School's Out for Summer

June 2, 2008

I found myself thinking about Alice Cooper over the weekend. Not that I ever cared too much for his music (or cosmetic choices), but who among you of a certain age can ever let the end of the school year pass without channeling his [excerpted] lyrics:

School's out for summer
School's out forever

No more pencils
No more books
No more teacher's dirty looks

Erin brought the end of her own school year (an incidentally her entire elementary experience) to a close in true "Erin Style." Between Erin and Davis, the Buenger family has had a close association with Mary Branch Elementary for fifteen years. How could we afford to thank everyone who had influenced, cared for, nurtured (and in some instances) provided some needed smack down? Truman's Chocolates, of course (I recommend a little side trip to this link. You can roll your cursor over each piece of chocolate, see what it is, and imagine yourself savoring it). Really, who can resist giving art, tasty art as a gift? Erin and I ordered 32 small boxes of Truman's to pass out to everyone who had anything to do with our family over the last decade and a half. This included cafeteria ladies, custodians, secretaries, teachers, the nurse (of course), and practically anyone who had smiled at Erin or Davis or made their days. She really enjoyed passing out the goodies and hearing the wows and woohoos that came along with the thank you hugs.

Erin continued the race to the end of school by garnering a number of small recognitions (a math award, good grades award, etc.) and doing some of the introductions at the graduation ceremony. Both she and the person responsible for reminding her (note bene: not her parental units) forgot to take her scripted comments to the ceremony. Unfortunately, the teleprompter was also on the fritz. Thus, she winged it. . . successfully, of course. No problem for the next president of the United States.


The ceremony rolled into the reception with much hugging and many goodbyes (mostly to people we are destined to see over and over again over the next days, weeks, and years). We then took an impromptu lunch with many of our friends and ended the day with a grade-wide pool party.

Erin has hit the pool or lake every day since.

We ended the second week of chemo early on Saturday morning (week two requires a little less coordination because the Rhino is served sans Temador). I have to say that irinotecan/temador is more trouble to administer and has a few more niggling side effects than popping the cyclophosphomide tablet with the breakfast vitamin every morning. Erin has taken Imodium every other day or so, but usually only one dose. I wish the rest of the time wase normal, but in fact, she seems to have to pass through a constipation stage before she can get to diarrhea. Intermittently, she actually has normal digestion. I think she prefers the diarrhea to the constipation because of the accompanying stomach pain and bloating. When she has a lot to do, she doesn't notice the discomfort of either end of the spectrum, but if I slow down the party to get her some rest, she really focuses on it. What to do? Keep the party rolling.

Today she headed out to First Pres Music Camp for the morning, followed by PT at 2:00, and tryouts for next year's Mystic team at 6:00. Tomorrow, she'll do a short day at camp, then we load up for a quick trip to clinic in Houston. Wednesday is more camp and more tryouts with a Credit by Exam test for 6th grade Science sandwiched in between. Thursday will be an easy day, just camp and Credit by Exam testing. . .oh and playing with her buddy Jackson Ross afterwards. Friday is just camp, plus the Camp finale performance. Maybe it will be enough to keep her mind off her digestion.