We’ve been pretty busy over the past few days. Saturday night Ellie and I went out to Starbucks to get some hot chocolate because it was a chilly night and who doesn’t love hot cocoa with whipped cream when the weather turns cold. The manager at Starbucks recognized Ellie from the Thanks and Giving campaign (it didn’t hurt that she was wearing one of her signature ‘Ellie’ ball caps) and was excited to talk to her and give her a hug. She asked Ellie to autograph their St. Jude marathon poster and she was so nice to give us our hot chocolates on the house. It is these times, times that are unexpected, sincere and heartfelt, that move me the most. The complete kindness that strangers show toward Ellie is wonderful and it instills such hope in me about how good people really are. I am glad that Ellie brings that out in them because it makes us all feel good. Oh, and the hot chocolate was delicious! Sunday morning Ellie and I got up early to head over to St. Jude to meet with Jon and Kate from the TLC channels, Jon and Kate plus 8 TV show. It’s a reality show about a couple that had twin girls and then a few years later they had sextuplets. So they have 8 children – hence the name of the show. We have watched the show several times before and the little kids are very cute. Hospital rules will not allow children that are not relatives to interact with patients so the kids were sent over to the Danny Thomas pavilion while their parents came into the hospital. A closed circuit television was rigged up so the St. Jude kids could interact with Jon and Kate’s kids. There were several families that attended and Kate and Jon passed out their book and DVDs. The TLC cameras were there and this visit to St. Jude will be integrated into an upcoming Jon and Kate holiday show that will air on December 15th. It was a quick visit and Ellie was bummed out that she couldn’t meet with the kids since that is what she really wanted to do. After Jon and Kate headed out with their brood, the producers of the show hung around and interviewed me and Ellie and another St. Jude patient, Ellen and her parents. We talked about the importance of St. Jude and what the hospital means to us. Ellie wasn’t really in the interviewing mood so when they asked her what she was most thankful for at St. Jude, she responded that she was thankful for her cats. I thought that was funny. Right after the interview we learned that Ellie’s platelet count was very low, at a critical level even. She was starting to get something called petechia which is when the blood vessels break under the skin and cause little red rashes. She had two spots so I knew her platelet count was dangerously low. She was transfused with new platelets and was fine after that. Sunday night we headed back over to the Dooners for chili and corn bread. We didn’t have enough time on Thanksgiving to sit and talk since we headed out right after dessert when Ellie’s eye bothered her. Fred, Julie and their children were there and it was great to sit and talk about our journey and how blessed we have been. We had a fabulous time and we just are so grateful to have this family in our lives. We also finally were able to see the interview on Larry King – the full interview. The link that I had placed up showed most of the interview but left out 2 or 3 minutes worth. There is a Youtube.com video that someone has uploaded but the quality isn’t super. Just search for Ellie Bouchard and Larry King and it will come up. Today Ellie and I got up early again and headed to downtown Memphis. She was asked to participate in a commercial with golf pro, Camilo Villegas. It will air on the golf channel sometime in the future. I am not a golf fan but our friends, Mark and Diana are – well I guess just Mark is really – but they told me that Camilo is a very popular golfer and Diana added in that he is easy on the eyes. The commercial set design was very cute and whimsical and Ellie was with 4 other children. Thankfully there weren’t as many takes as there was with the Jennifer Aniston commercial so we were finished in just 2 hours. Camilo had a soft spot for Ellie and when she was getting tired at one point, he had her sit with him on his lap. There were two other golfers at the shoot, Morgan Pressel and Vijay Singh but Ellie didn’t have any scenes with them. We are planning on relaxing and letting Ellie get her counts back up this week. I will be busy working on Tickle Bellies orders all week and before you know it, we will be packing to head back home. Hopefully just 2 more weeks will be left for us. We are keeping our fingers crossed for no delays. We hope to learn more about our upcoming schedule in the next day or two. As always, thank you a million times over for your prayers and support. Please continue to pray that Ellie has no cancer in her body and that her immune system will rebound within the next few days. Her MRI is scheduled for December 9th and we are praying so vigilantly for no tumor evidence. Thank you so much for joining us with this petition to God. We know He hears our prayers. All our love, The Bouchards
ps- new photos are up http://www.flickr.com/photos/72005145@N00/
|
