50 Spoons and Kinship with a Sea Turtle

First there was a spoon with a needle-eye on the handle for the stitcher, a spatula that resembled a paintbrush for the painter, syringe spoons for the nurses, a sand shovel spatula for the beach-lover, and now Swab Spoons for the Gift of Life staff members.  Jeff asked me how many spoons I thought he'd made so far.  That was easy to figure out because we started a list when it became difficult to remember which of his supporters he'd already gifted with a spoon.  We counted the names on the list.  With the seven he made for the folks at Gift of Life, there were 50 in all.  He likes to think that number 50 is the one for Jay Feinberg, founder of the Gift of Life Bone Marrow Foundation. 

With the Swab Spoons packed along with our sunscreen, we headed to the Philadelphia airport Thursday afternoon for our flight to Fort Lauderdale.  I95 was closed at Packer Avenue due to "debris on the road" according to a digital sign that warned us of a problem.  The "debris" turned out to be mangled rolls of sheet metal that had unrolled from the center like Chinese yo-yos and blocked the entire highway.  Fortunately, we had worked ample time into our schedule to allow for an extra hour of travel - or sit-still - time during which Jeff periodically quipped, "Don't they know I have an important speaking engagement?"

We traveled without further incident (we even got to keep our shoes on at the airport!) and arrived in Boca Raton on Thursday evening. Our room overlooked a plaza featuring a large, beautifully-lit Christmas tree. We went out to dinner with Tamara from Gift of Life and then turned in early.

Jeff awoke Friday morning relaxed and prepared.  We ate breakfast and strolled around the plaza.  Jeff practiced his speech a couple of times and we planned the rest of our weekend.  Finally it was time to walk to Brio Tuscan Grille for the Gift of Life holiday luncheon.
 
We met Barby with whom we'd had many email exchanges since September when she called to ask if Jeff would like to meet his donor in New Jersey.  Barby happily accepted the Swab Spoon he'd made for her and put the two extra spoons on the raffle table.  We met more staff members as they arrived and we had our caricatures drawn.  Gregg kicked off the festivities by thanking all the staff members in a humorous overview of their jobs.  This turned out to be pretty useful to us in learning a little of what is involved in recruiting donors and performing matchmaking.  Gift of Life has an office environment unlike many, I think.  Hugs and compassion are the norm and staff members know and appreciate the significance of their work for the patients and families they impact.

Jeff's speech was well received.  He talked about Nicole's inspiration for becoming a donor, her little cousin, Nicholas.  He talked about the life events and moments he has enjoyed since his bone marrow transplant: Kerry and Theresa’s wedding, cooking for Kim on her weekly school night, seeing Keith become a Marine, helping me see my parents through their end-of-life journeys and, of course, the birth of our granddaughter, Rosemary.  Jeff said, “Before, during and after these events and moments – and many more – I think of Nicole and what she did for me.”  He told the staff that he thinks about all the hands involved in his survival, including all of theirs.  He thanked them all for their generous Gift of Life.
 
Later Jeff reflected on his performance and thought he only missed one little piece - about how he and I complement each other.  At one point pre-transplant, Jeff had concerns that his transplant was delayed, not because his donor was sick but because she was chickening out.  I soothed him at the time by assuring him that his donor had probably been screened for the likelihood of her reneging. It turns out that Gift of Life asks potential donors 16 questions to be rated on a scale of 1-5 including,"How likely are you to donate stem cells," "...bone marrow?"  Of course they're looking for 5's.  Nicole probably answered 10! Thank God!

How to spend an evening after such a success?  Shopping!  Jeff had been reluctant to replace his shoes that no longer work for his neuropathetic feet because he needed to replace all of his shoes.  However, he so dreaded donning his black dress shoes for the upcoming Claus-Snyder wedding that he was willing to get new ones.  I tried to persuade him to fork over a bit more than usual in order to get what he needs - shoes that don't hurt.  I found a couple of pairs of Italian shoes at Nordstrom's that were soooo soft and very nice and would have been perfect if they were discounted by about 75%.  Fortunately, we found good, old-fashioned service at Clark's.  The salesman understood about neuropathy.  We got "dancing" shoes and walking shoes to replace the sneakers we bought hastily at the time of his transplant (he needed new, clean sneaks for his allo-cleaned room at the hospital).  Although he'd complained about those now-two-and-a-half-year-old shoes every time he put them on, he had trouble leaving them at the store to be trashed!  With a little encouragement from the salesman, Jeff surrendered.

We spent a great weekend touring Morikami Gardens and the Flagley Museum, walking the beach and enjoying great restaurants.  Sunday afternoon we headed to the airport believing we'd be home before the snow storm.  No plane arrived at the gate, though, and finally the flight was canceled.  With our two cell phones going simultaneously, we were able to book a room near the airport and wait on hold for an eternity with the airline.  No flights tomorrow, we were told.

A full day extra in Florida!  With our gift of an extra day, we visited the Gift of Life offices.  Gregg was kind enough to show us around despite the short notice.  The offices are beautiful, recently expanded to accommodate their growing organization.  Everyone was very nice to us and we repeated our thanks for their good work.

We walked along the ocean in Delray Beach and visited the Gumbo Limbo Nature Center where we saw butterflies, watched the fish in the education tanks get fed and visited the sea turtle rehab area.  As we entered the rehab center, Jeff stepped quickly to the last turtle along the row of hospital tanks.  I looked to see what had drawn his attention so quickly.  The turtle was hooked up to an IV.  Jeff was fascinated by this and wondered whether it was the "same stuff" he'd had at home post-transplant - IV fluids.  It turned out the turtle was receiving antibiotics for a lung infection.  As we left the rehab center, Jeff remarked with satisfaction, "It was certainly worth going in there."  He felt a kinship with the sick sea turtle!

More walking - along Fort Lauderdale's Las Olas Boulevard- made Jeff's feet hurt.  He wasn’t wearing his nifty new walking shoes (grr!).  The forecast threatened more snow for Philadelphia so we noted which restaurants we liked in case we were given another day in Florida.  Back at the hotel, we packed for an early morning flight and wondered whether the next snowstorm would hinder our return to Philadelphia.  It didn’t.  

Many, many thanks to Gift of Life for their hospitality and, of course, for what they do every day.  What a great bunch of people!