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.

Wednesday, July 6th, 1977-In which Pete's Father reveals more of his true colors, we visit the Hospital, and Pete gets an IV

Unseasonably cold today and we were properly grateful.  It was pleasant to be able to sleep under a blanket without finding even a sheet intolerably hot.  Marilyn Cates called and woke us up about 9:30am.   She wanted to see if we would like a ride to Bible Study at Pat DeVore's.  I was so sleepy I had to say no (I always wake up fuddled till I I have my morning coffee-something I think I must have inherited from her-PL-and my arm was very painful this morning).  I did tell her I'd like to go next time-apparently everybody brings their children and they just play together while the mamas talk.  I called John and asked about schools for Sylvia.  He said both May Roberts and St. Matthews have been highly recommended to him.  I think I'll try St. Matthews next year (at least I will if Pete keeps on doing so well), because it's close enough so we can walk there...called Sylvia and she said we'd have to skip going out this weekend because they're broke but they might go camping, and if Pete and I could wait till the last minute (in case Dave's job interferes) maybe we could go along.  We'll go out another time.  John Sandquist picked me up to go the hospital.  There was a Doctor Peter Sullivan in ER today-he told me he had been at the clinic in San Francisco where they had first thought about sending Petey (noting that, at the time, the treatments I was going through were fairly revolutionary-at least for where we lived-PL).  He's a pediatrician and very good-he found a good vein and got into it on the first try and administered Pete's IV himself.  He put Pete completely at ease-told him to be sure and remember Peter is a good name.  They were really on their toes-the pharmacy sent down Methatrexate(sp) in an IV instead of Venncristen(sp) but it wasn't administered-Thank God.  I think it would have killed him.  John brought along 2 letters for me Stewart had mailed to him.  Stewart said he was going to get Barclay's Bank to prosecute for the money I owe them (when I was having Pete, they advanced (amount unclear-PL) and Stewart got the check it was advanced against and put it in another bank (even from 38 years away, I can see her seething-my father had that power over a lot of people-PL).  They made a half-hearted attempt to recover it while I was in England but so far as I know had dropped the matter completely before I left England.  He also threatened to have me put in jail for Welfare fraud.  Then he ordered us to come to England for 6 months for a "reconciliation", then he said he'd get Pete's custody and I'd be allowed unlimited access, but I'd have to finance my own trips to England.  Unfortunately, Pete overheard part of the conversation enough to know that his father is a bad man who wants to put mommy in jail.  He said, "Mommy, I don't want you to go to jail.  Why would Stewart do a thing like that? We'll have to talk to Cliff (Cliff Looney is my attorney-and still practicing to this date-PL)".  I was dismayed he'd picked up so much and tried to explain Stewart's actions (I have trouble enough explaining them to myself-let alone Pete), then he (Stewart) begged for a picture of Petey and me... but I've heard enough about kidnapping in custody disputes so I'm not sending him one.  Anyway, if he were going to be sentimental about Pete's picture, he should have asked for one last year when Pete was in hospital and we all thought he would die.  He's just a year too late, but his letters were so nasty they upset me (as, of course, he meant them to).  John planned to write to Stewart and give him the address of the Welfare Department.  He plans to show the letters to Cliff Looney.  Read the letters while Pete and I waited for the doctor.  Dr. Sullivan seemed quite pleased that Pete had been in his 1st remission for sol long.  I guess that's a good sign.  They gave Pete two balloons in ER, a green one with a bear (Pete said, "It's like the bear in The Peasant's Pea Patch" that gets into the horse collar"..for as much as we read, he has a really retentive memory), and a blue one.  He saw Sister Angelica today and was so pleased.  When we got home at 4:30pm, he ate soup and I had a bologna sandwich.  Then he "programmed" his nap..."Mommy, I'm going to dream about my fireworks (sparklers) and about going to the Dairy Queen, but not about IVs".  Called Thelma tonight-one of Herman's relations took $65.00 out of Thelma's purse-makes nearly a hundred dollars she's lost by theft in a week, she was afraid the people at the migrant school might think she had taken the money because she's the only new staff member.  She's had an awful run of bad luck-seems hardly possible one person can have so many problems.  Marilyn Cates called again tonight-Roger was out playing tennis-so we had a long chat.  We hope to get together either Friday or Saturday (she was a bit under the weather today with a pain in her side).  Pete's looking forward to showing Nicole his organ (he keeps calling it his "recorder") .  Today he showed John how he can plug it in, turn it on, and play it all by himself.  He barely lets me touch it.  Marilyn promised to call me some evening about 10:00pm-she said she often feels blue then and needs to talk to someone else to get things back in perspective.  I get lonely in the evenings so I'm really looking forward to having someone to talk to.  Called Betty and Dad tonight.  The carpet layers had been and Betty said she had nowhere to cook so they went out to eat and brought back chicken and fries for Mom and Dad.  Dad said Mom really liked the portrait.  I told him I was sorry not to have it framed, but I spent all my money on Pete's organ.  Pete and played football on the front lawn and he had tricycle time in back.  He decided he didn't want to walk to the Dairy Queen today, he wants to do that tomorrow.  He didn't want a bath so I taped his toes and we read The Green Thumb Story and The Lonesome Egg (Bill's "bird egg" hatches into a turtle).  I'm reading Helen MacInnes' Friends and Lovers-very romantic, even "love at first sight".