Day 14

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Nina slept much better (it does help if you relieve yourself on occasion!) but still talked about being "scared" multiple times between 1 and 3am. Interesting how most of our difficulties sleeping or pooping for that matter happen between 1 and 3am! Why not 9pm-midnight?? What's wrong with that time?? I guess my honey-girl feels it's necessary to keep her mama on her toes! Good thing I'm quick on my feet!! And thank Heaven for coffee!!! Where would I be without coffee?? I've always loved coffee and throughout graduate school drank 3-4 cups a day. Now...well let's just say that I may be single-handedly sustaining a dozen Ecuadorian coffee farms :)

Nina is a smart cookie. She has always been but I guess I assumed that because she was so unresponsive that she may not fully understand what was going on. WRONG!! The kid had my number. First of all, I thought I was brilliant when I hid her meds in a spoon of applesauce. The first number of times she fell for it no problem. Well now....she knows exactly what I'm doing. At 3 am she yelled at me, "I don't like applesauce! I don't want medicine!" I hadn't even said a word about medicine but the turkey knew! Dang nab it! Then this morning, when we left for radiation, as soon as we turned onto Pueblo (where the hospital is) she started crying and protesting, "I don't want to go the doctor!" I thought about using a blindfold but I don't think Eileen would approve!

Daddy helping as we get ready to go to radiation.

Nothing like a new dress and purse to help a girl feel great!

By now the secretaries at the Cancer Center already know us so we don't even have to say who we are. They just buzz us in. I guess this is a good thing, right?? Just never thought I would find myself living through this...going to the Cancer Center 5 times a week. We've been here almost a full week and we haven't seen another single child. Some of the patients are in their late 40s, however, the vast majority seem to be over 60. Cancer is always awful and something you never imagine yourself going thru, but somehow it makes more sense with older people...with a child it seems a 1000 times worse, beyond cruel!

Cruel, worse, wrong, whatever....here we were again, Nina protesting and crying, Cindy meeting us around the corner with a great smile! Vitals were collected, her IV connected, and Miss Nina was ready to go. Then she turned to me, with those gorgeous hazel eyes and kissable juicy lips and said, "I want waffle with strawberries and whipped cream." That was it. She didn't say another word. She had told us what she wanted and every one in that room knew that all hell would break loose if we didnt' have a waffle ready after she recovered from sedation. I turned to Cindy and asked her if she thought the cafeteria made waffles. She shook her head no but added that they did make pancakes. PANCAKES???? Hadn't Cindy realized who we were dealing with here?? Pancakes would not suffice! Then my brain worked...I turned to Eileen and told her that after Nina was sedated I'd run over to IHOP and buy her a waffle!

So...as soon as we had Nina sedated I took off on my great waffle mission. The girl wanted a waffle and so she would get one. I got to the car and realized I didnt' have my wallet, again! I had to run back into the center and get cash from my ATM (aka: Eileen Klein). Finally, I arrived at IHOP, placed my order and begged the nice gentlemen to expedite my food. He obliged and within 20 minutes I was back at Nina's side. She hadn't woken up yet so everything was working according to schedule. However, as all parents know, with children nothing ever goes according to schedule :)

Another 20 minutes later she finally woke up. After a bit of crying and protesting, she calmed down and we were able to sit her up. Then she turned to me and said, "I want ribs!" RIBS???? What happened to the waffle??? Eileen started cracking up (and I assume Cindy did so too behind my back!). I explained that I didnt' have ribs but had a deliciously warm IHOP waffle. That's when the water works started, "I want ribs" she whimpered. I have become such a sucker for this kid!! Luckily, my brain worked again. I asked her if she wanted me to call daddy and place her order for ribs. She shook her head yes and I proceeded to call our sous chef. He happily told her over the speaker phone he was on it! Then she ate her waffle....the entire adult-size thing!!!

Since it had taken her so long to recover from sedation, by the time we arrived back home it was nearly 1:30pm. As soon as we opened her car door, the mouth-watering scent of ribs on the grill came wafting in and twirled around her button nose like tiny little dancers. She inhaled an exceptionally deep breath and said with the most satisfied of voices, "Mmm...I smell ribs!" And she was right!! Her daddy had come to the rescue. As soon as he had finished talking to her on the phone, he had raced to the store and bought a small rack of baby-back ribs. By the time we arrived home 90 minutes later, the ribs were glistening on the grill and taunting everyone in the neighborhood.

At 2pm Nina ate her ribs!!! Life is good!!!

The rest of our day was lovely! Teddy came home and told us all about how he loved his second grade teacher, Miss Checchio. He explained that she was super smart and liked to laugh with them (I hope that these traits will continue to be a priority for my son well into adulthood!). I asked him if her being completely beautiful didn't factor into the equation and he vehemently denied (HA!!) The days of me being the prettiest girl in Teddy's eyes are definitely over but his almost-8 year old tactics of redirecting me don't fool me!!! My husband just stood in the kitchen and smiled facetiously! We were so happy that he was having such an amazing start to the school year! It was all we had asked for him and God was blessing us! Each step of this journey, the kid's elementary school had supported us and we were so thankful!

After bath time, Nina and I were cuddling on her bed when she began to cry and say that she was scared. My heart skipped multiple beats!! After several attempts at asking her what was wrong and why she was scared, Nina finally fessed up...she was scared about going to jail! It was really hard to not kiss her immediately but I restrained myself. I explained that kids can't go to jail and asked her why she was worried. That's when she proceeded to remind me about the 911 incident back in June.

This past June, we took our annual family vacation with my husbands parents, brother, and his 4 kids. Cousin Teague is our youngest nephew, and is only one month older than Nina. One night while all the adults were still sitting at the dining table, Nina approached me crying and said that a man was on the phone and needed to talk to me. I immediately knew what was wrong!! I got on the phone and a 911 dispatcher explained that the kids had called and he wanted to make sure everything was fine. He also said he had told them they can only call 911 for emergencies. By this point, Nina was crying and Teague was hiding under the bed! What the dispatcher failed to tell me was that he had also told the kids that if they called 911 again when it wasn't an emergency the police would come to their house and take them to jail. So...my sweet angel and been worrying about going to the slammer for an offense she had committed two months earlier. I tried to tell her that he was just joking and had only tried to scare her. But she didn't buy it! I even had Todd speak to her but she was terrified that she was going to go to jail! As if things weren't bad enough, now the kid was stressing over jail time!!!

Aside from the incarceration dilemma, our evening ended beautifully. Nina spontaneously went to the potty and rewarded my mothering by producing yet another BM! I really hope that God has a great sense of humor! My father-in-law says He does but then again that's probably what the guy tells himself about his bulbous nose :) (Gordy, I really do love you, nose and all!!). Anyhow, the reason I hope God has a great sense of humor is because every time Nina poops I thank Heaven above. I'm totally being sincere about my gratitude but it's still weird!!!