A Good Drug

Leukemia has been in our lives for 22 months. You would think we would know what's happening by now. Know the ins and outs and feel the ups and downs before they happen. But that's not how sickness happens. It jumps out from behind a bush scaring the crap out of you yet again. You know it's there, but BOO, and you are on your back down for the count. Zoe has been feeling so well for so long. But a virus has crept into her body and started to wreck havoc. The infection fighters in her blood are practically non-existent. A fever attacks followed by waves of nausea. She moans and cries and as a parent you wonder when this will all be over. Why this happened in the first place (even though you vowed to stop asking why.) When will this whole ordeal be a fuzzy and wonderlandesque memory? Then we had a breakthrough this afternoon. A guitar and a sweet girl singing to Z in her hospital room woke her up. Brought her out of her sleep and she was back for a while. Talking and smiling and in a peaceful state. I could have listened to that girl sing and play her guitar all day long. The serene feeling she brought to this room was indeed medicinal in quality. A drug from the heart to the heart. Without the nasty side effects.