Kate's Chemo Rules

I have a dear friend from California who has two beautiful daughters, Riley and Kate. Last February, Kate's best friend, Abby (she also went to preschool with our C) was diagnosed with leukemia. Kate is a very funny little girl who deflects with humor like her mother and myself. When her mom told Kate that I had cancer, she looked at her mom with wide serious eyes and said, "I have some advice for her." Kate is 10 and I still can't get through the list without crying.

Here are Kate’s 10 Ways of Getting Through Chemo (in her own words):

1. Always keep your port clean. Use non-latex bandages because your skin will be more sensitive with all the different medicines you will be taking.
2. Sometimes you can taste the chemo that they give you through the port, which is weird. It will give you an odd taste in your mouth so bring life savers or something that you can suck on like a mint to help get the taste out of your mouth.
3. Go easy on yourself. If you’re tired, sit down. Don’t be upset if you can’t do cartwheels anymore. It will all come back, but it’s important to rest when you need to rest.
4. Bake. It’s a fun activity that you can do when your immunity is down and you don’t have the energy to leave the house. Plus, it’s something that the boys can help you with and you’ll all have fun eating afterwards.
5. Definitely sign up for Uber eats (do they have that in Colorado?). When cooking is just too much, ordering online and having it arrive at your door is like the best thing ever.
6. Get a Nintendo switch if the boys don’t already have one. It’s fun to play while you’re getting chemo and when you want to lay around at home, you can play against the boys.
7. Don’t hide information from the boys. They can handle it. The doctors explain everything to Abby and then she explains it to me so, really, we can handle it. And don’t be afraid to ask for professional help if you need it. Abby has a therapist and the nurses have come to our class to explain everything that she’s going through—like when she comes back to school, she’ll still have a port so playing dodgeball is not the best idea.
8. Use hand sanitizer all the time. Like everyone in the house needs to use it. When Mr. Grady comes home from work, he will need to shower and wear freshly laundered clothes before hugging Mrs. Grady. And the boys, if they leave the house, will need to do the same when they come home. Keeping germs away from Mrs. Grady is very important and everyone needs to cooperate. I never visit Abby without showering first and I know this can be a pain, but her life is more important than the inconvenience of a shower.
9. Pray. I pray for Abby every day. I recommend the St. Peregrine novena. It’s a nine-day prayer that the whole family can do. I got my class to say it for Abby—not everyone gets it, but that doesn’t matter because I get it. Also, drink Holy Water every day. Don’t we have Lourdes water we can send her? (Yes, we do by the way).
10. Plan for the future. When Abby is better we are going to go to Italy and order noodles with mustard. That may not be something Mrs. Grady wants to do, but, still, it’s important to believe that you’re going to get better.

I'm 100% in on the going to Italy thing. I think I'll have butter on my noodles, though. Thank you, Kate. You might not get famous from my blog post, but it'll happen one way or another. Thanks for everything. 

Mrs. Grady

C, Ethan and Kate in PreK

Kate now (she plans to shave her head when Abby returns to school in the fall)