In an effort to take this prolonged hospitalization day by day and moment by moment, I am working on reminding myself of the positives and good moments. Don’t get me wrong, the negatives and the dark times are not few and far between here, but for mental health purposes and trying to ‘live for the moment’ (ugh), here are the Ste.Justine, Block 12, highlights:

 

10. We have a big room. 

Totally important when you are living within four wall, in isolation, for a prolonged period of time and you have a child with special needs to keep happy and engaged. We have a room where the parent bed is ‘built in’, a move up from our fold out cot and DEFINITELY better than the chair beds we’ve experienced in the past. Kate has space to move around and play and be active. She has a large bathroom, with an appropriate tub and shower and enough room to fit two adults needed to help her shower, and her enormous IV pole. And windows. Big bright windows that she can look out (though the view is never guaranteed).

9. We are learning/improving our French.

Well, I was actually already bilingual. Level E (exempt from requiring further testing) as assessed by our federal government who are very keen to spend a LOT of $$ on making sure everyone in the Public Service is fluently bilingual and limiting the careers of those who are not. Wait…that’s another rant for another blog/site…sorry.
Ok, back to French Immersion Camp Ste.Justine. When we first arrived, I have to admit I was intimidated to use my french language skills. They were ‘rusty’ and I didn’t feel I could express myself the way I needed to, missing key medical vocabulary to communicate with the nurses and medical staff. The medical team was more than willing to work at functioning in English, but I soon realized that the nurses were more comfortable in French and I was going to get a lot more from them if I asked them to speak French to me. The information coming from them was more important than me worrying about my masculine/feminin pronouns etc.
I think I’ve gotten to a point where my French is now pretty seamless. A few members of the medical team have even complimented me on my French (merci!). There is really no ‘downtime’ from French here as most of the families and patients are French as well. If you want to talk to anyone and not go crazy from isolation – you need to parlez le francais. I’ve even participated as a ‘translator’ between French and English families in the parent kitchen as we all talked about our kids.
Kate has even started to pick up some French and is saying “merci” to her nurses and doctors. Yes, the developmentally challenged, Deaf child, is now trilingual. Ha.

8. The nurses here are amazing. 

They know bone marrow transplant, and they know post bone marrow transplant care and complications. They are helpful, insightful, willing to listen, willing to support, and they are above all sympathetic. I know that they know BMT well. They understand TPN and use it frequently. They know the complicated medications these kids are on and they know that when a parent is worried, there is a very good reason for that worry. They are intimate members of Kate’s care team and are briefed extensively on her history, complexity and the trajectory  of her BMT recovery to date. They often refer to her as “plein de surprises” (full of surprises) and because they are using the same language – I know it is a context about Kate that the BMT team is emphasizing so that they take nothing for granted with Kate and recognize that she is different and doesn’t follow the ‘typical’ clinical presentation.
It makes me feel safe. It makes me feel confident. It allows me to trust and to actually feel like I can close my eyes at night.

And that is huge.

The BMT team here at Ste.Justine has taken great care in caring for Kate. When nursing rotations are organized, they work hard to keep Kate with the same nurses to allow for consistency for Kate and facilitate communication. Kate has unique challenges with language, using a mix of ASL and spoken english to communicate, but the more you know her, the more you understand her. Ste.Justine has made that a priority in her care.

Again. I am grateful for that attention to detail to better support my child.

7. Patience.

Kate’s BMT team are a core of 4 physicians. We work most closely with two of them, Dr.B and Dr.D. This is actually how Kate refers to them because she can’t pronounce their full surnames. Dr.B she’s even reduced to simply calling “B”. (Yes, it’s adorable and he loves it).

They are wonderful with Kate. Patient, engaging, cautious, willing to learn and follow her lead. They don’t rush her with examinations, but flex to what she is willing to do. Nothing is forced, and they are deferential to her whenever possible.

Maybe it’s more than patience. It’s Respect.

It warms my heart to see them attempt ASL with Kate. Everyone is signing “see you later alligator” with Kate. It’s the common goodbye as they leave her room. Dr.D (with a smile on his face) even mentioned that he signed it to a colleague (who also knew Kate) at a recent medical conference here in Montreal.

It’s the small things, but it’s doctors who I can see are invested in my daughter. Who want the best for her and will be at her bedside at a moments notice to help her.

