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Saturday, May 14, 2011

Little Girl, Full of Hope

I had a PICC line inserted at City of Hope yesterday morning. Unfortunately, I had to come back around 6:30 pm because the dressing was soaked with blood. What I thought would be a 2-minute dressing change ended up being a 6-hour ordeal. The doctor ordered a unit of platelet because I was actively bleeding from the PICC site and I also received two units of packed RBC. My CBC result came back with a Hgb of 7.4 - no wonder I was feeling crappy.

I was waiting for my nurse in room 5 when I saw the little girl being pushed in a stroller by her Grandma. She was maybe 4-6 years old. She had a pink blanket, her nose and mouth covered with a mask. I knew it was her when I saw her green eyes. I first saw her in the Pediatric Department on the 3rd floor. She was wearing a purple and white striped shirt, purple vest, light green, ruffled skirt, purple flip-flops and a purple headband to match. She was bald, but I could tell she used to have blonde hair like her mother. She was very beautiful even without hair. She only spoke Russian, her mom had to translate everything the nurse said. The little girl kept looking at me while my nurse was starting my IV. Our eyes met and I could tell she felt my pain. "You're a brave little girl and very beautiful," I told her. She didn't need a translator. I'm sure she knows exactly what brave and beautiful mean, and I'm sure I wasn't the first person to tell her that. I never got her name, I just know what she looks like. When I saw her again last night, I was sad because I knew she was there for hydration. At the same time, I was very happy to see her. To me, she is a friend... a special one.

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