I woke up after 7:00am, got ready for Mom and Dad to pick me up. By the time they fielded a million calls at home and packed the car with their stuff and stuff for Jeff, we got into MGH after 10am.
Jeff was anxious for us to get there and was glad to see us when we arrived. Melissa had gotten there early so at least he wasn’t alone.
He said he had a good night before… sleeping when he could. We figured he crashed as soon as we left because he’d had such a long day, but his nurse Kim had him up for a walk, and then when they got back to his room, they stood looking out at the view out his window talking til almost 1:00 in the morning.
Tuesday was the day of waiting. Nothing to do all day unless symptoms got worse and he had to go into surgery—but he was feeling the same as he had on Monday.
We got confirmation that his surgery was scheduled for 12:45 on Wednesday. We saw Dr. Curry and some of the others and Jeff continued to do well on his neuro-functioning exams.
Visitors started coming. Pat took a half day of work and then showed up. Mike Natale came over after school. Susan visited on breaks from work and came by after work too.
Jeff continued talking about wanting to shave his head before surgery- and Dr. Curry said to go for it, that it actually makes it easier for them. He also explained more about the surgery and what Wednesday would be like, and Grammy and Bubba who had come to visit were there for that. They both had a hard time seeing Jeff, but hearing all of the details and being reassured by Curry somehow made it easier, especially for Bubba.
Tuesday night’s visitors were many:
Susan, Patrick and Kara Tighe
Debbie, Jack and Kevin McDermott
Joe Frost
Linda Natale
Eddie, Nancy and Michael Natale
Karen and Steve
Grammy and Bubba
Aunt Florence and Uncle Jack
Richie and Chrissy
Krissy and Matt
Ree Ree and Lindsay
Matt Morrissey, Jared Crowley, Ryan Gaetles, Josh and Kim
So it was fitting that Tuesday night was Jeff’s head-shaving party. Melissa brought in his clippers, and Jeff sat on the stool by his bead, like he was in the barber’s chair. Matt started things off with a big stripe down the middle of his head, back to front. Then we all took turns shaving strips. It was really funny.
Then people started getting creative, going in all sorts of funky directions. We told Jeff he should walk around and freak people out because he probably looked like he had some crazy disease that was eating away at this hair.
When Jeff was not quite finished, he switched and cut Pat’s hair. But Pat’s hair was too long and thick, so I got a pair of scissors from the nurse and cut it shorter, which made it easier for Jeff. He cut it clean, and then Dad finished shaving Jeff’s head and they got a picture together.
Tuesday this crazy lady who was visiting someone she knew on Blake 12 was saying to Mom that the bright green color she was wearing was a crazy color and something about jumping off a bridge if you’re wearing that color. She was nuts! But it became the running joke of the week between Mom and Susan.
We stayed late again Tuesday night, but finally the three of us headed home and hoped to get a good night’s sleep before the day of his surgery. I took a muscle-relaxer Mom had given me, which did the trick and I was up right away.
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