When Elsa Shows Up At Your House

We spent six days in the hospital and as stated in earlier posts, treatment started immediately. Joy handled chemo fairly well except for her ability to walk. When we got home, she would ask to be carried everywhere or crawl around like a baby. Doctors weren’t sure if it was due to being in a hospital bed for so long, the chemotherapy, or the actual leukemia itself hurting her legs. Probably a combination of all of that. She also regressed to diapers and waking up in the middle of the night. It very much felt like we had a 27-pound infant on our hands. 

One of the most difficult parts of this journey so far was seeing Joy so sad. For those of you who knew Joy pre-cancer, she pretty much lived up to her name (unless you were a stranger, she was a little cautious). She was a happy little girl who laughed and read books and sang and played all day. During that first week in the hospital, she barely smiled and was disinterested in everything.

The art therapist came in one time and I accidentally sprayed yellow paint in a syringe all over the floor and hospital equipment because of my terrible aim. (It’s okay, we were given the syringe for fun and the paint was washable!) We all laughed so hard except when I looked over at the hospital bed, I saw Joy, stoic and not even phased. Nurses and therapists would bring toys, including her favorite Disney princesses, to Room 608 and she just shoved them away. Seeing her like that broke our hearts. 

But then one day Elsa showed up at our house. 

Over a week and a half had gone by since we were discharged. She was finally walking again. The steroids hadn’t fully kicked in yet, and we were in this sweet spot of “induction” (first round of treatment). People were literally surrounding us with so much love and care, even friends of friends who happened to hear about our situation. One wonderful woman arranged a gift basket for us and toys for Joy delivered by a princess from Windy City Wishes. It was a day I’ll cherish forever. 

On this particular Tuesday, Joy was having a great day that then grew exponentially greater when she opened the front door to see Elsa standing there. 

Joy gave Elsa a tour of our living room, kitchen, and her bedroom. She asked her where Anna was and talked to her about all the things that are important to preschoolers like ketchup and costumes. Elsa gave Joy a crown and had her make a wish. 

Joy’s smile was back in full force. At one point Joy described the day as perfect! 

I’ve included a video that recaps this magical moment. It even snowed on this November day which just added to the wonder. 

I wish I could say it was all smiles and giggles from here on out, but as you can imagine cancer journeys have many ups and downs. 

That first month of treatment got harder each week. Steroids turned Joy into a different child—demanding to eat every hour and only certain foods. She gained 8 pounds in four weeks! Because she was eating an incredible amount of food, her bottom hurt because she was going to the bathroom so much. It was this vicious cycle mixed with chemotherapy treatments each week. Her interest in things started to wane again and we ended up on the couch a lot. She was just miserable. 

That’s why the Elsa memory is so special. It was a bright spot in a very dark period of life. We would talk about Elsa’s visit with Joy on really hard days to remind her of something good.

Thank you, Queen Elsa, for spending time with our little girl, bringing back some of her joy, and teaching us all to let it go sometimes.

 

 

 

 

 

  Nov. 7th to December 7th: Her chubby cheeks!