Cancer Treatment (++)
Physical Recovery (++)
Mental Recovery (++)
Summary
This will be my last post. Morgan is doing great. More to come (I’m sure) but not enough to keep this thread open. We’re overwhelmed by the sense of community in our lives and have a new-found appreciation for that. Simple gifts… entirely free.
Back to School
Morgan took it upon herself to attend school at Boise High 3 out of 5 days last week. Mind you, she only attended a couple of classes (not a full load) but the fact that she went – bald-headed and all – says something about her mental and physical state. I’m really proud of her for doing that… I’m not sure I could in similar circumstances. We didn’t expect her to return to school physically until after the first of the year. Encouraging.
Community
As we pass the end-of-treatment milestone and arrive at the end of this email series, I’d like to pause and reflect what we’ve been through together over the last year and a half. Let me start by defining who “we” are. There are 205 people who get this email directly (representing 13 US states and 7 countries in Europe, Latin America, and Asia). Many people forward this weekly email on to others. The individuals on this distribution represent our direct family (brothers, sisters, parents), our extended family (cousins, aunts, uncles), our friends (from the multiple places we’ve lived and worked), new friends with a common interest (children with cancer), and some people whom we haven’t even met.
The fact that you have stuck with us and Morgan over the last year is a great testament to this phenomenon called “community”. There are lots of definitions of that word but the one I like the most is “kinship… the state or fact of being of kin or family relationship.” You have been our extended family during this time… in spirit, in physical support, and in email. Collectively, you have sent 2,372 mails our direction over the last year and a half, offering your love and support in each (this includes one person who responded to every single email status I sent… you know who you are Jeff Carico). Thanks to all of you for that.
Please know that your kinship has given us great strength over this difficult chapter in our lives. When I was at my lowest, someone would send just the right message at just the right time. When I was too emotional to speak with others, these emails served the highly useful purpose of keeping people updated as well as giving me a place to process intelligibly. My intent was to be as transparent as we could be all along the way so as not to diminish the experience for you and for us. The result was a dialogue rich in feeling, whether you were sending or receiving.
Where Morgan goes from here is half up to her and half up to whatever destiny she has in store. You won’t see this weekly email any more but we will continue to have tests, observe for secondary effects of the treatment, and look for productive ways to turn the gifts you’ve given us over to someone else. If you wish to continue to follow Morgan’s story, I will post periodically to a blog at http://morgiestatus.morgansjourney.org.
For this final installment, I asked Morgan to jot a few notes about how she is feeling. The picture attached, I believe is making a statement to what we set the heat at in the house. Judge for yourself. Be well, my friends. T
Lately I have been feeling pretty good. I ended treatment a couple weeks ago and most of the pain disappeared with it. I have started going back to school for 2nd and 4th period. It makes me extremely happy to see everyone and act like a normal kid.
