Its good to be home! We brought the 2 girls downstairs to walk (we walk, they sit in stroller) around the neighbourhood with their lanterns last night. It was lovely, looking at the full moon, embracing the joy of being at home. i realise we've been very spoiled by our ability to get a single room most of the time. this time round, we didn't as the ward was at its maximum capacity, so we shared a room with 3 other kids (plus their caregivers). What was nice was being able to see other parents bustling around so we don't feel so lonely and isolated. However that obviously comes with its fair share of minuses, the top being the noise level. the little boy in the next bed (we are separated by a sliver of a curtain) cries all day and night (actually shrieks is more appropriate) and I'm thinking, he's either in a lot of pain, or a real drama king, or both. Turns out he's got real bad bum sores (the chemo can cause that because it can cause diarhoea) AND he's a drama king. So he screams when the nurse takes his temperature, screams when they take his BP, when his mother leaves the bedside, when another parent smiles at him...and here's parenting at its worse...his mother alternates between ignoring him (and hence allowing her son to disturb the other 3 kids throughout the night) and screaming back at him and/or smacking him. She could have just soothed him (why didn't she??) but didn't. So my poor feverish and very exhausted little girl couldn't sleep for 2 days and 2 nights, making her extremely irritable (well, make that, us). Despite that, when i complained how noisy the little boy was, Maeve admonished me, "don't say that mummy or you'll hurt his feelings". My little considerate angel. I guess being in a 4 bedder shows me how blessed we are, in that, while Maeve does get some side effects, its not that bad considering. the little boy had real bad bum sores, mouth sores etc.
So praise God for His protection, His provision and His grace towards Maeve. She's playing happily today and we're going to make some gingerbread cookies later!