Just like Sunshine

This afternoon, Leland finally ate real food, went for a walk, and is seeming to feel more like her usual self. At about 3pm we went for a short walk outside the room and I think that helped her a lot. We saw a bunny rabbit, a toy room, and a fish tank. After returning to the room she just wanted to rest, but did eat some graham crackers and juice.

Finally about 5pm we went for a longer walk without the IV pole to a different section of the pediatric floor. We found another fish tank and play room. There was a little boy (5 yrs old) playing in the hallway with a remote control car. He was so sweet and came right up to Leland asking her if she wanted a turn with the remote. They had fun laughing and playing together for a few minutes. It was so great to see her smiling and back to normal a little.

After returning to our room, she was ready for some food. A dinner tray had not been ordered for her, so they gave us a voucher to go down to the cafeteria for her to choose what she wanted to eat. She ate a plate of pasta noodles and half a banana! We were so excited and just hoping she could keep it all down, which she did.

As we were coming back to the room, she says "I really don't want to get back in that hospital bed." I set her up in the rocking chair with some pillows to watch a movie. We said goodbye to Chuck so he could spend the evening with Lucy.

At about 8:30pm, as her pain mediation was wearing off and it was a little too early for her next dose, it got a little rough. She just laid on the bench and cried. It just was breaking my heart. She wanted to go home, she missed her sister, her belly hurt, she had to go pee but didn't want to walk, she wanted the IV off her arm. Every little thing brought tears to her eyes for the next hour and I could not comfort her. She wouldn't let me hold because she said her cuts hurt on her belly. I started to cry, then she cried more because I was sad. It was heartbreaking. Finally her next dose of medicine kicked in and she slowly cheered up.

Luckily, I had some great advice from the pro at hospital visits, my sister-in-law, Charise. When it was rough and I really needed her to get up and go to the bathroom, I pulled out a small present that Leland could play with once we were done. It worked nicely and she was able to play with her sticker book for about 20 minutes before falling asleep.

She is now sleeping soundly and it is looking great that we will go home in the morning.

One funny: She tried a few bites of yellow, lemon jello this afternoon and says, "It tastes just like sunshine!"