Tonight's picture was taken in March of 2009. That was a very exciting day for the pediatric units. It was the official grand opening of the child life playroom. Sponsored by Toys R Us. Which was why the mascot, Geoffrey the giraffe, was on hand! Mattie took an active role in the ribbon cutting ceremony and met many of the hospital administrators who were in attendance. It was a fun and joyous event, and I can assure you the playroom was desperately needed. Prior to the building of the playroom, the only gathering place to play and move about was the hospital hallways. Of course I remember the huge cake! Sugar was my way of coping through each day during Mattie's cancer journey. You could give Mattie a piece of cake, but I was always the lucky recipient of his desserts. As Mattie really wasn't into sweets.
Quote of the day: Today's coronavirus update from Johns Hopkins.
- Number of people diagnosed with the virus: 29,662,431
- Number of people who died from the virus: 539,215
I received an article in my email today and it caught my attention. It was entitled, Nurses Help Parents of Children With Cancer Feel Listened To, Create Trustworthiness. The reason why it caught my attention is because from our personal experience with Mattie, I learned what a vital role a nurse plays in a hospital. They may not be writing the orders for the types of treatment and medication to be administered, however, they do everything else. Which means they carry out those orders and are by the patient and family's bedside. They get to know the whole person, not just the person doctors see for five minutes to make a quick assessment. As we all know, we are much more than just what our blood work and radiology data reports.
Throughout Mattie's cancer journey, it was his nurses who shared with insights about side effects, how to manage them, and also in their subtle ways, their kindness and listening ears helped to manage the day to day stresses of living in a pediatric ICU and worrying about Mattie's prognosis.
The bottom line from this Swedish study is that when parents work with a compassionate nurse, they feel like they understand their child's diagnosis and treatment better, they feel listened to, and most of all trust is formed. When we are talking about cancer treatment on your child, trust in a healthcare provider is tantamount. After all we are turning over our children into their care! But I think trust goes both ways. Nurses can make us feel like trusted members of the health care team, and in turn this allow us to let our guard down and begin trusting them. It is when this mutual trust exists, that improved health outcomes can actually happen. To this day, now almost 12 years later, I still remember Mattie's nurses. These are extraordinary women, who officially cared for Mattie, but in the process cared for Peter and me.
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