10/02/2024
***My experience with this situation***
Before JJ got sick I:
Ate only Gluten-free dairy free, fed my family mostly whole food meals, nursed my babies longer than what they recommend, shopped often at specialty stores, cloth diapered, only put certain medications in my children, and only put certain things on my children, and tried my best to stay away from carcinogens.
I'm sure there are ways that I could have been better in certain areas, but even with being what some may consider 'better than most', JJ still got sick.
I also knew families who lost a loved one to not their cancer, but their chemo! I was not uneducated or unaware of the dangers of chemo. But I had to make a choice and I had to make it quick.... JJ was dying.
The day after he was diagnosed with cancer he was in surgery getting his port placed. They placed it on the left hand side right above his heart. Within 1 hour of coming out of surgery they started his first chemo. This chemo was a bright red!
As I watched his line go from clear to red while slowly entering, what to me looked like his heart, I could not hold back the tears. It was devastatingly hard to be able to visually see that toxic stuff going into him.
Within one week of starting chemo I started getting the private messages, from who I know we're well intended people, wanting to educate me on alternatives to chemo.
But I would like to kindly and lovingly educate you back in telling you that the parents of a child with cancer can at times find themselves more educated than the nurses administering these chemos. And if at any point in their journey they felt they needed a different option they would most likely seek you out.
It was hard finding out my child had cancer. It was hard knowing that I chose to let that clear line turn red. In my specific situation it was hard for me to even allow the hospital I was in to administer his chemo when they had broken my trust.
But as well intended as these messages were they made me feel guilty, ashamed of my choices, and judged. Please remember that the parent of a child with cancer would seek you out if alternative medicines were a choice they were considering.
