Tonight's picture was taken in March of 2009. Mattie was in the child life playroom at the hospital and doing yoga electronically. He stood on a wii board which you can see here. Typically Mattie wasn't into ANYTHING electronic. But that day he had Peter and I in the room, along with his nurses and other psychosocial staff. Each one of them took a try on this wii board to see who could do a better yoga pose. That is all Mattie needed, was a competition, and he was eager to try it! It turned out despite all of Mattie's surgeries, he had excellent balance and grace on the board!
Quote of the day: It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves. ~ Edmund Hillary
Since the Fall, I have been visiting Georgetown University Hospital monthly to push the Mattie Miracle Snack and Item cart around the units. I feel it is important to assess how the cart is doing, and the only real way I can do this is personally. I don't do too well with third person reports. It just isn't my style. In any case, I have had a lot of time visiting the pediatric units lately and with that I have many observations. Today for example, I returned to the hospital to meet the child life specialist, Morganne, who has been hired to fill our weekend position. We lost the previous specialist last summer, as she wanted to return to her home, which was out of state.
While talking with Morganne today, we were in the middle of the child life playroom. The same room that you see in the photo above. I obviously know that Mattie died and is no longer with us, but for me the fifth floor of the hospital is like the land that time forgot. It reminds me of the last year we had with Mattie. I imagine to Morganne the room was just an ordinary room but to me the playroom is a space I recall spending hours upon hours with Mattie. During good hospital days and very bad ones. If you believe walls and space have memories, then you get how I was feeling today.
I made it my mission too to introduce Morganne to Tricia. Tricia was Mattie's favorite nurse, and for those of you who attend our annual Foundation Walk in May, then you know that Tricia comes every year and brings her husband and children. Her family has become a part of ours. But Tricia is no ordinary nurse or person. She provided stellar care to Mattie, but also to Peter and I. When I see Tricia, I in essence see Mattie. As Tricia told Morganne today.... she never had a connection with a family like she has with mine.
Mattie told Tricia one day in the middle of the PICU hallway that he LOVED her. Loud enough for everyone to hear. That truly got to Tricia. Needless to say, Tricia is one of Mattie Miracle's best advocates at the hospital and tells her patients about the Foundation and the snack cart. Though Tricia and I do not see each other daily like we used to, we can pick up right where we left off and the one bright spot about visiting the hospital on a more frequent basis is that I see Tricia. When I am with her, it is safe to talk childhood cancer and to remember, reflect, and reminisce about Mattie.
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