CCA Blog

I know that the hospital isn’t the most welcoming place, and that it can make you feel homesick. I know I did when I endured long hospital stays. Here are my tips on how to make staying at the hospital a little better:

• Bring your own sheets and blankets – the hospital sheets are not really very breathable or very comfortable, so bringing your own sheets and blankets is important.
• Bring a stuffed animal – I know that it might sound strange coming from a 16-year-old, but bringing something to sleep with can be comforting when you are hooked up to all those machines. I brought my giant penguin when I had my high-dose chemo treatment. J
• Comfortable clothes – I always wore pajama pants when I stayed at the hospital, and they were really good thing to have.
• Your pillow – the pillows at the hospital are flimsy and not soft. I always bring my own pillow.
• Bring some stuff to do – the hospital is not a fun or exciting place. Bringing some distractions like your Game boy, PSP, iPod, movies, books, crossword puzzles, etc. I always bring movies to watch when I go to the hospital.
• My most important tip of all – have a positive attitude. I have always tried to keep a positive attitude through treatment, and it has really helped me get through hard times. When I went through my intense chemo and high-dose stem cell rescue, something that always kept me going was telling myself that no matter how sick, crummy, or miserable I felt, it was always eventually going to get better.

I know that going back to school can be awkward, especially when you have been gone a long time (getting chemo, other kinds of treatment, or recovering from surgery). When I came back to school after going through high-dose chemo (after missing two months of school), I received some weird stares from some of the kids at school, as well as some questions I felt uneasy answering. Here are some tips that helped me and I think can help you too:

• Don’t overdo it! You just went through chemotherapy, which can make you feel like you just ran a hundred mile race. Don’t feel the need to push yourself. If you feel tired and don’t have enough energy for a full load, try going to one class a day for week or longer, and then easing into it by adding one class at a time.
• Try wearing a beanie or a ski hat for a while until you feel comfortable going bald (or until your hair grows back). Kids in high schools can be a little strange about seeing you again after you have been gone for so long. The combination of you being gone for a long time and you having no hair on your head could make it uncomfortable for you and other students.
• If you are uncomfortable about answering questions about your treatment or surgery, talk to your friends. They can act as your advocate by telling other kids to not ask you questions about it. That way you don’t have to answer any questions until you’re ready to.
• Relax! I know that it can be scary to return to school, and that it can sometimes feel different, but remember: it’s the same school you were going to before your treatment (or surgery). It still has the same people you know and love. Your friends, teachers, counselors, and office staff (maybe janitor too) missed you a lot and will be supportive and thrilled to see you, so just relax and enjoy your time back at school.

This is my first time posting, and I thought I would start off by giving some advice about what to do for different parts of treatment, because when I first went through treatment I felt lost sometimes about how to handle certain things while I was going through radiation or chemotherapy.

Being Bald: While going through chemotherapy the first and second time, I did not like being bald and I know that other teens going through treatment don’t like being bald either. However, there are some things that I have found that really help you deal with being bald:

1. Find something to wear on your head. Being bald makes your head a lot colder! Also, lots of people are going to stare at you. Find something that you would be comfortable wearing on your head to keep your head warm and/or cover your head. When I was going through treatment I liked wearing a red ski hat that covered my whole head as well as my ears, and that did the trick for me. I know that some people prefer wigs, and that’s fine too. Whatever works for you.
2. Talk to your friends about shaving their heads so that you are not the only bald kid walking around school. At the beginning of radiation, I had a head shaving party where  my friends came over and shaved their heads. Unfortunately, their hair will grow back, while yours will not. But it is really comforting to have some other bald heads walking around the school at first while you are getting used to yours.
3. Be Confident! Lots of other people are bald too, and they look good. Lots of celebrities are bald, including Bruce Willis, Vin Diesel, Chris Daughtry (singer from American Idol), Andre Agassi, and Jason Stratham (actor in Transporter movies). Even Natalie Portman (actress) went bald when she was in V for Vendetta. If these celebrities can look good bald, so can you!

Hey All,

This is my last blog entry.  It has been a pleasure writing to you all. Thank you for reading my blog, and I hope I was able to share some insight and advice to other teens regarding my cancer journey. 

To wrap-up, I thought I would talk about my Make-A-Wish.  Make-A-Wish is a great way to do something you've always wanted to do and I was selected to participate.  Picking my wish was the hardest part - I switched my wish 3 times! In the end, I chose a trip to New York to meet Mikhail Baryshnikov, one of my favorite dancers.  I can't wait!

 Thanks again for reading, and good luck on your own journey.

 Love,

 Caitlin

Hey all,

The MRI turned out ok.  They found a small amount of what they think is scar tissue, but I am going to be kind of nervous for the next few months.  But camp was great!  I’ve been thinking of some advice regarding your time in the hospital; here it is:

• Take advantage of when your doctor or nurse is in the room by getting to know them, as you will be seeing them a lot.
• I found the CNA’s to be the most helpful because they’ll get you a snack if you want it or something else if you don’t like what’s on your food tray.

 Lots of Love, Caitlin

Wow! I'm so excited for Camp Ukandu, a camp for cancer kids, this week. I've put a slide show on youtube from last year, it's so much fun. I was thinking about how after my last treatment I really didn't want to leave the hospital. (You are probably thinking I'm crazy for this, but read on.) The reason I felt like this is because there is no other place that can help you like the hospital; it was my safety blanket. I recently had my first MRI without any tubing connected to me (except in my vein). But the next day I got results...well, the doctor said it could be scar tissue but I have other thoughts on what it could be (cancer) so I'm going to be anxious for three months until the next MRI. *Biting nails*…

Hay, I hope you guys aren't frying in the sun. I hate to just jump into a topic, but I'm really excited for Camp Ukandu. It's not by the beach so they are probably not doing beach day (cry), but they'll replace it with something just as cool. With it so near Oxbo Park I hope they can. Other activities they have are fishing, some sort of science thing (tie-dye), archery, arts & crafts, and there might be a couple other things I forgot. If you have an opportunity to go, definitely do—you will have a blast!

Hola! I was just thinking how I've always had a feel good movie to help take my mind off things. Before I got cancer it was Rodgers and Hammerstein’s production of Cinderella, but at the hospital I really liked Beetlejuice. Sometimes it may be a favorite book or toy, but I really liked my movie and it made me forget I was hurting or sick.

Another thing that helps is to get involved with activities in the hospital. Art stuff like beading and painting, but other stuff too like bingo. There might even be a movie night. Get to know other kids even if their younger than you; they make good companions in the hospital.

I was camping this weekend and had a great time! There was lots of sunshine for the first time here so that was cool. Nothing really monumental happened. I did cook a little which was pretty cool because people in my camping group ate some of my food. I made a macaroni tuna salad. It was pretty awesome because it was my first time cooking for a pot-luck. If you get a chance to go on a camping trip--go.  There are many different kind of camps available like Camp Ukandu which I will talk about at another time.

This last weekend I went to fish with a local community organization called Candelighter’s; it was pretty cool. After finding the place (which took a while), I caught one fish before lunch (lunch consisted of a hotdog, chips, chocolate chip cookies, Sprite and ice cream in a cone). It was pretty fun fishing but after lunch kids were hitting a pinata (I obliterated it at the end). I won an awesome fishing pole. Other than that, I’m pretty excited for next weekend cause I'm going camping. I'll tell you about that next time but I get to see a bunch of friends so that should be fun. I'm looking forward to it.