We have had an amazing couple of days. Eleanor's counts are up, but her platelets still aren't high enough to start chemo, so the sun has been shining and Mummy, Daddy and Baby have been on the loose! Yesterday started off with a visit from Auntie Trudi, which is always a delight but was made even sweeter because she brought homemade carrot cake. I adore her carrot cake, and I have been very good and have not eaten all of it myself. Yet. No sooner had Trudi jetted off and Eleanor went down for a snooze when a few friends from work popped in with lunch from Nuba! It was great to see them and get caught up on all the new endeavors at FTC. Certainly never a dull moment, and many of their projects brought a tear to my eye. I really love(d) working there. It's nice to be proud of what I do/did.
Anyway, after lunch we packed the baby up and headed off to the aquarium. We were a bit nervous that she might be too young, but she seemed to enjoy it. We held her up to the tanks and she was mesmerized by the brightly colored fish. She especially loved all the kids running around her. A lot of them stopped to stare at her, which we figured might happen. There is really no way to hide her NG tube, so...yeah. No big deal.
We got back to the hospital at 6pm and baby girl had a hard time going to sleep, so today we made sure we got out early. We drove down to Granville Island and spent a good few hours wandering around the shops and down the seawall. Eleanor slept most of the time, which was fine with us. It was a beautiful day here in Vancouver and it was wonderful to be out enjoying the sunshine. And I only cried twice! I'm such a baby. I couldn't take the kids at the water park. I want Eleanor to be one of those kids so badly. I want her to be able to strip down to her knickers and run like a banshee through a sprinkler, but she's going to have a tube coming out of her chest for a long time. She has to Saran wrap it just to go in the tub. I'm told by the staff it won't be forever and all the kids make do, but it still makes me sad. But we had a fabulous moment when a kind woman saw E's feet poking out of the stroller and asked to see her, so Kris pulled the sunshade back, and the woman didn't even flinch. She cooed over her and was totally normal. I'm sure she could feel the relief pouring out of us.
Upon our return to the hospital, we were met by our favourite resident, the lovely Krystal. Krystal and I went to the same high school and played on a few teams together, and she has been looking after us since our first night in hospital. She has been awesome. I can't tell you how great it is to have a familiar face when your world is collapsing. After Eleanor went to bed we retreated onto the deck for some dinner and carrot cake. I feel very lucky to have so many incredible people so near by. How great is it that Krystal happens to be on her oncology rotation? How lucky am I to have Jen and Clare, two of my best girlfriends, working in this hospital and popping in on their coffee breaks? It sucks that we are here. It's awful that Eleanor is sick, but it is a blessing to have such great friends, food and days like today.
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