Monday, July 11, 1977-in which Pete shares his fears

Pete and I had a very quiet, pleasant day today.  John took us up to the hospital for Pete's blood test.  Shirley did it and Pete didn't fuss at all.  She forgot to put a band aid on but Pete didn't seem to mind.  He saw Sister Angelica and told her he'd got two fish.  John took Pete's Prednisone and my Tremon to Skagg's (which eventually evolved into Rite-Aid-PL) to be filled.  Betty Phipps came over briefly this morning before we had to go and Pete had a good time telling her about our trip.  I discovered Pete's doctor appointment is tomorrow and not Wednesday, so I called Sylvia and told her I thought we'd better skip the Payette Swimming pool.  She said they told her the afternoon was usually pretty crowded, and Pete doesn't feel secure enough in the water to like horseplay.  I arranged for Sylvia to bring Sharon over to play with Pete while she grocery shops on Thursday.  If it's hot tomorrow I'll get Pete's little wading pool out for him since it's an even-numbered day (because of the water shortage they're still allowing irrigation only on alternate days).  Pete got a package fro Carol Carr today "beach combings", shells, odd rocks, a tiny piece of coral, some seaweed-I think tomorrow we'll take his "seashore" book and try to identify everything-pretend we're walking along the beach.  Pete and I took early naps and he went on a TV viewing orgy; "The Flintstones", "Sesame Street", "Mr. Rogers", "Electric Company" and "The Brady Bunch".  Then I unplugged the set.  Pete didn't want to go outside tonight, tho' he did sit on the front steps and blow bubbles for a while.  He helped with cooking today, hamburgers, pork chops, and three small cans of cooked carrots (better for snacks than candy, I guess).  We saved two of the cans for his "store" but I draw the line at three.  He had a little spot on his back-I tried to investigate to see if were a bruise or an insect bite, but Petey told me "Mom I just have a spot because I'm very sick with Leukemia".  Then he asked me if he had to walk very slowly because he had Leukemia.  He said he told Vicky that he had it and she said they had to be very careful, then he asked me about the time when he was very sick and couldn't see any strangers, and then tell him about the things he can do now.  He said he was frightened to go to sleep but wouldn't tell me why.  I should have realized that his illness is frightening to him, too, and he needs to talk about his fears.  We played race cars on the table, and dollhouse in the playroom (which Pete cleaned very nicely all by himself).  Called Dad-Mom's having some bleeding again so she's seeing the doctor tomorrow.  Pete switched back to 6MP and Methatrexate today.  I read The Silent Cousin and Stranger at Rembrooke today.  Read Pete Wheels That Work (a pop-up book), The Christmas Story, Child's Garden of Verses, and Little Red Riding Hood today.