chapter 2
Hot shot, Hoist, Wedge, Medix and Whirl woke up in their hospital rooms and remembered why they were there. They had just found out yesterday that they had cancer. Now they were frightened and didn't know what to do. Their loved ones visited for a while and borrowed their plush toys. Roxy the Rhino, Penny the penguin, Daisy the Desert tortoise, Tina the T-rex and Mr. Flappy the bat. Their parents or legal guardians had gotten together and made special hospital pjs for the toys and used some worked and such and with hospital staff and put Hickman lines with a patch with Velcro to hold it in place and put bandanas on their heads to match the color for their cancer awareness ribbons.
Then they showed them to the children. Hot shot was amazed by how Roxy looked. Whirl was in wonder about the new Penny. Wedge kind of liked how Daisy looked now. Hoist thought Tina looked just amazing. Medix was amazed how much like a hospital cancer patient Mr. Flappy looked. It gave all the children a calming affect on them.
They were plenty scared still. Especially now because the doctors called dietitians want to put a tube up their noses because before they came to the hospital a few days ago they hadn't been eating much and they needed more nutrition for a while. It made them very nervous.
A nurse came into each of their rooms.
Hot shot was pretty scared when the nurse showed him the NG tube. The nurse took Roxy and showed him what she was going to do. "I and going to lubricate the tube an measure the right length and then I am going to move it up your nose into your stomach, and you have to stay still and drink water," the nurse explained. "Then we do an X-ray to help make sure it is in the right place. We will move the the tube behind your ear so it is not in your way. We put these special stickers on the tube to keep it in place, then after a couple of weeks or so we take it out, it is as simple as that," the nurse said.
Hot shot understood and was ready although he was scared.
The nurses Hoist's, Whirl's, Wedge's, and Medix's rooms explained the same things with their stuffed animals and they understood and were ready although they were scared.
Then the nurses put the tubes up their noses. Hot shot, Hoist, Wedge, Medix, and Whirl all held very still while hugging their stuffed animals. Then it was all finished and the X-ray was done. "You have done well," the nurses told them.
"You did good," their families told them.
Now they were starting to feel kind of brave.
The feeding tubes were now in place with special stickers and now they were ready to go. They were a bit nervous because Dr. Rhino said they were going to start chemotherapy today. That made them very nervous.
The nurses came in with the bags of medicine, nutrition and an IV pole that had a pump into each of their rooms. The nurses got things ready. "You are very brave," they told the kids. Hot shot, Whirl, Hoist, Wedge and Medix were a bit scared but remembered how brave they felt after the NG tube was put in place on them so they just took a deep breath and held on their toys as the nurses hooked them up the medicine and liquid food.
It didn't take too long at all and they didn't feel a thing. They were starting to feel very brave. They asked how long the chemo session would take. The nurses told them it could be a few hours.
"You can do what you want while getting chemo because this IV is able to move, go to bathroom, read books, color, draw, talk with others in the hospital, play in your room and go to the playroom and play with the other patients," the nurses told them.
They decided to go to the playroom and the nurses said they could they were lead to the playroom and they saw their were many kids in there. They took their plush toys with them. Many of the kids were hurt, or sick. They were many different ages too, some were their age, others were toddlers or babies, some were a bit older than them and some were even teenagers.
"Wow there sure are a lot of kids here," Hot shot said.
"Look at all of them," Hoist said.
"Yes there are so many" Wedge said.
"How cool all these kids to play with," Whirl said.
"Hard to believe so many children are hurt or sick here," Medix said.
"Yes there are lots of children here, some of them have minor things they are getting over," the nurse said. "While others have cancer and getting treatment for it like you kids," she said.
"Wow," the kids said.
So Hot shot, Hoist, Wedge, Whirl and Medix began to play with each other with their plush animals that had been made to look like cancer patients by their parents. They liked and looks at the central line, their bandannas and pjs enjoyed play with them.
They did other things too they made art, they played card and board games it was lots of fun. Then it was time to head back to their rooms. But the nurses let them hang out together in Hot shot's room and socialize still. After the chemo their stomachs were upset and the nurses gave them medicine to help them feel better.
hey were still a bit nervous, worried, scared, sad and angry about being sick and having to be in the hospital. They were experiencing many different big feelings right now, and knew that having cancer was very grown up news. Which meant it was very hard to take and such. They wished there was something they could to make the cancer go away, or understand why it came.
They even asked the nurses if having cancer was their fault. "It's not your fault, it's no ones fault, nothing you or anyone did caused the cancer it is something that just happens to people," the nurses told them. "You can't catch cancer and no one can catch from you, it's not like the cold or the flu, it is when your bodies own cells go wrong, so it's not contagious," they told them.
They had other things to do that day they only been in the hospital today and since last night so there was still a lot to do. They were getting scans and tests done, they also met lots of doctors and nurses and other people at the hospital that day. They also had to take a lot of medicine.
They were still experiencing lots of different big feelings about all of this. But they often got to talk to each other and be with each other that day. They made friends with each other and that made things a lot easier for them and they were happy to have some friends. Especially friends who understood what you were going through. It was great, to know that.
The doctors and nurses answered many of their questions. They were going to help them in anyway they can to beat the cancer and get better.
They didn't know how long they were going to be in the hospital but they hoped they would get to go home very soon. But things were going to be easier at the hospital with their special plush toys they were fixed up to look like cancer patients and their new friends.
To be continued.
