Sunday, November 20, 2005
Resolute Children (Cancer Patients)
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5:40 PM 11/20/2005
Tonight I watched a most wonderful news story about children with terminal cancer. The point of the story was the idea of allowing them to make decisions involving their own treatments rather than just the parent and doctor thing that has been the norm. Two children's cases were highlighted, one girl (12 or 14) and a boy (11 or so-now deceased). The young girl was interviewed in her room at the childrens hospital and was asked how did she feel about having cancer. She has lost her hair and her response was this " smilingly, she said, all of her friends were at school each day, making out with their boyfriends and girlfriends and here she was in a hospital room, dealing with chemotheraphy and different kinds of treatments. She stated without hesitation that chemotherapy is awful (yes it is).This child has made the decision that for as long as she remains alive, she is willing to be a volunteer for testing new medicines and treatments. The whole while that she was talking to the reporter, she had a smile on her (lovely little) face ! (:) from me to her! The second child interviewed was a boy who is now deceased. He made a decision not to take the radiation treatments and opted to just continue to enjoy whatever amount of time he had left in his life playing,needless to say, his parents where devasted by his choice but then remembered they had agreed to allow him to make decisions about his treatments or in this case, his non treatment. His parents said his last days were spent in merriment and him having fun! (:) rest in peace from me to him! As is said so many times, out of the mouth of babes.
Why I am so touched by this story is that I too am dealing with cancer...for the past two years its been an on and off again dilemma. At early period of my treatment I was doing both chemo and radiation, and on the day of my last radiation treatment my oncologist caught and stopped me as I ran down the hallway waving goodbye to everyone and singing and shouting out loudly "free at last, free at last, thank god almighty my ass is free at last,lol, I was being radiated in the abdomen and butt area. Anyway, the doctor wanted me to meet someone. He took me into his office where there on the floor was a little boy child crawling around, he introduced me to the child and he told the child to give me a hug! The baby crawled over to my legs and hugged me and was being playful with me. Okay, so I'm thinking to myself whats up doc (no pun intended bugs ); I asked the doctor how old the child was and what was going on. He told me the baby was three years old and had been brought in by his parents to make arrangements for his radiation treatments. My mouth dropped open, I looked down at the child hanging onto my legs and I began to cry. I just could not believe that anyone that tiny had to go through what I had been through twenty eight times. With radiation treatments one spends more time undressing and being arranged on the table than being actually being infused/zapped by the rays themselves.I couldn't stop the tears as I drove home so I went to a Barnes and Nobel bookstore ,talked to a friend who worked there, told her about the little boy and she helped me pick out an appropriate gift for him. It was a childs book in the form of a fire truck, took it over to the hospital the next day and asked my oncologist to give it to the boys parents whenever they returned.
To sum this thing up, those kids I spoke of at the beginning reflect not only how brave and resolute they are/were but also that many other children are as well. With each waking breath may I be as strong as they.
Keeper
">Link
5:40 PM 11/20/2005
Tonight I watched a most wonderful news story about children with terminal cancer. The point of the story was the idea of allowing them to make decisions involving their own treatments rather than just the parent and doctor thing that has been the norm. Two children's cases were highlighted, one girl (12 or 14) and a boy (11 or so-now deceased). The young girl was interviewed in her room at the childrens hospital and was asked how did she feel about having cancer. She has lost her hair and her response was this " smilingly, she said, all of her friends were at school each day, making out with their boyfriends and girlfriends and here she was in a hospital room, dealing with chemotheraphy and different kinds of treatments. She stated without hesitation that chemotherapy is awful (yes it is).This child has made the decision that for as long as she remains alive, she is willing to be a volunteer for testing new medicines and treatments. The whole while that she was talking to the reporter, she had a smile on her (lovely little) face ! (:) from me to her! The second child interviewed was a boy who is now deceased. He made a decision not to take the radiation treatments and opted to just continue to enjoy whatever amount of time he had left in his life playing,needless to say, his parents where devasted by his choice but then remembered they had agreed to allow him to make decisions about his treatments or in this case, his non treatment. His parents said his last days were spent in merriment and him having fun! (:) rest in peace from me to him! As is said so many times, out of the mouth of babes.
Why I am so touched by this story is that I too am dealing with cancer...for the past two years its been an on and off again dilemma. At early period of my treatment I was doing both chemo and radiation, and on the day of my last radiation treatment my oncologist caught and stopped me as I ran down the hallway waving goodbye to everyone and singing and shouting out loudly "free at last, free at last, thank god almighty my ass is free at last,lol, I was being radiated in the abdomen and butt area. Anyway, the doctor wanted me to meet someone. He took me into his office where there on the floor was a little boy child crawling around, he introduced me to the child and he told the child to give me a hug! The baby crawled over to my legs and hugged me and was being playful with me. Okay, so I'm thinking to myself whats up doc (no pun intended bugs ); I asked the doctor how old the child was and what was going on. He told me the baby was three years old and had been brought in by his parents to make arrangements for his radiation treatments. My mouth dropped open, I looked down at the child hanging onto my legs and I began to cry. I just could not believe that anyone that tiny had to go through what I had been through twenty eight times. With radiation treatments one spends more time undressing and being arranged on the table than being actually being infused/zapped by the rays themselves.I couldn't stop the tears as I drove home so I went to a Barnes and Nobel bookstore ,talked to a friend who worked there, told her about the little boy and she helped me pick out an appropriate gift for him. It was a childs book in the form of a fire truck, took it over to the hospital the next day and asked my oncologist to give it to the boys parents whenever they returned.
To sum this thing up, those kids I spoke of at the beginning reflect not only how brave and resolute they are/were but also that many other children are as well. With each waking breath may I be as strong as they.
Keeper
