And by "off" I mean, we drove from Joliet to Westmont for a home visit and then came to our base hotel in Warrenville. Ann Marie is down for today for some routine type stuff, we'll pick her up tomorrow morning on the way back from the airport.
Dave and I were talking this morning about the first visit we did yesterday, for Kris at the Joliet Park District. It was a great way to start the day. Dave got some photos today from Matt and shared them with us. The expression on Kris' face do a far better job of telling you how someone feels being on the receiving end of a home visit than I could ever possibly do. Just look at her face in the pictures that follow and try, for just a moment, to put yourself in to her or our, shoes and you'll begin to understand why we do this.
It's incredibly rewarding.
So with nothing further, please take a few minutes and let these pictures soak in...
Pretty amazing stuff.
Now, back to today. Here is a picture from our visit with Lauren. This came about last Friday when we were in Bartlett. One of the Bartlett FD guys brought a woman, Megan, over to meet me. Megan proceeded to tell me her sister Lauren was having a growth removed that very day. She had a form of lymphoma, but didn't yet know what form. Lauren had a node the size of an orange removed.
Typically, they're the size of a pea.
The family was awesome, as they usually are on home visits, and since Megan has my contact info, I told her and her Mom to please feel free to get a hold of me if there's anything we can do for them.
Here's a picture of the group "striking a pose" a fun little thing we do at home visits. If you look closely you can see Rodin's "The Thinker", jazz hands, a hoochie mama and every variety of shock and/or surprise on their faces.
Two more things to touch base on before I go. I got an email yesterday morning that a friend of mine lost her fight to pancreatic cancer. I've known Charlene since shortly after Caitlin was killed. She has done more than almost anyone else in the state of Illinois to keep the roads safe from drunk drivers. As Executive Director of the Alliance Against Intoxicated Motorists (AAIM) she was, for many years, the go-to resource for politicians with questions and for victim families needing answers. She was an amazing woman and will be sorely missed by so many people.
Ten minutes ago I heard from another friend of mine. A woman we did a home visit for last week took a turn for the worse and her family doesn't expect her to survive to morning. The family wanted us to know she is surrounded by pictures of our visit with her and the impression we made on them with our care and compassion for her will never be forgotten. They take great comfort in the way we treated her during our time together.
I work with the best people in the world.
Excuse me while I go wipe the tears from my eyes.
Pink Heals!
Peace
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