Sometimes You Just Have to Get Out of The House!
Hutton’s doctors have said it is alright for her to leave the house, as long as she goes somewhere outdoors, and if she goes indoors she needs to wears a mask. We have been struggling with finding the right balance for her. On one hand, we want to put her in a protective bubble away from anyone and everyone so that there is minimal to no risk of her spiking a temperature or getting sick since she has such a weak and compromised immune system. On the other had, she needs to be able to be able to live as close to a “normal” life that a 9 year-old does and no 9 year old needs to be cooped up in a house only to go out to be cooped up in a hospital. Especially when she actually asks to go somewhere.
See, Hutton’s favorite places to go are Barnes and Noble (ALLLLLLL the books!) and Nordstrom (the chicken fingers and mac & cheese). Yesterday, she asked if she could go to both those places. So we ventured down to Fashion Island to get out of the house. As an added bonus we got to spend time with Grandma Fifi!
Grandma Fifi was my “other mom” growing up and I grew up with her 4 sons, so naturally she is Hutton’s “bonus” Grandma and boy oh boy do we love her! The smiles on Hutton’s face today were beautiful! I’m sure being spoiled by 2 of her Grandmas had nothing to do with that! 🤣🤣🤣
We strolled around Fashion Island, looked at the koi fish, did a little shopping at Anthropologie, A LOT of shopping at Barnes and Noble, and ate lunch at Nordstrom. Hutton even wanted to walk around and not be in her wheelchair when we were in Nordstrom which is a huge step!!
It was just so nice to see her talking, eating, and behaving like a normal 9 year old. To be able to have these moments when she is feeling good in between chemo sessions is such a blessing. We know how fragile her immune system is and in the back of our mind we are constantly thinking if we should be doing this, and worrying that she could touch something and get sick….we don’t want to expose her to anything, but we also know how beneficial these outings are for both her mental health and for her healing, and I definitely saw that today.
We are still working on finding a comfortable balance for this, which mainly does depend on how she is feeling and if she wants to be “social”, and we are hoping and praying that she will be able to venture out a little more and have more physical interactions with her friends and everyone who has been showing her so much love and praying hard for her healing.
