Bittersweet

The month of January brings mixed emotions to me, fond memories because it is the month that I met my husband (1982) and bad memories because it is the month Cody came close to death and pretty much lived in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit.

I want to share the story about how I met my husband another time, but today I'm going to tell you about an experience we had with Cody while in PICU.

That January, in 1994, Cody had major shunt complications and surgeons had to externalize it. For those of you who may not know what this surgery entails, it meant drilling holes in Cody's skull and having two or three tubes come out of his head. When it came time to put his shunt back in, the Neurologist phoned Carol, Cody's nurse, and told her to get him prepped for surgery. Carol had to wash Cody's hair, which was a nerve racking task since Cody wasn't suppose to sit up or move his head. Carol stood at the top of Cody's bed with a small tub of warm water and antibacterial soap and gently began washing Cody's hair. As soon as she began, Cody started singing, in tune I might add, Whitney Houston's 'The Greatest Love of All'. He sang the song from start to finish and Carol literally had tears streaming down her cheeks as Cody sang.

I don't think Carol, Cody, Don or I will ever forget that day. There was a spirit in the room that was indescribable. It's definitely a bittersweet memory.