Arley was immediately zeroed in on as the new girl. How did I know that? Perhaps it was the long stares she got while in the playroom or the fact that another parent dubbed her as such.
Either way, yes Arley is the new girl. She wears it proudly on her chest like a bullet proof vest. Come to find out after she went to sleep for her treatment that another girl only six years old was mesmerized that another child close to her age was bald and beautiful. She thought Arley was so cute.
Walking out of the radiation room my heart was heavy. Knowing Arley is in good hands is helpful but there's always that lingering fear that one of these days she's not going to wake up from treatment. The chances of that are probably somewhere between pigs flying and getting struck by lightning but hey I'm a mom it's my job.
As I walked back out the the waiting room I was told to pull up a chair at the puzzle table and there sat other parents who gave a silent acknowledgement that of been there done that first day anxiety. They were very welcoming and helped to put me at ease as much as a stranger can.
We talked about what kind of diagnoses our kids have, where they are at in their treatment, what brought them here etc. It was kind of comforting in a way to finally be surrounded by people who "get it" who understand what you are going through and feeling, who can sympathize and empathize at the same time and really mean it. Who won't give you the "I'm sorry" look of pity and act as though they know what you're going through.
While our kids diagnoses are different as is our walks of life we all share a common understanding of dealing with doctors and nurses, medications, appetite changes, hospitals, living away from home essentially out of suitcases and know I mean really know what it's like to walk a mile in your shoes, but "it's not a sprint, its a marathon."
This is what we all as parents will worry about for the rest of our lives. Come to find out the six year old has a sarcoma almost similar to Arleys but not quite so the silence at times we shared and a quick nod of the head just goes to show you have to be there in order to know.
After waking up from her radiation treatment she had difficulty coming off her medicine. She was very irritable, cried, screamed and was all around a little grumpy. She wanted some milk but there is no Almond milk kept anywhere on property. I tried to persuade her to eat/drink what we had available to us but that was a nightmare.
Because of this we were late to chemotherapy but at least that went a little more breezy than the radiation. The rest of the day went awesome too. We moved into our suite/apartment as well and it's really nice. Came fully furnished and fully stocked with anything one would need for an apartment.
Great for me because the money I spent thinking I would need x, y and z is going to return happily to my pocket. Right now as I write this Arley is receiving her radiation treatment and afterwards I'm hoping she wakes up better but if not I'm fully armed and equipped with stuff to help calm her a little quicker. It's a learning process.
Hoping to take her grocery shopping later today. I was planning on using PeaPod by Stop & Shop and after wasting an hour adding things to my cart there wasn't an option to pay by gift card. WTF? Oh well she's an easy shopping buddy anyway. Until next time friends I have a puzzle to assist on....
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