Arden: Part IV

In all the time that I've been taking care of Arden, I have never gotten to hold her. 

You see, when Arden was diagnosed in the ICU, we hadn't had time to get a lot of the necessary scans we would normally have obtained before starting therapy. However, she did get one scan- a CT scan. Which showed, in essence, that the neuroblastoma had spread all over her body; bony metastases were everywhere. She had so many of these that multiple bones had weakened, and consequently fractured. 

Scattered bony fractures across her entire body... ouch. This meant Arden was on a constant, slow-release pain medicine patch and, that everyone- all of us- were basically afraid to move her. The nurses were too scared to scrub her with bedside baths. We examined her with light touch and extreme care. Even her parents kept her in her bed most of the time for fear of hurting her.  

But honestly, our girl didn't seem to mind. Later I would find out that she was a free spirit who had never liked to be snuggled. 

I like that kind of good, old fashioned independence in a woman. 

Slowly but surely, Arden began getting better. In the weeks that followed her stay in the ICU, Arden's breathing continued to improve, her blood salts improved, and she began sitting up and interacting again. 

I still remember the first time I ever saw her out of bed; she was being pulled around the tenth floor in a bright red wagon. She was still on oxygen but she was sitting straight up, taking in all the sights around her. It was a little hard to believe that she was doing so well, after her narrow escape. 

And just before we discharged her from the hospital, she even gave me a little smile. 

I think she knew I was on her side.