Visitors, visitor, visitors on our 3rd Shabbat at Children's National

Saturday was quiet.  As we now see on our third weekend here, nothing much happens medically on Saturday or Sunday.

But Harry had visitors, visitors, visitors.

Ken's Uncle Seli, just fresh from his 79th birthday, came down from New York for a second visit with Harry. Seli, though suffering the effects of a significant stroke (characteristically without complaint), made these trips, as he put it, because neither of Ken's parents are around to visit. Spending time with Uncle Seli has always been special for us, and we look forward to happier occasions before too long.

Harry's JPDS friend Harris Karlin stopped by, and brought all the necessities (no cigars or whiskey, alas) for some serious poker.  Harris, Richard (his dad), and Cole and Jonah Aronson 'gambled' in the lounge, while the parents, Harris' mother, Ann, Pamela Auerbach and Doug Feith stayed back.  Pamela again, transformed the hospital room, organizing, straightening, and helping pack up.  Forget about her high-powered legal career: keeping this room organized has become Pamela's new specialty (and we are now absolutely terrified to disappoint her!).

Marina Feldman & Maia stopped over after Rebecca Weiss's Bat Mitzvah.  Rebecca did all the aliyot and davened musaf -- and delivered a fabulous speech combining her love of baking & spying (both mentioned in the parsha). Maia and Eden spent time with Alicia, a sweet 13-year old patient next door who is in for her last round of chemo.

We cleared out of Harry's room because he spent much of the afternoon with return visitors Casey Dorfman & August Caldwell, who brought Judith Besnainou with them. August gave Harry and Casey matching tattoos. (This is the second set of markers we'll be following closely this summer: these tattoos will give us an indication of how often teenage boys actually bathe and shower.)

One of Harry's favorite doctors -- Dr. Shalabi (she, now known to you readers as the White Sox fan) -- came to say good-bye as she is not on call on Sunday:

Lyric Winik made an incredible meal, hot from the oven, full of produce from the farmers' market.

The day ended with Harry watching "Wolf of Wall Street" with Ethan Josovitz.  (Yes, slouching towards Gomorrah indeed:  now that our son has cancer, we have become a slightly less concerned about shielding him from movies that are, well, inappropriate.)

After catching the end of the Japan-Cote d'Ivoire soccer match, Harry headed for an early (pre-midnight) bedtime.

Should Harry's blood count look good at 4 am -- yes, that is when blood is drawn around here -- he will be going home tomorrow, to continue on the very long road of chemotherapy as an outpatient.