Lessons from the 10th Floor: Thankfulness

This morning I wanted to write down some of the good things that have happened in the hospital in our time here and some of the good memories I'll have from here.

Rick and I have not lost our sense of humor.  Sometimes we are so tired we start laughing because basic things (like remembering which floor to exit onto from the elevator) are hard.

Cameron yelling "Mom it's an emergency...I lost my lego guy in the bed"...umm Cam that's not an emergency after all that we've been through recently.  One time he started complaining about pain in his hip..only to find out there was just an army man under the sheets :)

After many attempts getting in and out of elevators with a child in a wheelchair with an IV pole, the elevator begins to make a horrible beeping sound.  Now Cameron is a bit concerned about it and says "focus Mommy focus" when I'm trying to help.

Each night we have to put his Lego men to bed..in a biohazard bag because it's the only ziplock bag the hospital has to offer us..it makes me laugh each time.

We have come to the conclusion that for future pre-marital counseling for couples, we will encourage team building activities like taking a kid in a wheelchair with only one leg sticking out front, connected to an IV pole, with a balloon from the gift shop to many floors in the hospital...because you can't beat that kind of teamwork for building a strong marriage.

One night I put my hands under the faucet in our room waiting for it to turn on automatically..only it wasn't that kind of faucet ..and it took me a long time to remember.   

It's wartime mentality here..with only 3 outfits a piece we do laundry at the Ronald McDonald Family Center on the 5th floor every day to keep up.  And for fun we like to count our assets each day..today it's a garden salad, 2 diet cokes, 2 milks and some apricot jam.

Little kids are resilient and adapt well to hard things...even from the beginning when he was very sick, if you put a straw up to Cam's mouth while sleeping he'd open his mouth like a little birdie and would do the same for medicine.  Now when they check vitals every 4 hours he just holds out his arm and knows what is next.

Having said that I've learned to listen to Cam..if he's really fussing about something..then something is wrong (like the day when both IVs failed and he wasn't just being emotional..they hurt).  He has things that really bother him..and it's always surprising.  When it came time to learn to walk again they offered him non-slip socks from the hospital and he came unglued (thankfully a nearby friend took me to Target and we found some that looked like normal socks).  When he has blood drawn it's very challenging (and thankfully now they realize that and call the IV team to do it with the help of ultrasound to find the veins) but he insists that he needs his ears covered (so we made sure the kids brought headphones to help when they visited).  When Cam needs a procedure done under sedation and we are waiting, he wants the lights out to calm him so he can rest.  When Cameron gets overwhelmed he shuts down like a little turtle pulling his head into his shell and pretends to be sleepy.  One day he cried for 2 hours about the smell of the new tape on the IV and the day before he was upset because he was finally awake enough to realize he didn't have pants (due to 2 drains in his leg..thankfully now he has pants but complains because we have a hard time keeping them up..he lost 5 lbs in one week).  

Cam likes watching Night at the Museum (1 and 2) over and over again...for many days the nurses on day shift felt that we were living this movie out too...during the day Cam's temps and vitals would be fine but then at nighttime it was like he came to life..and not always in a good way..so the day nurses would warn the evening nurses about him.  Cam smiles each time during the movie when Darth Vader is there..and also the part about Dum-Dum..give me some gum-gum.  

I love his smile..the way he snuggles with me in bed and says "I love you mom" and holds my hand.  I love his sweetness and the way he is polite with others even when he hasn't felt well and will say "no thank you" (or the funny time in the ER when he told the nurses they couldn't poke him because "I'm busy right now").  I love when he looks at his six balloons and said "People so sweet of me" (meaning they are sweet to him).  I love watching him teach me how to play Don't Spill the Beans, seeing him bowl with a beanbag in the playroom, watching him enjoy a little bag of Sunchips, seeing the war between the army men and the star wars legos with battle lines drawn up with leftover stirring sticks Daddy brought him from Starbucks. 

 I love when we got here and every time he would wake up from surgery he would whisper "ice cream".  I love how he pulls me close to whsiper when he wants me to ask a doctor or a nurse something (last time it was "can you ask if there is a slide here.."..umm buddy you can't do a slide just yet).  I love talking with him in the hallway as we push little buttons of the animal murals on the wall and listen to the music that comes out..we talk about how someday we'll play in the park with Cayden again. 

 I giggle thinking about the first days coming out of surgery when they offered him popsicles and he said he couldn't have them because they have colors in them (we had taken him off artificial food colors at Christmastime and he knew it).  I assured him we'd do whatever it takes to get him well..even yesterday he asked about Gatorade and made sure colors were ok in the hospital.   He is a little rule follower to the nth degree..love this kid.  I love the way he smells in the morning and way he hugs me close.  I love the sparkle in his eyes that was gone for a while.  

I love his creativity in making a "science esperiment" with a helium balloon tied to the blown up glove the PT guy gave him and watching him chuck it over the bed to see it fall to the ground.  I think it's funny he thinks his umm "jug" looks like a "science esperiment."   I love how he tells me he wants to go to Target or Golden Corral (especially during the first 3 days when he was hungry that's all he talked about ..even when delirious from pre-surgery meds).  I love how about 5 days after we got here, he perked up and smiled and said "Mommy Daddy me time"...he's always kind of thought he was an only child at times and I think he realized his wish came true (although he does tear up about the other kids missing him).

Cam's blood infection remains positive this morning...day 10.  I'm grateful for the time to pray and write out the good things I'll remember about our time here as it focused my heart on thankfulness while I was waiting.