Yousuf's Birthday

Yousuf was able to return home in high spirits on his birthday, ahamdulilah. It's nice to be home. It's nice to have all of us together again. Yousuf is feeling a bit anxious, though, being in his own bed. He hasn't slept in his room for eight days now. He doesn't have his father right next to him in the room or a nurse come and check on him every two hours. The feelings of safety for him reside more in the hospital room now. We had to convince him to come home. His father asked him, "Don't you want to go to sleep in your own cool car bed!?" Yousuf shook his head as he pointed to the buttons on the hospital bed that control many different kinds of movements. Once he was reminded of his toys and his little brother he was ready to go!

The past week we were getting quite comfortable in the hospital. I am now in tuned to all the nurses, their individual personalities, and even where they are from and places they have traveled. I'm also getting to know many of my "roommates" and what they are in for. The day that Yousuf got the abscess drained he was ready to play and go back to riding bikes and cars. Of course, this made me thrilled after seeing him not move or walk for about almost a week. I gladly pushed him around in the Flinstone style car with his feet dangling from under. He would just raise his feet up so I would do all the effort of pushing. He steered. As we drove around the circled hallway we came across a nurse doing the Hokey Pokey with a little girl in front of her room. Yousuf put his feet down to break so we could watch. We clapped at how well the little girl followed the instructions and continued for our drive. I glanced over my shoulder to see a woman carrying a new born baby and the father pushing the infusion tower that was hooked up to the tiny little baby. My heart ached. "Is this yours?" The lady carrying the little baby asked holding out a pink cell phone. "Oh yes, thank you!" I instantly remembered setting it on the counter in the lounge while heating up some food. The couple caught up with us and I couldn't help but ask what was that tiny little baby in for. She mentioned some kind of cancer that I didn't understand but was too embarrassed to further investigate. They said she is three weeks old and already has been on chemotherapy but now has lesions on her liver. I wanted to cry but smiled instead. At that point I had to run to catch up with Yousuf. Nurses had to dart out of the way not to get run over by him. And even his own nurse watched and said, "That is a different baby today!" I thought to myself, no...THIS is my baby, before was the 'different baby'. By the time we reached the curve in the hallway we saw a little girl about Yousuf's age running fast fast fast! Following behind her was her father trying to catch up. The little girl was laughing hysterically with only a few long blond hairs strung around her face. The rest of her head was bald. She hid behind a pillar. Her dad finally caught up sneaking up behind saying, "I found you!" We all laughed when we saw that.

How many times, me, as well as the other parents there might have ignored so many requests from our kids to play with them, listen to them, watch them. How many times did Yousuf ask me to participate with him in something or help him set up a toy that I was always too busy to get around to. Now it's only our very wish and happiness to do these things with them and for them. We are just happy to see them do the things that any normal kid can do. A healthy kid can do. Running, jumping climbing, and talking a lot. Aspects of a child's life that were once annoying or bothersome at times become blessings to our very eyes.