The Gelosi Project
She’s doing well, no new episodes. She will see her neurologist next week. The doctors don’t seem as concerned as us. That makes me antsy, because I don’t like waiting. But we’ll have real data to evaluate next week. In the meantime, Jordan is very content and feeling great. She even managed to use the [...]
It’s Tolstoy’s fault. Or maybe Dickens. Shakespeare didn’t help either. I suppose if we’re really pointing fingers, you’d have to include the Greeks and all those cavemen who told stories by firelight. I thank them all for sometimes dashing my hope. Because we all know the stories. The stories have been told so many times [...]
Fewer words on the blog always means the same thing: progress. I must admit, I’m a little reticent to say much every tenth month of the year. It’s one of my favorite months, but for so many years it was a curse for Jordan. She beat that curse in 2007, and ever since we’ve been [...]
The new drugs are supposed to settle her down, but she seems more hyper than ever. Maybe it has nothing to do with brain tumors or medications. Maybe it’s just a kid at age 11. She has a momentum that can wear you down. She’s always chattering. She’s always fidgeting. She’s always in the spot [...]
There were murmurs on the other end of the phone. Before I could finish saying hello, Jordan interrupted me. – Daddy, I can stop chemo! Her voice was charged with excitement. She rattled off a thousand words a minute without a breath. I don’t even recall most of what she said. I just lingered on [...]
It’s the long awaited day. It started like any other, except everyone’s nerves are frayed. Jordan is moody. It’s understandable, but doesn’t help any of us stay upbeat.
Jeanette and Jordan She did very well today for the MRI. She went through the accessing process without any fuss, and she woke up easily (always a gamble). When I got home tonight, she was lounging comfortably and was very talkative. I didn’t go with her today, but I received texts from Jeanette throughout the [...]
The girls let me photograph them this afternoon and I thought it would make a nice addition to The Journey. The light glints off them. The heavens shine on them. The highlights intrigue them. The shadows define them. They glide together, in turbulence and in skies of tranquil calm. They move and pause and dart [...]
Monday is a big day. Not because it marks the first Monday Night Football game of the season. Not because it starts the first full week of school for the kids. Not even because it is Amy Winehouse’s birthday (one of Jordan’s favorite singers). Monday, September 14th may be the end of a road we’ve [...]
We are determined. Jordan will read. It is our conviction, shared with her doctors, her teachers, her family and friends. It is the gift that eludes her, yet she never alludes to her disappointment. She pretends to read, scanning through books and improvising passages of story. She recalls everything that is read to her, sometimes [...]
Jordan 1 We underestimated traffic and we misinterpreted basic coordinates. By ‘we’ I mean ‘me.’ Caught up in the move, we missed the opening of the latest Harry Potter movie. Jeanette and I promised the kids we’d see it in theatres. Then another weekend went by, and another. By the time I actually got around [...]
Our family is exhausted and ecstatic, with just a touch of dazed and confused nostalgia. We moved from Pasadena to Santa Monica last Friday. Actually, the accurate description is that we moved Friday through Monday. Over the nearly 20 years we lived in Pasadena, we accumulated an awful lot of stuff. Moving from a large [...]
I was barely through the door when the scream erupted from her cupid bow mouth. She shouted protests and raised her voice as I set my keys upon the ledge. In the stalemate with her mother, she was emphatic about her position: she would not leave the room. When this position gained no ground, she [...]
She is back from camp and in rare form. Jeanette said Jordan chatted incessantly on the drive home from the bus drop off. She really enjoys camp. She rode horses, swam, performed in the talent show and received a standing ovation for her rendition of Baby Mine. Apparently, she stopped herself midway through the song [...]
She is back at Ronald McDonald Camp, and very excited about it. We won’t see her again until Thursday. She took her camera and promised to snap lots of pictures. I miss her already.
She had a rough chemo day. She did great getting accessed and hob-nobbing with some visiting celebrities. But the drugs socked her a little harder than usual. We think her body is starting to tolerate them less. She gets sick almost as soon as they drip. Fortunately, she doesn’t need to tolerate the drugs for [...]
She gave me a handsome handmade card. She drew all the pictures, and dictated her sentiments to her school aid. Here’s what I received in the booklet card, panel by panel: – He’s a great tickler! He knows my tickle spots, especially the one under my arm and my neck! – I also like to [...]
Jordan, The Persistent She plops down on the sofa next to me and sighs. – When are we going to the store to buy my tea? – When you clean your room. – Oh! She groans and heaves another sigh. – You always want me to clean my room. – If you didn’t mess it [...]
Two Strong Women One has quiet strength. She can withstand setback after setback, steel herself and trudge forward without much complaint. The other is a lion. She will overpower you with the force of her will, and let everyone in her path know that she has conquered you. My wife and my daughter flirt with [...]
Hooded Bandits She was supposed to clean her room, but she spent most of the day prancing around with a feather duster. I occupied my time playing with the camera. Occasionally, she would sit with me for a portrait or comment on one of the photos. She’s excited for summer to start, and she’s eager [...]
Standing four foot ten inches tall, she is in the 75th percentile for height in her age range–a tall, leggy beauty. She scored 60 out of 60 on an English and vocabulary test–a verbose, dizzyingly articulate, and an often downright sassy debater. And she is 108 days away from an end to chemotherapy–a testament to [...]
Faced with harsh possibilities for the future, enterprise is just what the doctor ordered.
Pink and purple refract from her body in kaleidoscopic patterns–a spring skirt, a bright top, a jaunty hat. She has erupted from her room, petals showing, ready to pollinate. Her latest seed ground: publishing. She informs me that she plans to edit a fashion magazine. – I have to talk about fashion, Dad. Because people [...]
We talked to the orthopedic surgeon today. And, Jordan will need surgery. Two surgeries. They want to move tendons, sculpt muscle and chip bone–on each foot. It sounds dreadful. She wants to have the feet done at the same time, but the surgeon advised against it. He told her she would be in a cast [...]
