Kayla’s Poem

A poem by Kayla Tavakoli for when I was in the hospital. Had Kathy and I in tears:

Almost nine years ago

A new addition to the family

Well I guess two

One

The one that made me a big sister

The one that would make me more responsible

Isabella

But two

The one that made him endure pain

The one that made my hero of a dad have to take his cape off

Scleroderma

Daddy needed to go to the hospital and mommy was going to live there with him

Kayla, Kasra, and Isabella got to live with whomever they chose

“Yes!” 8 year old me shouted with excitement

“I get to live with my best friend!”

Meanwhile he had to live in a hospital bed

He’d have some great company I guess

Plenty of nice doctors

Nurses

Mommy

But also

Plenty of chemotherapy

A stem cell transplant

Hospital food

And of course

A lack of family

Sure we got to see him

As long as we wore face masks

And used plenty of hand sanitizer

“Don’t get too close, his immune system is weak!” explained the doctors

I didn’t know what that meant exactly

Except for the fact that I could barely hug him

At least I got to see him I guess

Months went by and he was still in that damn hospital bed

While I got to be in the comfort of my best friend’s house

When he did come home

He had a huge food tube stuck inside of him

“What’s that daddy?”

It got removed eventually

But the hole remained

“Hey dad you have a second belly button!”

Years later and he’s doing great

With doctors appointments here and there

And of course plenty of medications

But it’s okay

My hero is strong once again

With his cape waving high in the air