Tyler is one of my IronTeam's honorees, who is currently battling non-hodgkin's lymphoma. When our workouts become challenging, I will need to keep in mind what Tyler endures every day. I received this e-mail today from Tyler's mom, Holly.
Tyler was in the hospital last week to have a Hickman central line put into his chest, and then get some high dose chemo. We thought he’d be in the hospital through the weekend, but luckily, he responded well enough that he got to come home on Friday. Physically he’s doing well, but he was feeling very depressed about the Hickman. Until recently, he had a Port central line, which was completely under his skin. Unfortunately, they had to remove it because the doctors thought it might be the source of a fungal infection, so they replaced it with a Hickman, which has two fairly long lines that come out of the chest. Tyler really had a hard time with it the first few days. He cried a lot, and talked about the things the he wouldn’t be able to do with the Hickman, such as sports, running, and bending over. Most of the things he was worried about are actually still possible to do with the Hickman, but I think he’s had so many changes recently, that he focused his anxiety on the Hickman.
Then, last night, Tyler told me he wanted to write a “Thankful” list for Thanksgiving. Here is his list, which he told me was in order of importance:
1) Family (that made me tear up a little)
2) Love
3) Food
4) Drinks
5) Medicine
6) His Doctors
7) His Hickman
Tyler was in the hospital last week to have a Hickman central line put into his chest, and then get some high dose chemo. We thought he’d be in the hospital through the weekend, but luckily, he responded well enough that he got to come home on Friday. Physically he’s doing well, but he was feeling very depressed about the Hickman. Until recently, he had a Port central line, which was completely under his skin. Unfortunately, they had to remove it because the doctors thought it might be the source of a fungal infection, so they replaced it with a Hickman, which has two fairly long lines that come out of the chest. Tyler really had a hard time with it the first few days. He cried a lot, and talked about the things the he wouldn’t be able to do with the Hickman, such as sports, running, and bending over. Most of the things he was worried about are actually still possible to do with the Hickman, but I think he’s had so many changes recently, that he focused his anxiety on the Hickman.
Then, last night, Tyler told me he wanted to write a “Thankful” list for Thanksgiving. Here is his list, which he told me was in order of importance:
1) Family (that made me tear up a little)
2) Love
3) Food
4) Drinks
5) Medicine
6) His Doctors
7) His Hickman
I was really touched by the list, and also surprised he included the Hickman. When I asked him about it, he said, “Yeah, it took me a few days to figure out the good things about the Hickman. Last week it was getting in my way and making me sad, but now I’m used to it, and I’m happy I have it.”
If you know Tyler, you know this is just another example of how resilient my little guy is. He has an amazing capacity for taking a tough situation, processing it, and then deciding it’s a good thing. I think that is at the top of my “Thankful” list this year.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Holly
If you know Tyler, you know this is just another example of how resilient my little guy is. He has an amazing capacity for taking a tough situation, processing it, and then deciding it’s a good thing. I think that is at the top of my “Thankful” list this year.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Holly
2 comments:
Wow, no little kid should have to go through that. Thanks for sharing his story as a reminder to all of us doing TNT.
Wow! what an inspiration. Imagine how different our lives would be if we each took the time to figure out how to be thankful for our "Hickman"
Post a Comment