Thinking about others......

Rough, rough night is all we can say. Zack was up all night, couldn't sleep, nauseous and other issues. I couldn't stop coughing, sneezing, nose running.. We were quite the pair to say the least! I awoke early to take a shower and literally clear my head some more. It helped, for about a second. By the time I'm out Zack is up, half asleep. He proceeds to sit on top of his baseball cap, which by the way, is full of fish hooks. He immediately jumps up and we both start to laugh. At least we can start the day off with a good laugh.

Zack is not feeling very well so I run down the hall to get the nurse and ask for some Benedryl. I pass a woman on her cell phone. She immediately gets excited and says "oh my God she's here!!!" and runs up to hug me. All of a sudden I recognize her as the mother of the young girl from our area recently diagnosed with bone cancer. I let her finish her conversation while I visit with her daughter, who has invited me to sit for awhile. Since this is her journey, I can only say the prognosis for her is very good, it will be a long road, but they are optimistic and expect a full recovery.  The girl says they were going to go to Memphis, but since the doctors at the cancer center have practiced at St. Judes, they feel confident in their care here. I was excited to hear this as I remember when I first met the mother, telling her that if they can't help here, they will send them to the best possible place. I visited for about thirty minutes, getting to the know both mother and daughter. It turns out her son is a senior and will be crossing the stage with Zack, so there will be much to celebrate! As I am heading out the girl asks her mother for frosted flakes or fruit loops. The mother explains that the hospital doesn't carry those types of cereal, she then asks about Ramen noodles. I get excited and say "I have that!" I rush to the room and grab three bags, three bowls and spoons and return. Lately I feel like everything is about me, Frank and Zack, it was nice to listen to someone else and even though it wan't much, do just a little something for someone else. She was so surprised and happy, I left the room with hugs, phone numbers exchanged and feeling great (at least emotionally)

I return to our room and Zack asks "where have you been?" As I explain, I can tell he is starting to fade. The nurse had come in with his medicine so I encourage him to lay back in bed and rest while I'm gone. I run to the local store for our weekly supply of muffins, drinks, hot wings and chips. Since Zack still doesn't eat Hospital food, we have to make sure he has everything at his disposal when he does want to eat. When I return to the hospital, I drive around for twenty five minutes before I can find a parking spot. Unfortunately the Emergency Room is again at full capacity, making it hard to find parking this week.

Zack is feeling better, he had taken a long nap while I was away and was ready for lunch. I was starting to feel worse again, so just sat down and ate lunch as well, resting for awhile before unloading the car. On my way back up I dropped of a couple of boxes of the cereals the young girl was asking for and some bowls, told her Mom where to get the mild and spoons and left so they could rest. Once everything was unpacked, I again sit. Zack is now in the chair and continues to watch his shows, when there is a knock on the door, it is the mother with a pretty grouping of flowers in a plastic bottle. She tells Zack "these are for your mother."

A couple of hours later, there is another knock on the door and there is Drake, Donald, Leah and baby Landon. It was a nice surprise, but unfortunately they are here because a close family friends daughter had been in a serious car accident and their mother was here to see her.  Zack starts to cheer up, I settle into the corner of the couch and hold the baby who is smiling the entire time. I have had some questions as to the safety of Zack having visitors, the Doctors tell us as long as his counts are good and they are not sick, he is safe. My stand is, I see him when he is here for long periods of time without visitors, he feels better and heals quicker when he is emotionally in a good place. No amount of medicine can provide emotional support and just ten minutes with his friends is worth its weight in gold!

As soon as his friends (my kids) leave, he crawls into bed and we are both down for the night. I was supposed to grab dinner with Rhonda downstairs, but am just not feeling up to it. The more rest I can get the better and being in a cafeteria surrounded by people is not my idea of fun right now.