A New Life - pg. 5

My aunt Audra offered to watch Mitch and me for the night so mom and dad could have a night away. Mom showed Audra what needed to be done and wanted to make sure she was comfortable with the procedure. She said she was and they went on their way. While Audra was cleaning the tubes I screamed, she panicked and asked how she had hurt me. I laughed and told her I was fine then told her how to finish the procedure. The look on her face was priceless.

As I mentioned Audra always made things fun. While staying at her house she showed me that suction arrows would stick to my bald head. I thought that was so cool that not only did I stick the arrow to my head; I decorated it with her Christmas decorations. Mom was really surprised to see the picture of our festive creation.

The move to the Pocatello hospital worked out great and I was now at a month break in the plan. Afterwards I would have only 3 months left of light chemo. It was nice to have some time off. My immune system was doing better and I was able to visit my friends at the daycare. When mom and I arrived all the kids ran out to meet me and started rubbing my head. They were all saying how nice my bald head was and it was really weird. Later that night I found out that Mitch had threatened the kids that if they made me feel bad about my bald head he would deal with them later.

My grandpa and grandma Mangum gave us some money and we bought a TV. We put it in Mitch's room so that we could watch movies and our favorite TV shows together. One day I was tucked in the nook in the hallway giggling with my hand over my mouth. Mom watched to see what I was up to. Mitch was watching a show on the TV and I would lean into the hallway and change the channel with the remote. Mitch would wonder what was going on and get up and change the channel back. As soon as he was nestled back in, I would do it again. It was so fun teasing him.

Mitch and I spent a lot of time together and it was nice to be near him. During the night I would sneak into his room and lay by him. After so many nights alone in a hospital it was nice being near him. While in the hospital I would always get gifts from people. I would sort the gifts and always picked out the ones that I thought Mitch would like. Then I would save them for him until we were together and give him the gifts. It was so fun playing with him. He always made me feel important and loved.

At last the day came and I received my last chemo treatment. Mom and I couldn't leave the hospital quick enough. We had to return a few weeks later to have my tubes taken out. My mom's friend Karen came to the hospital with us, she was very brave. None of us knew what we were in for that day. The entire time I had my tubes my mom worried that they would get pulled out by accident. When the time came to take them out they needed to be cut out. Mom, Karen and a few nurses were all around the table holding me while they took them out and put a few stitches in my chest. I was not a happy camper.

My hair started growing back and mom said it was the softest hair she had ever felt and it was lighter than before treatment. I was required to have scans every 3 months and on my first visit to the hospital for scans the nurse said that my stubbly head felt like her legs, it made me laugh. During the scans it seemed like mom held her breath until she heard, "All clear". Once we got the green light we were on the road home and couldn't be happier. As soon as the stitches were taken out I ran to the sand pit and played all day. A friend of the family gave Mitch and I swimming passes so we could enjoy the things I couldn't do with tubes. Life was starting to get back to normal.