Tuesday was another trip to the Hospital for chemo and I thought I would relay a couple of stories.
Charlie gave me a laugh when I picked him up from school to head over to the hospital. Since we have to put Charlie’s numbing cream on his port at least 30 minutes before his access, I usually pause in the school parking lot, have him take his shirt off (or at least one arm out) to put the cream on. On this particular occasion, Charlie climbed up into the Tahoe and proceeded to take his right arm out of his shirt. His port is on the left side of his chest. So I told him, “You took the wrong arm out, Charlie. I need you to take out this one”, pointing to his left arm. To which he replied, “Put the cream on my bump.” I told him that his bump was on the left side and I pointed to where his port is located. But he insisted, “No, this bump”, while lifting up the right side of his shirt. “But your bump is over here”, I said pointing again to his left side. Finally, he points to his right nipple and says, “No, I want the cream on this bump.” That had me cracking up. It took a couple more tries to persuade him that he did not get his “butterfly” on that bump, but rather the one with his port underneath.
If you remember, Charlie had a great visit last time and I was pretty optimistic that he would have another good access this month as well. But even those expectations were surpassed. Not only did Charlie have a good access, he and I both actually had a fun time at the hospital for this visit. Usually, I think Charlie and I both are too nervous about the situation to even come close to enjoying ourselves at clinic. However, after last month, it seemed like both of us were a little more relaxed.
After having lunch in the cafeteria we headed upstairs to clinic and settled into the normal routine. Charlie did fantastic for Mrs. Sally, letting her do the access without so much as a whimper. Then came the curveball. Dr. Albano was on the in-patient side and we would be seeing a new PA instead to conduct Charlie’s examination. I prepared myself for Charlie to completely shut-down and not let this new person do anything. Well, just the opposite happened. Mrs. Layne walked into the exam room and Charlie was instantly smitten. She asked Charlie to hop up on the exam table (something he never does for Dr. Albano) and he wasted no time scrambling up. She had Charlie wrapped around her little finger. There was absolutely no hesitation from Charlie on anything she asked him to do. It was hilarious to watch.
After his exam Charlie and I went to play with some volunteers that had set up some toys across the hall while we waited on blood counts and chemo. Apparently these folks had very few takers throughout the day and they were extremely happy to have a talkative little 5-year old come in and shoot Nerf guns and bowl. Charlie had a great time meeting his new friends and the only difficulty I had all day was getting him back to the room for his chemo. Mrs. Sally was so impressed with Charlie’s day that he got to pick a toy out of the treasure chest before we made our way home.
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