Hospital days

Today the Mix radio station (101.9 FM) had their telethon fundraiser for Children's Memorial Hospital and as I listened to all the families talking about how Children's played a role in their lives, I couldn't help but remember all the times I visited Carrie in that hospital or talked to her on the phone while she was there. While many of these memories bring back images that make me sad, there definitely were some hospital visit memories that bring a smile to my face.

One night Carrie and I were talking on the phone when she was in her room on the cancer floor. She was describing to me how the dead skin looked that was peeling off her arm... or more likely, that SHE was peeling off her arm. She was so excited about how cool it looked with it's little grid pattern that I really wished that I could see it too. I mentioned that to her and she promptly put the next piece of peeled skin into the drawer of that little rolling table she had in her room. She said that the next time I came to visit (which was going to be two days later) she'd give it to me so that I could see it for myself.

Either one or two days later, she went into PICU and her room was cleaned out and somehow whoever cleaned it didn't feel like the dead piece of skin in the drawer was supposed to be saved. Hahah, so I didn't ever end up getting that piece of skin, but I remember the next time I visited her in her regular hospital room, she apologized and felt pretty bad about the fact that I couldn't see how cool her dead skin had looked!