Day 4 of our 2005 Trip
Today started out with an early morning swim at our hotel in Ann Arbor. The girls swam until about
9:45am, then we got ready to go and do what we came for, donate Little Al's memorial money to the
University of Michigan. Our first appointment was to be with Dr. Bove at 11am. We got there a little
early, but decided to go up anyway in case we couldn't remember where his office was. Well, we were
wrong, because we walked right to it! Some things are hard to forget. On the way to his office, we
saw Cheryl who is one of the ones who was helping us with the study Alan was to be in. So, we
stopped and talked to her for a minute, and she walked us to Dr. Bove's office. He was in surgery
when we got there, but we only had to wait a few minutes for him to get back. When he walked into
the waiting room to get us, I (Holly) just started crying and couldn't talk, so Ryan had to do all the
talking. It was so wonderful to sit and talk to him for a little bit. We then handed him our check and we
all decided that this money would go specifically towards the study that Alan was originally in. It was
so wonderful to sit and talk to Dr. Bove just as a regular person, not our son's Dr.! He said a lot of
nice things to us, and about our son!
Next, we saw Dr. Goldberg who is the one heading up the study. We just talked to her for a minute,
but got her picture, and got to see her which was wonderful! She was one of the first Dr.'s we met
when Little Al was in the NICU right after he was born. She has also called us to wish us well which
really means a lot to us.
Our next stop was up to the PCTU to see Teresa the administrative assistant to donate the rest of our
memorial money. So, we met her and this money is going to be used towards the purchasing of
Bereavement Boxes. We decided on this because when we got ours, it really meant a lot. When ours
came, it had Alan's hand print in clay, a lock of hair, and his bink which we thought we had lost!
Anyway, we really think this is an important thing for families to get and know that it costs the PCTU
quite a bit to buy them.
And last but not least, we got to see Nurse Kris! I was worried that she would be too busy, or have the
day off, but she was there!! She came out just to say hi, and that was quite emotional, at least for me.
This was extremely hard for us, but great therapy, too! Just seeing these few people made us feel
great. And, hopefully they know how much we credit them with the wonderful 5 1/2 months we got to
spend with our baby boy.
After leaving U of M, we had lunch in downtown Ann Arbor, went to the M Den to buy some more U of
M stuff, and then headed off towards Mackinaw City! We arrived here at dinner time, went to eat, and
then went miniature golfing!!! Tomorrow we will try to explore Mackinac Island, and then off to
beautiful Canada! The girls are extremely excited to see a different country!
click any photo to see it larger
9:45am, then we got ready to go and do what we came for, donate Little Al's memorial money to the
University of Michigan. Our first appointment was to be with Dr. Bove at 11am. We got there a little
early, but decided to go up anyway in case we couldn't remember where his office was. Well, we were
wrong, because we walked right to it! Some things are hard to forget. On the way to his office, we
saw Cheryl who is one of the ones who was helping us with the study Alan was to be in. So, we
stopped and talked to her for a minute, and she walked us to Dr. Bove's office. He was in surgery
when we got there, but we only had to wait a few minutes for him to get back. When he walked into
the waiting room to get us, I (Holly) just started crying and couldn't talk, so Ryan had to do all the
talking. It was so wonderful to sit and talk to him for a little bit. We then handed him our check and we
all decided that this money would go specifically towards the study that Alan was originally in. It was
so wonderful to sit and talk to Dr. Bove just as a regular person, not our son's Dr.! He said a lot of
nice things to us, and about our son!
Next, we saw Dr. Goldberg who is the one heading up the study. We just talked to her for a minute,
but got her picture, and got to see her which was wonderful! She was one of the first Dr.'s we met
when Little Al was in the NICU right after he was born. She has also called us to wish us well which
really means a lot to us.
Our next stop was up to the PCTU to see Teresa the administrative assistant to donate the rest of our
memorial money. So, we met her and this money is going to be used towards the purchasing of
Bereavement Boxes. We decided on this because when we got ours, it really meant a lot. When ours
came, it had Alan's hand print in clay, a lock of hair, and his bink which we thought we had lost!
Anyway, we really think this is an important thing for families to get and know that it costs the PCTU
quite a bit to buy them.
And last but not least, we got to see Nurse Kris! I was worried that she would be too busy, or have the
day off, but she was there!! She came out just to say hi, and that was quite emotional, at least for me.
This was extremely hard for us, but great therapy, too! Just seeing these few people made us feel
great. And, hopefully they know how much we credit them with the wonderful 5 1/2 months we got to
spend with our baby boy.
After leaving U of M, we had lunch in downtown Ann Arbor, went to the M Den to buy some more U of
M stuff, and then headed off towards Mackinaw City! We arrived here at dinner time, went to eat, and
then went miniature golfing!!! Tomorrow we will try to explore Mackinac Island, and then off to
beautiful Canada! The girls are extremely excited to see a different country!
click any photo to see it larger
Nurse Kris!
Dr. Goldberg!
Dr. Bove!
| Some interesting construction zone signs |
| Dinner time |
Scenes from mini golf!
 |  |  |