All Clear!
I visited the Women & Children's Hospital of Buffalo today with Kathy and Jake. The visits are much more relaxed then they were in late 2001, but there is always a bit of hesitation and nausea as I reach the doors.
For the past seven years we have been bringing Jake by to have a CT Scan to make sure that the tumor that was removed stayed completely gone. Well, we are all clear and Dr. Caty said the words that we'd longed to hear - "He doesn't need any future CT Scans. He's good to go."
Jake has been good to go since we walked out of that hospital in November of 2001. We were all very fortunate - and not a single day goes by when I don't Thank God for that. Yet what was most remarkable about today was the human touch I felt. It was almost like there were huge hands wrapping us up and protecting us.
We passed a nurse in the hall who had worked on Jake all those years ago. When I said hello, she stopped quick and I saw absolute fear in her eyes as I introduced Jake. It was easy to read her mind - she was worried sick that he was back for treatment - "Just the routine scan," I said - and her smile lit up the hallways.
The technicians talked wrestling with Jake as they struggled to find a workable vein - the mood in the room was light - the monkeys on the wall created the perfect distraction, and Jake mostly smiled through the 3 pin pricks.
And then Dr. Caty sat beside my son - a child he had worked to save - and talked with Jake as though they were two school chums just sitting on a park bench.
People often talk about closing down hospitals, museums, and libraries - without regard to the real human condition that goes on behind the walls. For years I have been an advocate for the care at the hospital - is it always perfect? Of course not.
It was perfect today.
For the past seven years we have been bringing Jake by to have a CT Scan to make sure that the tumor that was removed stayed completely gone. Well, we are all clear and Dr. Caty said the words that we'd longed to hear - "He doesn't need any future CT Scans. He's good to go."
Jake has been good to go since we walked out of that hospital in November of 2001. We were all very fortunate - and not a single day goes by when I don't Thank God for that. Yet what was most remarkable about today was the human touch I felt. It was almost like there were huge hands wrapping us up and protecting us.
We passed a nurse in the hall who had worked on Jake all those years ago. When I said hello, she stopped quick and I saw absolute fear in her eyes as I introduced Jake. It was easy to read her mind - she was worried sick that he was back for treatment - "Just the routine scan," I said - and her smile lit up the hallways.
The technicians talked wrestling with Jake as they struggled to find a workable vein - the mood in the room was light - the monkeys on the wall created the perfect distraction, and Jake mostly smiled through the 3 pin pricks.
And then Dr. Caty sat beside my son - a child he had worked to save - and talked with Jake as though they were two school chums just sitting on a park bench.
People often talk about closing down hospitals, museums, and libraries - without regard to the real human condition that goes on behind the walls. For years I have been an advocate for the care at the hospital - is it always perfect? Of course not.
It was perfect today.
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