Breaking the rules

No matter how you roll the dice, the outcome is always: risk. For the past few weeks after the transplantation we have done everything we can to avoid risks. Strict hand hygiene, the mouth masks, keeping our distances and skip even the slightest kissing or - when it came to the boys - stop seeing Kenji altogether.

When loved ones are ill, one often tends to bargain with medicine. To persuade a doctor to make an exception, honestly believing that they deserve better than any other patient. Trying to get medicine on your side.
That is not why I kept a passionate speech in front of Kenji's hematologist to break the rules. Yes indeed,
I asked him politely whether we weren't a bit too strict when it came to the isolation rules. Well aware of the huge risks of infection, I still pleaded for an opening - literally. And the doctor heard me. He understood my strong concerns perfectly and with a "Whatever is necessary to get you through a couple of more endless weeks in this room", he permitted Kenji to be a papa again.

This afternoon Big Brother and Little Brother extremely brave managed to suppress their instincts and run straight into his arms. They washed and flapped just as I learned them, and then got fully rewarded by an enormous papa hug.
Kenji needed to be someone else than just a patient. And Big Brother and Little Brother's visit couldn't be more well-timed: another portion of bad news reached him minutes before his sons entered his room.