Halloween on the Oncology Ward

Day 113 of our war on leukemia.

Halloween on the Pediatric Oncology ward was substantially subdued this year...at least that's what we were told. Now that the hospital has been transformed into H1N1 Flu Central, all activities that bring patients (or their germs) in the vicinity of one another are strictly prohibited. Chalk up Halloween as another victim of H1N1!

Our plans to hit the popular Trunk or Treat sugar fest at church were replaced with a walk down to the nurses station and a small goody bag delivered to our room by Child Life. This was accomplished with a surgical mask in place and no other kids around. Pretty boring stuff for an almost four-year-old! Carson definitely enjoyed dressing up as a Fireman, but it was short-lived.

Fireman Carson removes his surgical mask for a brief photo op, then makes cute overtures to the nurses in hopes of scoring some good candy.

On the other hand, Francesca did make it to trunk or treat. She had a pretty good haul and a good time on the velcro bounce house.

Francesca dons a velcro suit hoping the candy will just stick to her.

So here we are the day after Halloween. Our diabetic daughter sits with a bucket of candy she can't eat (at least not much). Our son with cancer thinks he wants candy, but in the end doesn't eat it. So where does the candy go? Mmmmmm.

Carson's ANC was a whopping 30 today. Our goal of simply going home seems so elusive. Keep praying for Caron's ANC to go up...and quickly. We are going stir crazy. We need to get out of here!

And I need to go run off this candy!!

Paul.