Jr High School all over again!

Jr High School all over again!

Written Apr 30, 2012 8:31pm by Heather Dalik

Do you remember your first day of jr high school?  The anxiety and fear about getting lost in that HUGE building - Like a rat in a maze.  Today, was our first visit to the new hospital.  Seriously, this morning I felt like that first morning of jr high school.  New parking garage, new elevators, new long walk, new, new.  I have been preparing Cora for the new clinic all week, showing her pictures our in patient friends have taken.  

I knew which parking garage to use but forgot to go left.  I went right, which took me ALL the way to the top floor without a parking space. Starting to sweat, 30 minutes until our appointment, we are doing fine. 100's (okay, maybe dozens) of cars looking for spaces.  I drove back down to the ground level.  What now?  Ahhhh, go left!  Go down! Breathe, there are 100's of spaces down here.  Found the elevators and grabbed a space, which I must note is much wider in this garage, happy times!  For those who need to go to Oncology, go into the garage and go left to go down.  Go all the way down to the first floor.  The elevators are on the back wall.  Take them to the 4th floor and that is where the walkway is.  

The rest of the walk to clinic was uneventful but beautiful.  It was eerie quiet and free of other patients, which makes me happy for germ exposure.  Cora was breathless as she took in the sculptures and tall glass windows.  I know she and I are part of something special coming to clinic during opening week.  I took pictures, which I have asked Stephanie to put in our album in the next few days.  

Our clinic visit was uneventful again.  Cora's counts have recovered from the dip of last week.  Her potassium is back up to its high, stable level of 5.3.  I am convinced there was a blood mix up last week, which I am sure happens but no one talks about.  

The best part of the new hospital is that outpatient is to the left and inpatient is to the right.  I had already planned on visiting our friends in inpatient and maybe see our nurses.  One of our nurses, Laurie, came through the door, right in front of us.  I stopped her so she could see Cora.  Cora walked right up to her and let Laurie hold her.  The hug she gave Laurie had us in tears.  Cora is a typical toddler and most often will not let anyone but me hold her, let alone give a hug.  The hug she gave Laurie was the most genuine, head on the shoulder, peace-filled thank you hug I have ever seen.  She has not seen Laurie in 9 months and should have no memory of her. It was clear Cora knew Laurie took care of her when she was her sickest.  Laurie and I both cried.  Cora and I made our way through the doors and came upon Kathryn, another one of our nurses from transplant. Kathryn bent down and without words, Cora hugged her the same way she hugged Laurie.  Not only did those nurses make our hospital stay bearable and get us through the worst time, they made a difference in Cora.    

We got to visit our favorite baby Jackson, who is 49 days post transplant.  We also stopped by Sarah's room and chatted with her. Cora spotted a crib and said "I go in that crib Mommy?"  Maybe she does remember more than we think.  We didn't visit Faith or Malky, as their rooms were dark, but blew them kisses from the door.

Sunday was Cora's first real outing, with 3000 people. Mask on, hand sanitizer on the stroller, we made our way through Baltimore in a mere hour (give or take a few minutes).  Grace and Aunt Sooz came in before us so it was decided Grace won.  Jeff and Andrew finished out the race with just a few walkers behind them.  Grace is looking forward to her next 5k in May.  Andrew traded his running shoes in for golf shoes.

Here is Cora's interpretation of the Port to Fort on Sunday as told to Amy. There is no way to explain the animation in her face as she told Amy all about her fun day.

A - How was the race?

C - It was good.  I walked and had my stroller.  There was a LOT of people some running.  

A - Who was there?

C - Gracie, Aunt Sooz, Uncle James, Andrew, Mommy and Daddy.

A - Did you have fun?

C - Uuuhhhh!!!

A - Did you cross the finish line?

C- I say tada!

Be CORAgeous!