VBS

One week until surgery...

We have had a busy weekend mostly spent cleaning house, organizing and purging the house of junk and trash. Do you ever get the feeling that your house has taken over and it's just out of control? Where in the heck did all this junk come from??? It fills every corner and nook and let's not even think about the closets. GRRRR.

With one week until the surgery, we will have a busy week. The thing I'm most excited about is that the girls are going to Vacation Bible School this week at Frist Methodist Church off of the Beltway and Westpark. They are signed up to attend three weeks of summer camp as well. I know Lena might not be able to attend any of the camps so I'm happy that she gets the opportunity to spend a few hours each day this week with her sisters at VBS. Plus, I'll feel better about Naia and Kira being at camp next week knowing that it isn't a brand new environment for them.

This week we will go up to meet with the pediatrician at MD Anderson so that Lena will have an idea of where she'll be for recovery. I'm thinking I'll take Kira and Naia up as well so when they visit after the operation it won't be brand new. We will meet with the neurosurgeon on Friday to go over last minute details. Then Lena will go in late Sunday for a last minute MRI before the operation.

I'm planning on talking to the girls about everything tomorrow or Wednesday. I want Lena to have a few days to process before Friday so that she has the opportunity to ask the doctor any questions she might have. Dr. Demonte asked her last week if she had any questions and she wanted to know what her brain felt like. He said it was kind of mushy.
There was a poster on the wall showing the parts of the brain and she wanted to know if it was different colors like a rainbow. The doctor had this look of, "Huh???" I explained that the poster had the different parts shown in various colors. :) She thought her brain would be pretty like that as well. She was a wee bit disappointed to learn that it was just kind of a yucky gray color.
Next, he explained that he'd have to give her a haircut. She was like, "Nooooooooo!" Then she asked him how much. He told her he'd just cut the part at the front where her bangs are. She smiled and sweetly said. "Okay. That's not too much." Then she flipped the hair in the back over and said that she'd just do that and wear it to cover that part up. He laughed and said sometimes he has to comb the hair from the back of his head over the top to the front too. :) The way that children's minds work is amazing and they say the funniest things!

I think explaining to Lena and then talking to Kira and Naia might be one the hardest things I do through this. Thinking about how much to explain and how to explain it- giving enough information so that they will understand but not too much that they're scared and anxious. The reading material says to use the correct terms if possible so that they don't think they are "bad" words. However, the idea of telling my angel that she has a brain tumor just breaks my heart. I'm sure when the moment comes it will work out and probably not be nearly as frightening as I'm imagining. The girls often ask if there are really monsters in the world. How can you honestly say no? Explaining to them about the brain tumor will be like that. I won't lie to them but I will do whatever I can to comfort and reassure them that we will all be all right.

Okay, time to get off of here and start filling some trash bags so that I can see the corners of my rooms where everything has been shoved!