Today I had to
bring my kids with me to chemo. I knew
this wasn’t going to be easy, so I told them we were going to an adventure to
the hospital. I didn’t mention most of
the adventure consists of me sitting in a chair for 3 hours. They were going to have to figure that out on
their own. Brinley has been to the
Cancer Center with me a few times for CBC’s and she has delivered lunch when I
was getting a blood transfusion, but has never been there for the full
duration. Coen is usually in school so
he really hasn’t been to the hospital my second home. As soon as we got there Coen noticed the
rooftop putting green outside for cancer patients and visitors. He went to the window and looked longingly at
it. Of course he wanted to go out there,
but I reminded him it was too cold. He
asked if he could go out there in the summer when I have chemo. I was elated to tell him that I won’t have
chemo in the summer, I will be done with chemo!!! Yay!!! I shared this obviously exciting news with
the kids, but I could see Coen was thinking about something. His reply to my enthusiasm was “I kind of
wish you still had cancer in the summer so I could play out there.” Really?
He must have seen the disappointment on my face because he added “just
a little bit of cancer.” I knew if I
didn’t laugh I might cry. So I
laughed. I told him that instead of me
having cancer, I would happily take him mini-golfing as much as he wanted this
summer because I was hoping I never had to endure chemo again. Our “adventure” was off to an interesting
start.
I packed an
adventure bag with snacks, crayons, coloring books, and a movie if needed. They were great almost the whole time. We went back to see the doctor and Brinley
called him a “paleontologist”. Coen
corrected her saying “he’s not looking for dinosaur bones Brinley. He’s the oncologist. Right mom?”
They always find a way to make me laugh.
The nurses let them “help” out by holding the bandages and stuff. The kids were so interested in all the tubes
and cords and watching the medicine enter my body. They asked a million questions and were truly
exploring. We spent the next couple of hours coloring and having a snack. Then, my neighbor/friend came to pick them
up. Once again she saved the day. The kids were just starting to get restless
and began fighting over the rolling chair and who would push my IV pole while I
went to the bathroom. Overall, the kids
were incredible and I think our impromptu adventure was a success!
Looking
on the Bright Side…Coen and Brinley are always amazed at my coloring skills and
gave me numerous compliments. It’s
almost enough to make up for the cancer in the summer comment.
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