Friends and Fresh Air {Round 4, Day 5}

Sam spent a lot of the morning playing Wii and waiting for his friend Jake to come out of his room to play. The two had spent quite a bit of time yesterday playing and we knew that Jake was being discharged (hooray!!!!) but hoped to get in a little more time together. Those HOT kids have got to stick together, right? (Remember how I said yesterday that I hadn't asked about pics? So here they are....aren't they cute together?)

It's hard to make friends around here. People are coming and going. Everyone has their off days when they don't feel like leaving their room, or they're restricted, or have a therapy or medicine or whatever. (Plus the whole privacy thing makes it tricky to figure out who is even here on the floor to make friends!) So we grab onto whatever companionship there is to be had. Mamas and papas spend a few extra minutes hanging out in the hall or the kitchen, comparing notes, offering comfort, sharing stories. Then we retreat back to our rooms, and move forward. Sometimes we see each other again, and sometimes we don't. There's a kind of icky club that we're all in - parents of sick kids. If we have to be in it, it's comforting to know that we're all in the same canoe....paddling because we know that we just can't stop. A few stolen minutes of grown-up conversation with a Wii game on in the background or while mixing up a cup of hot chocolate are precious and golden.

Debbie and Judy came to visit today and Sam convinced Debbie to play Wii with him. Gotta love it!

Wouldn't you know that just as I finally convinced Sam that a little walk and fresh air was a good idea....the hospital fire alarm went off. Sam was concerned. "Shouldn't we, um, GET OUT!?" he asked me. Well trained by school and fire-safety folks, huh? Except when you're hooked up to an IV pole and the nurses at the nurses station sit calmly waiting for it to pass. Hmm... we waited a few minutes and found out it was a drill. Whew. (What DOES happen? I hope we never ever ever have to find out.) So after the "all clear" we skedaddled downstairs. It was breezy windy but we sat outside and read a book for about 15 minutes, snuggled in our hoodies, pole and all.

I've also noticed that Sam doesn't get a lot of "alone time" here in the hospital. I'm constantly annoying him with water or food requests (take a drink, Sam! what will you eat now, Sam?) or just checking in (are you doing okay, Sammy?)... never more than an arm's length away, a little alone time is nice even when you're six. So I try to let him soak in the bathtub as long as he wants, it's as far away from me as he's going to get! Today it was about 25 minutes...a nice long soak.

We're almost done with chemo, tomorrow is day 6. It seems almost anticlimactic that his final dose of chemo will be given in the middle of the night - no fanfare, no bell to ring, no trumpets blaring. I guess it's not the last dose of chemo that needs the fanfare, though. It will be that moment, in a few weeks, when we walk out of here. Anyone know where I can hire a big brass band on a moment's notice to escort us out the door? (Can you tell that all we talk about is going home? I'm trying, I really am. But even the staff keep talking about it. What's a mama to do!?)

My friend Adrienne sent us these bracelets (thanks!!!), they arrived today. I'm not sure if you can read them, but they say "Gam zeh ya'avor" on one side, and the translation "This too shall pass" on the other.

I can't think of a better thing for us to be wearing today.
This too shall pass.
This too shall pass.