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Nayla
My favorite :)This week Mary Beth and I were back at Hospital del Nino working in the Oncology Unit. On Monday, we did rounds with the doctor and got an idea about what each patient there had. The patient’s conditions ranged from leukemia, tumors, brain cancer, eye cancer, and other types of cancers. Since there was not much for us to do in terms of examining the patients, Mary Beth and I would read their charts and then go around and see how they were doing. Some patients had only been there for days, but others had been there for months. Every patient had a relative there except for this little girl, Nayla, who I immediately fell in love with. Nayla is only two years and three months old and she has been in the hospital for three months. When she arrived at the hospital, she had a tumor the size of a basketball in her liver. The doctor said she looked like she was pregnant. They started her on chemotherapy right away and thankfully the tumor shrunk a lot. Once the tumor shrank, they were able to operate and removed most of the tumor. Since then she has gained weight and she
The Oncology Unit
The residents use type writers to type up all the doctor's notes. No electronic record here. has started to smile. She still has cancerous cells in her liver so she has remained on chemo. It wasn't until the last day that the doctor told us about how she is the youngest of eight kids and she has suffered from child abuse before coming into the hospital. This explains why she got so attached to Mary Beth and I. She never cried once when the nurses had to change her IV or anything, but she cried when Mary Beth and I tried to put her back down into her crib. All she wants to do is be held. It is very sad because she doesn't talk at all and she can't walk on her own. She should be doing physical therapy and speech therapy every day but the hospital doesn't have resources for that. It is sad to think about what will happen when she does finally get better and how her family will treat her. Which is why I want to adopt her ha ha, but I know I can't.
The other patients there were either accepting of us or did not want anything to do with us, which is expected when interacting with cancer
patients. One boy had retina cancer and his whole left eye was pretty much white and bulging. It was very hard to see. With some of the other patients, you couldn't even tell they had cancer. This one girl, Yesika, was full of energy and loved playing with Mary Beth.
Overall, even though we were with patients that had life threatened diseases and in some cases suffering from a lot of pain, it wasn't as hard as I imagined it would be. Even though we weren't doing physical exams or helping cure any illnesses, it was very rewarding to know that we were making a difference in a child's day and making them happy. I loved working in the Oncology Unit and I will miss Nayla very much.
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Lisa Lonsdale
non-member comment
You're a trooper
You are so strong to be doing this, when it is so hard on your heart. I admire your strength and compassion. You can make a difference in their lives, no matter how small. Hang in there. Love, Aunt Lisa