6. FaceTime

Technology has been a huge crutch for us here. iPad games are endless, and watching YouTube videos of Dora, The Voice, Curious George, ASL songs etc. are heavily relied upon by anyone who is taking care of Kate.

What has been very significant for Kate is being able to stay in touch with family and friends over FaceTime. She can say good-night to her dad and brother, catch up with her aunts, uncles and cousins from Newfoundland, Halifax, Saskatchewan and Ontario. She can dance the can-can with anyone who will take on the challenge, sing Happy Birthday endlessly with anyone willing, do the hokey-pokey with her buddy “big Jimmy”, or sneak some FaceTime with friends who rent out boardrooms at work for that specific purpose.

One of my favourite FaceTime moments is when she gets to chat with her friends at Rogers House. Rogers House has been a special place for Kate and a huge support to our family. The kids in respite there are Kate’s friends and the nurses, social workers, play therapist and doctors are more than professionals working to support her – they are genuine in their enthusiasm and excitement when they get to chat with Kate.

5. Netflix

Despite loving books and being a voracious reader….OMG….whoever invented Netflix…thank you! I have consumed more shows than I care to name and average 2-3 movies a week. It’s what you do when you are in an isolation room and can’t leave your child who goes to bed at 7 p.m.

It’s also what you do when you have energy for nothing else.

4. The other families here

When we first arrived here much of our stress was quite elevated. Everything was so new and felt so complicated, not to mention the many unknowns of our child going through a bone marrow transplant.

The third floor of the hematology oncology wing of the hospital is kept for a very specific group of families. There are a maximum of 6 families at a time and most times there are only 3-4 of us. We eat, sleep, ‘lounge’, and do everything else in close quarters with one another, and so we talk.

We share stories about our kids…”what does your kid have”
We share what we have learned, how to understand tests, bloodwork, complications and what questions to ask the doctors and nurses.
We share our worries and concerns.

We come from varied backgrounds and speak many different languages. Being with these families is one of the few times where I felt truly understand and where the rarity of Kate’s disease did not stand out.

3. Kate’s BMT was successful

Despite the many complications we have had post BMT, for all intents and purposes Kate’s BMT is a success so far. Her blood counts are stable and almost normal. Her lymphocytes are recovering. Her chimerism tests are solid. She has not rejected the new marrow. And she is still here.

2. Our evening walks

Several weeks ago, after we had arrived back to Ste.Justine having been transferred from CHEO, Kate was still in isolation in her room and only allowed to take brief walks on the third floor. Kate was still very unwell with lots of ups and downs and I was worried about her ability to cope and keep up her incredible stamina long term. I insisted that Kate be allowed outside for daily walks. Her team agreed and were willing to make this happen – not an easy thing to do because it means disconnecting her from her TPN feeds, IV hydration, IV medication etc. and flushing/heparinizing her lines and installing all new lines when we returned. But it is 2 hours of incredible freedom for Kate. And it is beautiful.

The first time we went for one of these walks, Kate hugged a tree. She climb onto someone’s lawn, sat for a moment and looked at the surrounding garden, then got up and walked over to a lone ornamental tree and hugged it.

Sometimes your instincts as a mom are bang-on.

Now our walk is a ritual. Sometimes an opportunity for Kate to have a  much needed nap, other times she simply watches the people and cars while humming a little tune to herself.  We’ve passed by quiet playgrounds and took a chance to swing or go down a slide, and we walk through lovely parks enjoying the shade and the view.

Huge. Huge for this little girl who hasn’t had the chance at a any of this for 4 long months.

1. Happy Incredible Amazing Kate

And then there is Kate.

What can I say? She is Incredible.

I work hard at keeping up beat, but my energy is waning and I want to go home. I am positive and I am hopeful, but I don’t feel much like laughing or talking or being silly most days.

But Kate does. So I do it for her.

She loves everyone she meets and wants to be their friend. She develops relationships and bonds with her nurses and doctors on her own – with little guidance from us. She patrols the elevator and has made the short hallways of the third floor her play space. Her eyes shine bright with love and trust and a willingness to endure.

Though I know she longs for it as much as I do, with tears in her eyes she has only asked for home twice.

She is Incredible.

 

 

Julie