First Duke Hospital Visit

I made my first trip to Duke Hospital since Joe's death today. First let me just report that I did go by and see Brian, Kaitlin, and Paxton Phelps. Paxton is doing well although having a little pain from the procedures from yesterday. He seems to have tolerated his first chemo treatment quite well. He was active playing the Wii and having a reasonably good day. The pain was stemming from his hip where they had done the procedure on Friday. They have given him Zofran to combat the nausea before and after his treatment. He will be at Duke at least until Friday and then after coming home will continue his treatments on a weekly basis. Kids are so resilient that if it wasn't for the fact that he was in a hospital bed you wouldn't know that he was sick. Kaitlin and Brian are handling it as well as can be expected. Of course it is difficult on them. They seem very happy with their oncology team and the care that Paxton is getting at Duke. I even got to visit with my good friend Courtney (Their sister in law and Paxton's aunt) who was also up there with him. Everyone is extremely optimistic but they still need your prayers and support.

Before I visited Paxton on the fifth floor I made my first visit since Joe's death up to the 9300 unit. As I walked down the hall I wasn't sure whether I wanted there to be any nurses there that I knew or whether I wanted there to be no one that i knew. The first person that I saw as I rounded the corner was Kim the dietitian who had taken such good care of Joe and always make sure he had tea for breakfast since he doesn't drink coffee. She gave me a big hug, expressed her sympathy and I cried. Next up was Grace, one of the nurses that had taken such good care of Joe.  She is also the nurse that always gave us extra blue socks. The first words out of her mouth were "are you up here for socks?" She had a big smile on her face and it made me smile. We talked for a while, I cried, she expressed her sympathy and inquired as to what my support system was. I then moved on down the hall and saw yet another nurse that had taken such good care of Joe and we talked for a while too. She told me that they had the picture of Joe from the card I had sent to the floor posted on the wall around the corner. As I left from her I went down that hall and sure enough there was the card with Joe smiling that wonderful smile of his. I had a really good cry then and then left the floor. However before getting on the elevators I took a moment to get a purple pancreatic Cancer ribbon, write " rest in peace my love, Joe Lupton" and tied it on the frame that they have outside the elevators of the multicolored ribbons for different cancers. I then got one of the orange ones for leukemia and wrote Paxton's name on it too. If anyone is ever up at Duke, please go up to the ninth floor just outside the elevator and see the ribbons where you can write names of your loved ones who are dealing with or have dealt with cancer. After you write their name, tie it to the frame. Over time the ribbons cascade to the floor. In January the length of the ribbons was about 12 feet. They must have recently removed those and started anew as the frame is just starting to be covered. All of the colors are quite beautiful and quite sad at the same time as it represents so many people who have dealt with or are dealing with this dreaded disease. Joe, your name is there again as I lift prayers for you and for me. Paxton your name is there now as I lift a prayer for you.

Going to the 9300 unit was a big step for me and the last hurdle of going back to Duke and the place where I have so many memories.

Thank you to everyone for your continued prayers and support and thank you for remembering Paxton. God bless you all.