Letters to Andrew: 5th Floor BMT Nurses

You become attached! That is the bottom line reality after four plus years of intense and constant leukemia treatment. A Gallbladder and Spleen removed. A Leukemia relapse and intensive therapy to reach a post relapse remission. You get attached to your people. The doctors and nurses as well as the support staff of technicians, house keeping, social workers, and child life specialists. You become deeply attached and the introduction of new faces is truly traumatic for Andrew and us. To say that were scared to be transferred to the Adult hospital for Andrew's bone marrow transplant is an understatement. We seriously researched and considered other Children's hospitals around the country for that next phase of Andrew's treatment. In the end, the attachment to Andrew's team was greater than the fear. And to our great joy and blessing we simply added to OUR team of nurses and staff after the process was over. The time was short but intense and we miss them dearly.  Here is Andrew's thank you letter to the 5th Floor Bone Marrow Transplant Nurses. His list of Daisies is constantly growing!

Dear 5th Floor BMT Daisies,
Please accept this Bouquet of Daisies as an expression of our deep love and appreciation for all that the entire BMT staff did for Andrew this summer during his bone marrow transplant.  Four years of intensive chemo therapy unfortunately prepared him for the treatments but nothing could have prepared him or us for his isolation. You are all acutely aware of death’s reality once a patient has reached the need for a marrow transplant. Your focus and dedication was clear from the beginning and your compassion would become more and more clear as each day would go by. Over the four and half years of battling  leukemia we have always found the Daisy award nominations to be inadequate to express the reality of the team work required for even the greatest of nurses and staff to perform their work. So we invented our own DAISY AWARD for the entire floor. We hope this small expression will help you to understand just how important and special you are to us.

We are aware that Batson 3C receives a lot of praise and devotion from their patients. The administration of the hospital and care protocols are just so different between the Children’s and Adult’s Hospitals that it is genuinely unfair to compare the Apples to the Oranges. We also figure that you had to be aware of our great hesitation and concern for having him treated outside of a Children’s Hospital setting. We hope you will believe us when we say that we could not possibly be more pleased with the care Andrew received from the 5th Floor. The differences between a Children’s and Adult Hospitals are real and distinct.  But for the things that matter most we can’t express enough that there is not a difference between 3C and the 5th floor. The excellence in nursing skill is unmatched. The professionalism and focus was comforting and impressive. And the love and compassion were beyond measure. The extra effort given to make Andrew feel loved and comfortable will never be forgotten. The St. Louis Cardinals decorations brought great joy to all of our hearts. The patience and encouragement were never ending. Your dedication inspiring. For all of these and many more examples we will forever be grateful. We thank God often for placing you all in our lives.

We simply want to say thank you and that we love you. We genuinely miss seeing you all and being  able to continue the relationships that were begun in the heat of the battle. NEVER DOUBT THE IMPACT, IMPORTANCE, AND NECESSITY OF WHAT YOU DO!

THANK YOU,
Andrew