuddle up with my little bug now and try to get some sleep with him. Love to you all!!

xoxo