Job Shadow

Photos from a job shadow assignment a few weeks ago. A high school girl was following around an eye surgeon. This meant that I was following around a high school girl following an eye surgeon. Oh, and I got to wear some sweet scrubs.

Isabel

A few weeks ago, Kayla and I went up to Isabel for a story on the school that is closing. We hung out at the school, with ranchers, and around town.

Come and gone

Christmas came and went pretty fast. Spent Christmas Eve at Ryan and Barb's with Ryan's folks and a few people from work. Spent Christmas over at Emilie's watching A Christmas Story before meeting up with Seth for dinner at a Chinese place. I'd say that's a pretty proper Christmas. Fun to make new traditions. This is the first time in my 24 years of life that I didn't spend Christmas with my family. But we video chatted on Christmas morning, so it was like I was really there.

crosses

don't you know that i'll be around to guide you
through your weakest moments to leave them behind you
returning nightmares only shadows
we'll cast some light and you'll be alright for now
crosses all over, heavy on your shoulders
the sirens inside you waiting to step forward
disturbing silence darkens your sight
we'll cast some light and you'll be alright for now
crosses all over the boulevard
the streets outside your window overflooded
people staring they know you've been broken
repeatedly reminded by the looks on their faces
ignore them tonight and you'll be alright
we'll cast some light and you'll be alright

.

i came home, and i cried. i cried for ali. and her family. and for everything that i couldn't say the past four days. i cried for my own family and loved ones. thinking about them being in that situation. i just cried until i couldn't anymore.

deep. breaths.

Ali

I'll try to post more of a wrap-up in the morning. We are about to board our plane in Minneapolis, making our way back to Rapid City. It's been a long week. Exhausting. Emotionally draining. Ali's family has been incredible. So much love. So much faith. Just as Ali needed them to be.

The day before

Ali spent her day visiting with a few different doctors, getting a checkup in pediatrics, and a final consult with her neurosurgeon. It's settling in. For everyone. There is a significant chance that Ali's memory will be effected by Friday's surgery to remove the tumor. Ali will likely have trouble learning new things. School could become more difficult. Repetitive exercises and lists will be necessary. There's no way of knowing how long that could last.

Ali's family and friends began to arrive today. I followed Ali, Craig, Ali's aunt Lynette, and one of Ali's former teachers, Carol Cooper, to an afternoon mass on campus at Mayo. Ali's faith is keeping her strong through this difficult time.

We are meeting at ten to six tomorrow morning to check in for Ali's surgery. I'll give an update mid-morning. Ali will be in surgery for several hours.









Thank you everyone for your advice and support on this story. Keep Ali in your thoughts tomorrow as she goes into surgery.

You can follow Ali's story on the rapidcityjournal.com. Ali has also set up a CaringBridge page at www.caringbridge.org/visit/alexisnowotny. If you are interested in making a donation to help Ali and her family with medical and travel costs, you can contact Ali's school:

Alexis Nowotny
St. Thomas More High School
300 Fairmont Blvd.
Rapid City, SD 57701
#605.343.8484

Wada Test

After hours of weather delays, Lynn and I finally arrived at our hotel in Rochester on campus at Mayo Clinic at 2 a.m. We asked the desk for 4:50 a.m. wake up calls. That was just enough time to blindly paw around for my toothbrush, kick off my snow boots, make sure my camera bag was ready to go, and nap.

Just before 6 a.m. we walked into the lobby of Saint Mary's Hospital and there was Ali, standing in line with her father, waving to us with her bright, nervous smile. Our PR contact sat us down for another briefing about rules for this and that while we are on campus for the next four days. A huge challenge about shooting in hospitals is all of the don'ts and can'ts. It's frustrating and also completely understandable. Mayo has been great with getting us access. But there are still things that cannot be photographed or even recorded with an audio device.

Logistics aside, it's been a quiet procedure. Craig and Ali are still here by themselves. Family will most likely start to trickle in on Friday or even sometime tomorrow afternoon. Lynn and I have been conscious of making sure we give Craig and Ali their space. Ali was visibly nervous this morning. I have yet to see Craig lean in and give her a hug, hold her hand, or comfort her in any sort of way that I was expecting a father to do. Craig is coping in his own way. Watching his daughter go through this, after having lost his wife to a rare cancer when Ali was only four years old, is for obvious reasons very difficult. But at the same time you can see that Ali is searching for some comfort.

Here are a few images from today's hospital visit. Ali was prepped for a Wada test, which Lynn and I were able to observe, but not record in any way. Some of that has to do with doctors needing to keep the testing objects a mystery. Doctors numbed the right side of Ali's brain while they tested the left side of her brain (her tumor is in her left temporal lobe). The test helps doctors locate the areas of Ali's brain where memory and language are stored.

The later images are a few floating around from the past few weeks. Ali has cut and dyed her hair at least four times since I met her, in preparation for having to shave part of her head for the upcoming surgery.

Ali Nowotny

Sitting in the Rapid City airport waiting for a flight to Minnesota where I will be following 17-year-old Ali Nowotny through brain surgery this week. Keep Ali in your thoughts and prayers.

More photos and info as the week progresses...