Mission Possible

Let me set the scene.

We are on the Bone Marrow Transplant hall.  The air is filtered.  Visitors must wash hands before entering the first and second set of doors.  And nobody with even a sniffle is allowed onto the floor without head-to-toe plastic ware covering their body.  The kids in every other room have brand new immune systems and cannot be exposed to germs.  This is serious business.

Meet my son.  He is 2 1/2 years old, full of energy, always on-the-go, and has never been told hates being told "no".  And he has a viral infection.  He wants to run and play, but right now, he is only allowed to do so in his room or outside.  And, stubborn little fella refuses to wear a mask to walk the 50 feet to the elevator. 

After one failed attempt to force him to wear a mask (which ended with Ari kicking and screaming..and coughing...in the hall after tearing off the mask), we came up with a solution.  I would bring a full body mask, aka the rain cover on his stroller, to him. 

Hey there bubble boy:

Success!

Once we got him off the floor, we were allowed to go outside, roam the hospital garden, and play at the hospital playground.  But as Matt convincingly assured me, "rules are meant to be broken," so we took a leisurely stroll around the hospital property.  Err okay.  And maybe we took a gander off the property too...just a little.  No really...it was only 2 or 3 miles...max. 

And Ari, for the first time in days, was thrilled.

He saw lots of trucks,

 

Fed some ducks ("1 goldfish for Ari, 1 for duckie"),

Ate,

 

and drank.

 

 (oh c'mon, a grande frappuccino can't hurt him. Plus, it's Matt's night to sleep over. Heh heh.)

And (not pictured), he did spend a long time at the playground.

Seeing him so lively made me really happy.  I just hope he didn't have so much fun that he wants to stay another day (or two or three)!

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Come on ANC!  We need a 40 point bump tonight and then we can go home!!  Ari's white blood cells went up, his platelets went up, his monocytes went up.  And his ANC went down.  Dance, pray, sing, do whatever you need to do to get his ANC up. 

Thanks for all of the continued support and love!