I ran 10 miles for the first time in my life today!
Here is the route.
It took me 1 hour and 39 min.
It was 9.9 min per mile..
And I reached the summit of “heatbreak hill”. It was not that bad..
While running I thought about Andy’s first primary nurse at Children’s Hospital Boston.
Her name is Ana Maria and she spoke a little Spanish and Portuguese but we could understand her better in English. She guided us to room 901 B, she opened the door of the room and we found a big woman sleeping on the sofa next to her daughters crib. We walked past them and through a curtain that divided the room. There was another brief interview with Ana Maria and with a resident, our neighbor was still sleeping and we could hear her snoring.
Paulina and I were very tired. Ana Maria was examining Andy and noticed he needed a diaper change.
“Be right back, I will get some supplies, you guys” Ana Maria said.
She came back with a new bag of diapers, a package of wet wipes, a bottle of cream, a bottle of powder, a bottle of desytin, mouth swabs, a bar of soap, a bottle of shampoo, a couple of towels, three pillows, three sets of white sheets, three white blankets, a pink bucket, a paper bag with cotton balls, a diaper pin, white tape, blue gloves, a thermometer, a stethoscope and three pink water resistant cloths.
WOW is there going to be a party in here? That definitively beats the supplies we used to get in the other hospitals in Mexico. I thought.
Ana Maria organized all the supplies around Andy’s crib, and in a closet and drawers assigned to him. She used the pink bucket to hold the soap, cream, powder, desytin, mouth swabs and cotton balls.
“This is the nurse call button; call me if you need anything.” She said.
There was another button on the wall that said,
CODE BLUE
“That’s the emergency button; press that one only in life and death situations. You won’t need that one…” Ana Maria said and smiled.
Paulina and I were trying to find a place for our luggage and found the perfect spot under Andy’s
crib.
“These are for his crib right?” Paulina asked Ana Maria while pointing at the sheets.
“Oh no, you relax; that’s my job. Would you like anything to drink? How about some apple juice?” Ana Maria said.
There was a constant beep on the hallway.
“Oh that’s the heart rate monitor from one of your neighbors.” Ana Maria told us..
She used the pink water resistant cloth on top of the white sheets on Andy’s crib to prevent leakage while changing his diaper.
“This is a strange G-Tube, looks very uncomfortable.” she said when she saw the tube on Andy’s stomach.
“You need a mic-key button cutie. Oh you are so cute!” Ana Maria told Andy.
This nurse is great! I thought.
Ana Maria washed her hands and then used the blue gloves to pick up a diaper pin and white tape and then turned to us and asked,
“Would you like me to secure his catheter?”
She used a piece of white tape around the catheter leaving enough space for the pin. She inserted the diaper pin through the tape and then thourgh Andy’s T-shirt.
“If for any reason the line is pulled, the first thing to go is the diaper pin instead of the catheter.” Ana Maria said.
Brilliant! That was exactly what we needed six months ago to secure Andy’s catheter and prevent him from loosing them so often. I thought.
Paulina and I were amazed watching all the things that Ana Maria was doing. She was preparing Andy to go to sleep. Paulina slept on the green sofa chair next to Andy’s crib and I found a family room next to the elevators with a couple of chairs…
More later.
The 111th edition of the Boston Marathon will be very special. This year Mark Porter will run the marathon again teamed up with Andy.
More information at: www.mark4andy.com
Mark is a cancer survivor and last year he ran his first marathon. He liked it so much that he’s doing it again. Back in April after finishing the race he told me that it was the best experience he’s ever had…. He invited me to run the Boston Marathon in 2007.
My brother Victor will run the marathon.
More information at: www.vic4andy.com
Victor is running because “Children’s Hospital Boston saved my nephews life”.
And I will run for the doctors, nurses and researchers that saved Andy’s life on multiple occasions. I will run for Six West, the stem cell transplant unit at Children’s Hospital Boston where Andy had the stem cell transplant two years ago. And I will run to thank the runners who ran in previous years for Andy.
Please help us give back to Children’s Hospital Boston.