Tonight's picture was taken in November of 2008. Mattie was in his fourth month of treatment and as you can see his art therapist printed out a LARGE picture of a roach. Delightful no? Mattie loved to watch my reaction whenever he brought up the subject of roaches. Because of my disgust with these creatures, this intrigued Mattie and caused him to want to know more. Learning more meant painting a picture of a roach, creating roaches out of model magic and the list went on. Don't you just love that devilish smile Mattie had here as he was teasing me with this roach?
Quote of the day: To ease another’s heartache is to forget one’s own. ~ Abraham Lincoln
This fire orange colored plant was near where I parked my car today. I literally had to stop and snap a photo of it, because to me it screamed out Mattie Miracle. I saw this plant right outside MedStar Georgetown University Hospital. I took that as a sign.
I went to the Hospital to push our snack and item cart around the pediatric in-patient units. I try to do this at least once a month. I do this for various reasons, but the top reason is to better understand how the cart is meeting its intended purpose. Which is to provide access to free treats and snacks to families caring for a child in the hospital, so that parents do not have to leave their child's bedside to meet their own needs.
Today was a very busy day for the snack cart. In several cases, children themselves were allowed to pick items from the cart, and you could see their smiles and excitement. Several families I interacted with only spoke Spanish, but some things are communicated universally. I had many parents thank me and told me how grateful they are for the cart. I even had nurses, who I don't know, telling me what a difference the cart is making. I love unsolicited feedback and one nurse told me she wished her patients were as happy to see her as they are the cart. Cute! That made me laugh. So despite a bad headache, I sucked it up, because I know what life is like living in a hospital setting, and in comparison my migraine is nothing.
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