The Best Things about BC Children's Hospital

We are back in the hospital.  The extra little break for Charlotte did absolute wonders.  I have had my happy girl back for the last few days and it's been so nice to have my silly, happy little hero laughing around the house!  She has also been eating non-stop and managed to pack on 1.7 pounds in 5 days!  Woot woot!  All her blood counts were up, with her neutrophils at a very impressive (and record for us) 1.8.  Hopefully this all points to a quick hospital stay for us.  Our goal is to be home for Stefan's birthday on Saturday - wish us luck!

Tomorrow Stefan has to get blood work done.  For each of his MRI's, they inject him with a special dye, and he has now had a few.  The blood work is to check how his liver and kidney's are holding up after all this dye.  His MRI and our follow up with his oncologist is on the 26th.

In anticipation for our hospital stay, I came up with our list of the 8 best things about BC Children's hospital:

1. The toys - this is no doubt Charlotte's favorite thing about Children's hospital.  They have a pretty killer play room in the clinic, and a not too shabby playroom on the third floor!  Pretty much any toy you can ask for!  The first thing Charlotte will say when we tell her we are going to the hospital is "Play?".

Charlotte in the playroom.

2. The coin machine - they have this set of machines not unlike the ones you see at your local grocery store where you insert a quarter or loonie to get a toy.  Whenever the kids get a 'poke', which can be a lumbar puncture or getting their port accessed, they get a coin.  For a while Charlotte would always choose a ninja, and garnered quite the collection of ninjas.  Her latest favorite was stick-on earrings, and today she picked a little dog.

Charlotte's ninja army

3. You can wear comfy clothes - no doubt my favorite is the totally accepted attire of yoga pants.  In fact, you may even be mistaken for someone important if you show up in your pj's.

4. The top people mingle with the rest of us - one day we were in the clinic playroom when we noticed a guy walking around.  He obviously worked there as he had the hospital id around his neck.  There are often staff around though whom I don't really know their role; spiritual adviser, social worker, media officer, you name it.  The guy commented on how cute Charlotte was and was smiling at her - I couldn't blame him.  After he had left, one of the nurses explained to me how he was the head of BC Children's hospital, and that he likes to spend time in the clinic getting to know the staff and patients.  That is pretty awesome in my books.

5. The Child Life Specialists - These amazing people are there to help children cope with being ill.  As far as Charlotte is concerned though - they are there to play.  They rock, let's just leave it at that.

6. The Volunteers - There are some pretty amazing volunteers at Children's, from Red Cross volunteers who have brought me many a tea or coffee on hospital days, to the Child Life volunteers who have played with Charlotte while I try to grab lunch or run to the pharmacy.

I've seen and met angels wearing the disguise of ordinary people living ordinary lives.  ~Tracy Chapman 

7. The staff - I realize I have used the word amazing in the last two bullets, but I have to use it again - third time is the charm right?  The Doctors and Nurses are.....yep, you said it - amazing (perhaps someone will want to get me a thesaurus for Christmas)!  They are thoughtful, respectful and knowledgeable.  On a couple occasions, they have even taken good care of Stefan and I too, like Tylenol for my migraine today or the day Stefan passed out in the clinic.  We are pretty lucky to have such a fantastic, compassionate and talented set of people at our hospital!

8. They know kids - It makes a huge difference having a facility entirely catered to kids.  The staff knows what's needed, like if a child needs an extra minute to calm down before getting some medicine or if she hasn't slept all night, and is finally napping, they hold off another half hour before checking her temperature and blood pressure.  The child themed decor, furniture, and readily available tv's with kids shows is pretty good too!