There have been so many emotions surrounding this recent move to Seattle. Ashtyn is bummed to be away from home, hurt that many things aren't going the way she wanted, determined to get cancer free, terrified to do another bone marrow transplant, and on and on. She faced yesterday with calmness and strength as she felt overwhelming stress.
March 6th Ashtyn and I spent the day at the cancer and blood disorder center at Seattle Children's Hospital. For four hours we sat in a board room while individuals on the high risk leukemia team arrived at scheduled times to introduce themselves and go over their plan of care. During the majority of the discussions, Ashtyn slept on a gurney bed that was brought into the room by her amazing nurse coordinator. We talked with the oncologist, bone marrow transplant physician, research nurses, nurse practitioners, pharmacy, palliative care, social worker, and dietician. Everyone was extremely friendly and warm which was comforting and made our day pleasant. Ashtyn ended the day with a bone marrow aspirate procedure before we headed to the hotel. We were informed that a room at Ronald McDonald House had become available. I packed up our suitcases at the hotel while Ashtyn slept, drove to RMH where she fell back asleep in our new room while I had an hour orientation of the RMH and unpacked our suitcases. By 8:00 p.m. I was still unpacking our large suitcases so I could pack our small suitcases for a four night stay in the hospital the following day. A stressed, extremely irritated emotion hit me out of nowhere. I wanted to get everything done and couldn't. It was then that I started thinking about two women from Seattle who had reached out to help me. Sophie offered to come decorate Ashtyn's room. How did she know we would be depressed walking into our bare room with no ability to make it feel like home? Cheryl insisted the day before to let her help us. How did she know I would walk into RMH with no food or ability to go to the grocery store? The thoughtfulness of those women and the kind messages I read on social media was all I needed to quickly get over the complete frustrations I felt and was able to end the night FaceTime reading to my 11 year old, writing my 18 year old an email, texting "goodnight" to my 15 year old, and watching the Bachelor with my 17 year old.
Today we are heading to the hospital to stay four nights. If anyone would be willing to send mail to Ashtyn at the RMH our address is:
Ashtyn Poulsen room 383
