WE MEET THE TEAM & GET INTERNET...

Early Monday we met the team. Dr. G is the primary doctor on the bone marrow transplant team. I had already spoken to him at Cheo when I had a tele-conference meeting a few weeks ago....he inspires confidence & takes the time to answer any & all questions. Now I got to meet him in person as well as the other doctors on the team, and various other specialists from Endocrinology and Infectious diseases. It's difficult to remember everyone's name...but in time, I'm sure I will. We also met a few people from the Child care specialists who try and make a child's stay here at Sick Kids as stress-free as possible. One of them took Mr. T on a tour so he could see the Starlight Room on the 9th floor. This is a safe play area where kids can go on-line or play X-box with other kids or do 'Arts & Crafts'. He can also borrow movies and books as needed.

They also have 'music therapy' here. What is it? Music therapy is the use of music to promote, maintain & restore psychological, physical, emotional & spiritual health. It is a recognized professional discipline in over 70 countries worldwide. Ruth Roberts is an accredited music therapist at Sick Kids. She plays the guitar, piano & flute. Any child here can benefit from music therapy. Activities may include singing, songwriting, playing instruments, story-telling, improvising, listening, drawing or moving to music. During the session, a care-giver can take a much-needed break, go for a walk or do their laundry. As soon as Ruth heard that Mr. T is interested in guitar lessons...she loaned him a guitar to practice with. Mr. T is quite good so far. He did take guitar in Junior High for a few months and I can see he has natural talent for it.

When I told the Child Care Specialist that Mr. T enjoyed sketching...she brought him a sketch pad so he can draw while he's here. Everyone is bending backwards to make Mr. T's stay here as comfortable as possible. He keeps comparing Toronto Sick Kids to Cheo as that's the only hospital he's ever been at. Hopefully in a few days he will change his mind and see that this is a very nice hospital...only bigger.

At first it was difficult to get hi-speed internet...but it's very important to have it while you are here. While away from home...it is the cheapest way to keep in touch with loved one's and friends. Rogers was too expensive...they charged a set-up fee as well as a package deal, and so was Distributel. Opening a new account with Bell would be too expensive. I would have to open a new account as well as take a package deal.

Also Mr. T has a couple of computer games that he enjoys which cost me $60 for a year membership and from time to time we upgrade his game with new characters or weapons.

We finally found a cheaper alternative. Toronto Hydro has a site called onezone.ca that charges $30 a month for high-speed, with no set-up fee or contract. Yippee!

So far so good! One day at a time!