A Good Side of Leukemia

I know the title of this posting may seem strange to most of you, but there some good experiences you can take from an awful situation.  Charlie’s monthly visits have become some of those experiences.  For one, these trips are a lot less stressful now that Charlie is completely fine with getting his medi-port accessed.  In fact, besides the whole hospital thing, they are almost completely enjoyable.  Yesterday’s chemo trip was a perfect example: 

I left work about noon to pick up Charlie from school.  I try to grab him for lunch since he likes to eat at the hospital cafeteria before his appointments.  However, this time he requested Chic-Fil-A.  So we had a pleasant lunch at the nearest location talking about recent school activities and Godzilla.  Charlie even got a chance to play on the playground.  When I went to retrieve him from the hamster-cage-like maze of tubing he was crawling through, he politely informed his new friends that he had to “go get tubies” (of which, they were completely clueless about) and we made our way to the car.  Charlie happily walked into the hospital, stopping briefly to watch some kinetic artwork they have on display in the lobby before making his way up to clinic.  In the waiting room Charlie got to play some video games.  During his appointment, he met some new doctors and had a great conversation with them.  When it came time to take care of business with Nurse Sally, he did so without incident.  You can even see from the picture that he wore his mask while getting accessed.  This is a part of clinic protocol that Charlie has, up to now, been unwilling to comply with. 

Throughout the whole day, Charlie conducted himself with excellent manners: “please”, “thank you”, “you’re welcome”, “nice to meet you”.  We know he’s a nice kid, but we rarely get to see such prolonged instances of it before a complete meltdown occurs.  Nurse Sally brought us some great books to read while we waited for counts and after we wrapped everything up, Charlie politely asked to get a toy out of the toy chest.  It was a request that Nurse Sally was all too willing to grant.

I think Charlie really enjoys this special time he gets to spend with either Angela, myself or sometimes both of us.  With all three of the kids, we hardly ever get time to devote 100% to just one of them.  I have grown to enjoy these times as much as Charlie has.  This trip was especially memorable because I got to experience Charlie’s company not just as my kid, but as this great individual, pleasantly interacting with me and other people.

Who is that masked young man?