The Gelosi Project
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 [...]
A groggy, and slightly cranky Jordan rests after the MRI It was a long, long day. For the most part, it went well. Jordan cooperated with the technicians for her MRI and she came to afterward with only minor fuss. She was groggy for the early part of the afternoon. Unfortunately, computer trouble at CHLA [...]
Jeanette lined us up in the backyard before we set out on our daddy/daughter excursion to the Music Center for a day of culture. Blue light reflected from the stage and bounced onto her snowy skin. The corners of her mouth lifted slightly as the pas de deux began. Clara and the Nutcracker locked their [...]
She’s a little nervous. She has a full week ahead. On Monday, she returns for chemotherapy. Then, Tuesday she goes in for a new MRI scan. Wednesday, it’s a full evaluation from her neurooncologist. All in all, she’ll be spending a lot of time at Children’s Hospital. I have previously written about her growing maturity [...]
For the first time since Jordan began her journey more than five years ago, we have cause to celebrate. Her MRI scans today revealed noticeable reduction in the size of the tumors. Her doctor was elated. So were we. She will be sticking with this drug protocol for the near future, hoping for further improvements [...]
Jordan the Shredder It was our first day on the slopes. We scheduled a private lesson for Jeanette and Jordan. It was hard to contain Jordan’s excitement. She chattered constantly and told every stranger that this was her first day snowboarding.
Jordan, as photographed through the MRI It has stalked her for five years, this amorphous sickness called cancer. She’s heard us whisper about it, exchange knowing glances, even openly discuss the process by which it challenges her as she goes about being a kid. But yesterday, for the first time, Jordan saw the disease with [...]
We savored every last bite of our Mexican food before making our way to the patio to carve the pumpkins. Luc was already in his costume, a white t-shirt inscribed with a self-designed iron-on that read “this is my Halloween costume. Deal with it.” Jordan was halfway through her transformation into the Princess Aurora from [...]
Jordan and Jeanette soak up sun with the rest of the beautiful people at the W. It was time for a break. Nearly twelve weeks of uninterrupted chemotherapy, a long summer, and a career change (I’m starting a new job in a week) demanded a week to just do nothing. The family needed to retreat [...]
–What day is it? Her eyes squinted off into a distant place, as though she were trying to recall a calendar page and picture it in front of her. She brushed her hair back from her face in a haphazard, distracted manner reflective of her intense concentration. –It’s Sunday, sweetie. She was quiet for a [...]
Our family has a rhythm these days. We fit. The twists and turns of Jordan’s Journey don’t stop us from behaving like an ordinary family with ordinary highs and lows. Only once in awhile do I stop to reflect on gravity and uncertainty and cancer. The Vincents Know How to Party A few nights ago [...]
We unfolded the single sheet of paper and handed Jordan a pen. The nurses looked on curiously. Six menu items were listed. She couldn’t read any of them, but she knew what the big rectangular box meant next to each. If she could check off each of these boxes, she’d earn a reward, and today’s [...]
Jordan scales a 20 foot rock wall at Islands of Adventure She is a child who confounds any notion I have of strength. Just when I think I’ve seen her grandest statement of perseverance, she proves me wrong — and nothing makes me happier. She attacked her first day in Orlando with Herculean strength. Nothing [...]
As we walked the corridors of CHLA, we were greeted by a couple of nurses and technicians. Jeanette and I said hello and stepped into the elevator on our way to the cafeteria while Jordan underwent an MRI. “It’s really sad that we recognize all these people,” I said. “No. It’s sad that they recognize [...]
You know you love the girl when you can close your eyes and picture her, riding belted in the car with a brimming grin and a chatty verse. You know you’re smitten when you can imagine her vivid blue eyes smiling in a landscape of noise and all you can do is sigh. When the [...]
The journey did not begin with cancer. It did not begin with tumors or with headaches or with stealthy genetic malfunctions waiting to emerge. In truth, its origins reach further back than the birth of my daughter. The journey began some 89 years ago, when a country girl named June first greeted the world with [...]
She is on her third pair of pajamas for the day, leading me to think she is the spawn of Hugh Hefner. She seems to have pjs for every hour, every occasion and every mood-swing.
We hinted at it before, but now it’s official. Jordan’s latest MRI scan shows a demonstrable reduction in the base tumor. We’ve been celebrating all morning.
Dear Grandchild: When your mother was little, she listened to Chopin while she slept at night. She’d say how she loved the quiet sound of the piano. Sometimes, I’d peek in on her after she’d fallen asleep. She looked so beautiful resting amongst her pink and purple sheets. She had soft, cream-kissed skin and flaxen-streaked [...]
“What’s my time again, Dad?” Lucas kept his eye on the pool, his swim cap a wee bit big for his head. It scrunched his eyebrows into an involuntary look of perplexity. “1:15:24,” I replied. “Remember to ask the timers how you did when you pull out of the water.” He nodded, still watching the [...]
There was fanfare. There was ballyhoo. It was our own undertaking of “Make a Wish” … sort of. Last weekend, Jordan, Jeanette and I indulged in a Manhattan retreat while Luc happily slept over with friends. The trip was planned for more than a year. Under normal circumstances, it would have just been me and [...]
Exhaustion got the best of her. Two days at the hospital in the same week. The pace of treatment and logistics and unknowing sapped all her energy. When the alarm sounded at 6am, nearly five minutes passed before she slapped the snooze. I was away, and Jeanette was tired. Luc woke before dawn. The act [...]
She has a dream. A monster chases her around the house, then begins to eat her. She says she stands still while the monster picks at her and it makes her sad. Until Daddy comes and scares the monster away. Every time she tells me this dream I think to myself, “no pressure!” But for [...]
He crossed his arms and sulked, then threw back his head and exhaled a sigh brimming with contempt. I shot a look in the rearview mirror. Silence thickened the mood, adding drama to an already tense morning. Jordan ignored it and returned to her singing. “Those blue eyes are going to get you in trouble. [...]
