Posted from the hospital during cycle 10 (5 days of Etoposide and Ifosfamide).
The months crawl by, and here we are six months from our first hospital stay. Winter turned to spring, and now summer teases us as the end of the school year looms.
Griffin has finished his second grade year largely without his mother or sister, and Millie's classmates are attending end-of-year picnics while Millie spends another week in the hospital bed.
Two of the kids we met when we started this journey, two "frequent flyers" on the 10th Floor Pediatric Wing, have completed treatment cycles and are home regrowing hair and looking forward to a wonderful summer. More kids started after us, and to them the halfway point seems far away. Two sweet young kids started recently- as they still have their hair and their families have that deer-in-the-headlights look.
And here we are, our lives still caught in these horse latitudes of endless hospital nights, but a breeze promises a push towards the shore. We can see the end, with only 4 more cycles to go- only 2 more 6 day stays to complete.
We can start to think about life without the hospital- our jobs, travel, holidays, school. It is a quickening now, realizing what we should accomplish while still in the stillness. House organization, photo albums to create, letters to write, (loads of thank-you cards), and preparations for re-entry.
Millie had a chest xray on Wednesday to check for any metastasis (ewings sarcoma typically spreads to the lungs). It came back normal. I feel that we are truly on the downhill slope!
What a journey. Hard to fathom what you guys have had to endure. I know this has all been hard as hell on Millie (and from what you've shared she's maintained an incredible grace through it all), but as a new parent myself my heart goes out to you and Brian. So here's to you guys. I eagerly await your arrival back at shore and look forward to your re-entry back into a world where trivial things can matter again.
ReplyDeleteEd.B.