Natures Health Journey

"20 Ways You Know You're a Parent of a Kid With Leukemia"... hopefully worth a smile.

1. You have a favourite brand of hand sanitizer...  we use 3M Avagard.
2. Your kid has a favourite brand of hand sanitizer (favourite "flavour" actually since our kids still put their fingers in their mouths).
3. You make decisions on whether your kid can attend an event, based soley on "infection risk".
4. You are put on "high alert" whenever you hear another kid nearby who's coughing or sneezing.
5. You know what a neutrophil is... and you know what a "good count" is.
6. You have an "express pass" in your local hospital's emergency department.
7. You know your kid's 10 favourite ways to be entertained while in the hospital.
8. You know where the hospital stores its movies, games, craft supplies, etc.
9. You know which of your awesome kind friends makes the best meals for when you're in hospital or "post chemo".
10. You know what "pole riding" is... and you know which IV poles are the best for riding.
11. You think that the inventor of EMLA cream deserves a Nobel Prize.
12. You know at least one thing about each of the members of the nursing staff (eg. where they last went on holiday, how they like their coffee, etc.).
13. You know all the areas in the hospital where your cel phone works.
14. You have at least one cupboard in your house entirely devoted to your kid's medicines.
15. You have perfected a checklist system for ensuring no missed medicine doses.
16. You try to avoid saying the "r" word (relapse).
17. Your local pharmacists don't need to ask your name when you pick up prescriptions.
18. You know how to make a full meal from food you can find around the hospital (note: I didn't say "healthy meal" though).
19. You can sleep in just about any position in just about any form of bed/couch/chair.
20. You know what A.L.L. stands for and you can spell Leukemia (without using a spell checker).

All the best,
Bill LaBranche, London, Canada


I publish this as a reminder to laugh~it is a healing balm