She has stumbled a couple of times during this rotation but has managed to find the strength to pull through and still enjoys a majority of days where she lives a ‘normal’ life. Her big sister Mickey still worries about her when she goes for chemo and waits for her to come home. We found out something we never knew until one of the assistants at Internal Medicine explained to us last week: when we drop our little girl off as an out patient, [this does not get any easier for me] they run all the necessary tests in order to determine if Pheif is well enough to receive her treatment and, with the exception of one time when she was not, she gets the treatment then she basically waits patiently for us to pick her up.

We cannot get her until a certain amount of time has passed after the treatment for Staff to monitor her for adverse [allergic] reactions. When she finally sees us she is so happy that her body goes into overdrive so after about an hour or so from getting her home, she goes into a deep sleep. She is pretty tired and needs constant care for about 48 hours after which she starts to perk up. It’s funny, she goes into a deep sleep and I hardly get any sleep for these hours.

She did have a fun experience the other day. We have a bird feeder that attracts several birds, mostly finches. I was watering the garden that I planted for her and lo and behold there was a little male finch sitting there. He was not moving much. I finished what I was doing and he still sat there … a bit listless. I got a box that was already fixed up for such an occasion … we have the odd bird fly into the window and needs time to sleep it off or not. I brought the little bird into the house and placed him in a ‘safe’ spot. I decided I would have a shower then do the laundry and check on the bird at the same time.

Well, Dr. Pheif decided that she should help this little bird get better!! After my shower something told me to check on the bird quickly. The box was not only on the floor but quite a distance from where I left it. Little Pheif was sitting about two feet from it looking at me, then toward the box. My heart sank but I still hoped...I picked up the box now on its side...and absolutely no noise was coming from it. I gently opened the lid and there he was, sitting by the lid quietly, but awake!! I decided to put him outside just to see what he’d do. I put some paper towels over him but he wanted to sit on my pinkie finger…I let him and covered him on the way outside with little Pheif in tow. I knelt down to place him on the grass but half way there he must have smelled fresh air. He pushed off of my pinkie, flapped his wings as fast as he could, flew as high as he could over the trees, and as far away from our home as his little wings would carry him.

When I turned around, Pheifer had found a ‘sun’ spot and had laid down but had her head up looking at me with very bright eyes…she meowed a couple of times as if to say: “I was a good helper Mum, but that was very tiring, and I need a nap now.” So you know, when she woke up she did check the box one more time…just to make sure she didn’t have another patient..

Thanks again to everyone who has taken time to ask about her and for your support. It means so much to us that you care.

…ssc…wrc