Lessons Learned from Childhood Cancer - Day 7

September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. During this month, we will share many lessons that our family has learned from childhood cancer.

When dealing with childhood Illness, always be prepared

When dealing with childhood illness, you always need to be prepared to head into the hospital. A Child can be admitted to the hospital at any point in time.

Here are some things that we would recommend having ready packed in a bag ready to go:

• Spare phone charger (you will always need one)
• Power Strip (You will need to charge the phone and other devices and in a hospital room, outlets can be hard to find)
• Toothbrush and toothpaste
• List of child's current meds.
• Clean socks and underwear (yup, you might be staying overnight, it would be nice to know if you at LEAST had clean underwear)
• Snacks (things like granola bars won't spoil)
• A prepaid phone card (yup, frequently cell phones do not work in the hospital, and if you need to make a phone call you will need it. )
• A list of important phone numbers (you will forget your phone charger, or your phone will run out of battery, that means you do NOT have the important phone numbers that you need in an emergency.)
• A magazine (you might re-read the same on 20 times, but you'll be happy that you have it)
• Things to keep a child occupied (iPad, crayons, coloring book, MadLibs (FYI there were a HUGE hit with a friends teenager when she was going through treatment))
  
  
  Things you can request at the hospital:
  
  • Bedding (they should be able to provide you with a pillow and blanket. They won't be great, but they will be functional)
  • towels (yes, you need to shower. )
  • A quiet place to sleep (hospitals frequently have a parents room where you can rest. USE IT WHEN YOU CAN.