Beads of Courage

The Beads of Courage program is such a wonderful idea that was created to help kids with cancer and other life threatening illnesses as they go through treatment. For each challenge, procedure and therapy, Elijah receives a bead to add to his necklaces. These are the beads he has already added since we began a couple of weeks ago. Each of the different glass and ceramic beads represents a different part of the journey...transfusions, blood draws, chemo days, etc... What a beautiful and tangible representation of the courage needed to face the extraordinary challenges ahead.

The animals have been Elijah's furry support team but now he seems to like sailing them through the air saying they are in "time out." He changes their names to keep staff guessing. The big orange guy used to be "tangerine," then "tangerinezer" and now he calls him "skinny cat." Frankly, I think that cat needs dialysis.

Mouth cares are one of Elijah's favorite things right now. This is usually one of the most difficult things to get kids to do and it is so essential because of the mouth sores that are prevelant during this course of treatment. It is particularly funny because he takes nothing by mouth and normally resists most anything to do with oral cares. He is always full of surprises!

Okay...just one more crabby thing

I know I said that I stop the whole crabby thing but this comment from the nurse today has cranked up my crab-o-meter dial to the extreme. She just said to Elijah.."You must be happy to be at the hospital because now you are getting one on one attention. I bet you won't want to go home!"

What?!! You actually just said that? He is here for a bone marrow transplant?! But living in a big family must be worse than being stuck in an isolation room undergoing a life threatening procedure? Need I say more?!