Chemo to the Rescue

When Charlie was first in the hospital we received so much material to help us along the journey. One of those items was the Chemo to the Rescue book as seen above. At the time, I considered the book mature reading to a 3 year old. But a few weeks ago Charlie picked it off the shelf and Chad and I began reading it to him every night. The story talks about a little boy named Kyle and what he goes through to battle Leukemia. It shows the hospital visits, port accesses, and chemo as superhero type things.

Charlie had his monthly chemo on Tuesday this week. His port accesses lately haven't been the best since the traumatic event back in August. But we read the Chemo to the rescue book almost every night for a week prior and when we practiced at home he was excellent. Sally went to access his port in clinic he didn't even cry this time!!! That was a SERIOUS milestone. He whimpered and fussed a bit when it was removed, but this month was the best port access EVER in over a year and a half. Thank you Chemo to the Rescue book. I firmly believe this story helped Charlie to accept what was happening and work through his issues.

We lent the book to his teacher Miss Joanne to read to the class to help his classmates understand why Charlie talks about things like being sick, chemo, tubies and hospital trips. One little girl came up to me as asked me "why does Charlie go to the hospital?" how do you answer a 4 year old to where it makes sense? Hopefully this book and the visit from the Children's Hospital Child Life Specialists this month will educate them and make Charlie feel more at ease in his new school.