Silly Putty Pulse Ox

No one ever wants their child to have to go through extensive medical procedures.   No one wants to see their child suffer.    And yet it happens.   In the case of my daughter, she’s not suffering in pain, she just can’t see.   She doesn’t seem to be overly bothered by the reduction in vision, she just asks for help when she needs it.   And she doesn’t even mind the medical parts—as long as we can make them fun for her.

We’ve had our trials on the medical front, most memorable were the months of immunosuppressant injections with the, “flushing toilet” IV she hated.    Now we just have OR visits with or without surgeries and lots of drops—lots and lots of drops.    My daughter seems to cope with all of it fairly well, considering everything.

Sometimes she brings forward something that’s cute and yet tragic at the same time though.   Tonight I was drying her hair—something I do after every bath night.   She is fine with the drying, as long as there is something to entertain her while I’m brushing her billowing hair around.    We’ve done all sorts of things but tonight she made a request for “putty” otherwise known as Silly Putty.

While I dried her hair she made all manner of things.   As I was finishing up, putting the final bows in her hair for the morning, she said, “look mom, it’s the oxygen thing for my finger”.    She had made a cover for her index finger out of the Silly Putty, mimicking the shape of the Pulse Ox meter they put on you before and after each OR visit.

The Big Boy Update:  My son had another one of those evenings where he wasn’t going to eat anything ever again.   He was upset because dad’s homemade pizza didn’t have pepperoni on it.   This just wouldn’t do.   He agonized.    He was almost sick.   He came up with twelve other reasons (at least) why the single piece of non-pepperoni pizza was untenable to him.    We didn’t budge.   He eventually ate it.    This is the second, and likely not the last of the food battles we’ll go through with my son.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  When my daughter and husband were in the plane yesterday, about to take off, she had her headphones and iPad playing.    When the plane started to accelerate she suddenly put the iPad down and said to dad, “oh, this is the best part about flying”.    I have to say, I quite agree.