She heads to CHLA in about an hour for her quarterly MRI. I’ve never seen her this anxious before. She’s really worked herself up into a bundle of nerves. To top it off, she’s had a nasty headache since she awoke. When you add that to the mandatory fasting before anesthesia, you have an uncomfortable, nervous, somewhat dramatic patient on your hands. But she has reason to be nervous, so we sit with her, hold her hand, share encouraging stories, and try to keep her comfortable.

A few years ago, I decided to take a slightly objective point of view to this blog site. Although it is nearly impossible not to inject my feelings, I wanted to chronicle Jordan’s story so that she could appreciate it years later. It wasn’t so much that I wanted to distance myself, but more that I wanted the site to be about her, rather than me. This post is an exception to the rule.

She’s a little nervous. She has a full week ahead. On Monday, she returns for chemotherapy. Then, Tuesday she goes in for a new MRI scan. Wednesday, it’s a full evaluation from her neurooncologist. All in all, she’ll be spending a lot of time at Children’s Hospital. I have previously written about her growing maturity and sense of wellness. January will mark the sixth year of her journey. In six years, any child will change a lot.

Even in November, Jordan prefers to lounge California style–in a bikini. She had a rough couple of days this weekend. Saturday, as we started our weekly pancake ritual, she suddenly ran for the bathroom. By the time I caught up with her she was retching over the toilet, emptying what little she had in her stomach. True to form, Jordan was unstoppable. As I held her hair, she kept trying to talk to me, garbling her words with burps and vomit.

Our refrigerator melted down. When I awoke Tuesday to a pool of water, I blamed the kids for not closing the freezer door. Then I hopped on a plane for a week of travel. It turns out the kids closed the door. The fridge shorted out. As a result, all the food we’d saved / neglected / relied upon spoiled. Other than a few essential items Jeanette purchased yesterday, the cooler is now completely bare.