Beautiful Smile

Ok so this is not the best photo, it was taken on a mobile phone in a dimly lit hospital room, but if you have been following Finns story you will understand why it is my favourite photo so far this year. If you want to read about Finns story read this post.

Finn like always has amazed all of us with the way he has coped with the stem cell rescue. He has exceeded expectation like he has with everything they have thrown at him to fight this cancer monster. We were expecting to have two weeks of really bad, really ill Finn but this is day + 9 from stem cell transplant and look at that smile. Yes the yucky mucosis that we read about hit and he is still in a lot of pain and vomiting up blood. He is on a constant background dose of morphine and Jo can top it up when she needs to, just before he has a sip of drink as swallowing is very painful or if he needs to move around. He also been having regular Panadol too. You wouldn’t think that when he is on so much morphine already that Panadol would have any affect but they must act in different ways because he really perks up when he has the Panadol. He also perks up when the cleaning lady comes in to mop the floors, this kids has a bizarre obsession with cleaning.

Even though he still feels bad and gets tired very easily he sat up yesterday and for the first time started to play. Oh how beautiful it is to see a child who has been so sick start to play. It was like watching that moment when the helpless baby you have been carrying around in your arms totally dependent on you for everything reaches out for a toy for the first time. I imagine that is how it is going to go from now on, baby steps. A little bit better each day, a few more smiles, a little more play before sleep is needed, beautiful baby steps.

Then later this afternoon I got my new favourite photo. I’m loving these smiles, so good for the soul, Thank you God.

You can also follow Finn on Jo’s Blog she’s much better at the details than I am and she’d love to get comments/prayers/well wishes as she will have to stay in hospital for a while yet.