Tuesday, March 5, 2013

A Special Visit

Today we had a special visit from our friend who has not been with us for many months.  She has been bravely battling cancer: Clear Cell Sarcoma of the Kidney, to be precise.  The wonderful children's hospital in our town provides a service where they bring someone to the child's preschool and educate the kids about what has been going on.  While it was a bit of a shock for some of the kids to see Isla, and try to reconcile their memories of her with the image they were seeing (hair loss, especially), her enthusiasm and pure joy put everyone at ease.  It felt so good to have her back with us.


A discussion about the importance of washing your hands well and often.  I appreciated that she emphasized that no one made Isla get cancer with germs, and that Isla can't give it to anyone with germs.  Still, it's important to make sure our germs don't spread.


Isla is demonstrating how radiation (the "invisible medicine") works.  Using this little radiation model, she could show the other kids that it doesn't hurt, doesn't even touch her, and it's not even scary.


We got to see how a kid like Isla gets a "bubble" in their chest, and a butterfly comes to poke the bubble to put the medicine (we got to practice saying the long word "chemotherapy") into her body.  Then, the butterfly flies away.  Isla even offered to show us her own bubble!


Finally, Isla got to tell us all about what life at the hospital has been like for her, with a whole display of pictures.  

I'm so grateful that Isla and her sweet, bright presence, came to visit.  It was so good to remember who she always has been, and to learn about who she is becoming through this experience.  

We love you, Isla!!

4 comments:

  1. Thank you so much. This will be a precious memory for us. She got to be the star of the show today and she loved it. I loved seeing her that happy. I also loved how truly interested all the children were. Wonderful stuff.

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  2. How cool! I bet Isla felt very happy to be with all her friends again and let them see what she has been up too. I love this

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  3. this is beautiful.

    what a sacred life moment for you all!

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  4. I'm so pleased that all the kids had this experience. And I'm thrilled that Isla could come to school and be the star! If I had known that Gloria and Isla were going to be there, I would have barged in myself. Lila told us that "a doctor" came and brought a book and that Isla has a butterfly in her tummy. She also said that she pushed Isla (or something like that, bummer). It sounds like a wonderful, connecting, educational time was had. Beautiful.

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