| I have thought a lot about what this past couple of years has brought to our family and I can honestly say it has brought us closer. It has been a time to reflect and realize how blessed we are for every day that we have. When you are given the news that your child has cancer the first thought (for me anyway) was, "were going to lose her." It doesn't take long to get stuck right in the middle of a tornado with the events that take place. There are so many questions, and through it all sometimes you forget that the siblings may be hearing but not understanding things. I remember the night our 9-year-old heard people talking about his sister maybe dying or at the least losing her leg. On the way home from the hospital he asked me if what he heard was true. It was truly heart wrenching to have to tell him that it might just be. We had to rely very heavily on our middle child to take care of a lot of things at home. I remember him telling me at one point that he had fed the dogs every scrap he could find but he wondered if I might be able to get them some more dog food as they had been out for a while. He had told me more than once evidently that they needed food, than he took care of things for as long as he could. My husband and I spent many hours at the hospital. I would be there from 9 am till about 2:30 pm each day that JJ was hospitalized. I always tried to make it home before the boys got out of school. Doug would be at the hospital at lunch and then as soon as he got off work until it was bedtime. He spent many hours watching videos with JJ. I think they know every line to "Princess Bride" now. We got to spend many hours playing board games or card games at the hospital as well. Monopoly will never be the same to us. We knew which days were the best at the cafeteria and which days it would be better to hit one of the fast food places. We learned that hospital couches are not nearly long enough, and that every room needs a glider rocker in it, whether you have a small child or not. We learned that babies don't care if you’re bald. We learned that JJ's dad and brother looked good bald. We learned that people just come out of the woodwork to help in any way they can to make your life a little bit easier. We learned that our children have a lot more strength, endurance and understanding than we ever thought they did. We learned that every person that had cancer didn't necessarily have the same kind of treatment. In talking to some of the parents of other kids it sounded like a different language to us. We learned that even if the protocol was different the feelings we experienced were the same. We learned to lean on others that had already traveled the road we were on. We learned that most people say they admire us because they could never do what we had; we know from our own experience that you JUST DO IT, no matter what. But most of all we learned that we can live each day to the fullest and that every day is very precious no matter what it is that is happening in your life. |
