Space Needle and such

Today was a pretty hoppin' day. We started out with the audiologist at 9am. The chemo drugs that Ben is taking have been known to impact the ability to hear higher pitches. He sat and let them put the earplugs in his hears (first time) for the testing and then when he got bored did some "field" testing for sound. The only bad news there was that Ben could hear the sounds and react and dad could not. It is not just selective hearing when Cari talks . . .

Next we went and did labs and then had a 3 hour wait until our meeting with Dr. Geyer. We wandered around some of the gardens at the hospital and then found a biker group in the parking lot that were showing their bikes to the kids in the hospital. Ben was a little torn, bikes or hippo??? He rode the hippo statue a little and then went to play on the motorcycles. Cari made the comment that if you promise to get old enough to be able to ride one, you can. The bikers said to "get that contract in writing". Cari said she was more interested in having the other half of the contract in writing -- that of Ben being around to become a biker.




After the bikers we had a great meeting with Dr. Geyer. It was a good meeting. Dr. Geyer has always been pretty straight forward about our odds in this battle. He was very positive about the labs, the MRI, the audio test, and our prognosis. I think both Cari and I left knowing we are not out of the woods but that things have been moving the direction we will continue to pray for.




As we were leaving the hospital we got a call from Uncle Reed, Aunt Kay, Brianna, Andrea, and Kathryn. They had made a special trip from Portland where they were attending a funeral to visit. It was GREAT to see them!! Ben decided he wanted to play like he was a knight. There has been lots of talk about cognitive concerns due to radiation treatments. I think he is doing okay if today was any indication of his cognitive abilities. First, he played swords with Brianna. Notice that his sword (stick) is about two-and-a -half feet long. The sword he chose for Brianna was about four inches. Not so dumb, eh . . . After easily vanquishing the dark knight Brianna and her paltry dagger he moved on to Kathryn.

Feeling that the dagger challenge was well beneath him he provided a foot long sword for Kathryn. Again, Sir Benjamin reigned victorious. He chased the girls through the maze, giggled while they pushed, and pushed, and pushed him on the swing (and pushed, and pushed, and pushed . . .). Since our travels in Seattle have been limited to walking distance we took up the offer to go and see the Space Needle with Reed & Kaye and their girls.

We piled into the SUV and headed downtown. After arriving we were dismayed to find that it costs $16 to ride the needle to the top. We were all too cheap to pay the fare to ride an elevator. You know that expense is a regular complaint when the wandering tour guide has a prepared speech about how if the cost of the needle ride had grown with inflation from the time the needle was built and the original cost during the World's Fair blah, blah, blah, blah . . .

We wandered around for a bit at the Needle. Everywhere we went there was Michael Jackson music playing -- go figure. Brianna walked ben down to a cool fountain. I think she might have been more bummed than him that he could not run in and get his tubes wet . . .

We left the Space Needle and were to meet Kelly and Mike Kinney and some of their friends for dinner. They were up from Houston on vacation. After some really bad directions from dad, Reed was able to get us through the maze of streets to the restaurant and drop us off so they could head back for Portland. We are so very grateful for the love and support of family. To drive 4 hours one way to hang out with us for a little while was truly above and beyond. Thanks Hammonds!!

At dinner, Ben splashed water, threw crayons and generally went nuts waiting for food to arrive. I guess he really was not to much to handle. Dinner was pretty good other than Cari found a bug crawling around in the bottom of her bowl. She had wondered about the delicious "raisins" in the salad anyway. The restaurant was grateful to comp the meal . . .

After dinner we went for a walk on the piers. Ben was in heaven again running with the Kinney kids. Wells, Jack, and Quincy all took turns either being chased or chasing around and around and around the pier. We walked down past the Aquarium and found a game center with a carousel. Cari commented that she wonders what carousel addicts become as adults because they are definitely one of Ben's favorite things in the world. We had green (apple) cotton candy, and donuts, and drinks.

We walked back to the restaurant and Mike drove us back to the RM house. All three of us hit the bed sound asleep. We were beat. What a great day . . .