Camp Boggy Creek

Haley's rheumatologist handed us an application for us to go to a family weekend at Camp Boggy Creek on her last appointment. I filled it out not knowing just what to expect. When she was accepted to go for the weekend, I was excited but a little apprehensive as well. Camp Boggy Creek provides fun time away for kids/families dealing with some type of chronic illness. It's funded by Paul Newman Charities and other private donors. The weekend we were there for was the Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis and other rheumatoid conditions weekend.

For the last month Haley has been feeling pretty bad. Her relapsing polychondritis is flaring again and she's been dealing with a lot of pain. She has a new foot injury that is adding more pain to the mix. Not good. Last week, just before we went, her doctor made some adjustments to her medication that has given her some relief. He wanted her to feel better for Boggy Creek. He warned me that most people that would be there wouldn't know anything about what Haley has yet alone have any of her issues. He said that there would be kids there that had dealt with the horrible side effects from her meds though, and that she would still have fun. He kind of gave me a nice little pep talk.

We arrived on Friday evening and Haley's pals Colin and Dahlia were outside the cabin waiting for her. Dahlia was a psychiatry resident who would have a lot of jobs to do during camp, but would hang out with Haley when she could. Colin was a college senior from Kentucky who's fraternity flew him (and other members) in to volunteer for the weekend. Colin would be with her/us for the whole weekend just to make sure that Haley was comfortable and had whatever would make her happy. Whatever Haley wanted to do, Colin did. I don't know his parents, but they should be so proud of the caring young man they've raised.

From the time we got there, every minute was about the kids and families having fun. There was so much downright silliness that you couldn't help but laugh. A lot. Friday night was dinner, ice breaker activities and a camp fire. Saturday was full of activities, including time when Colin took the kids to do whatever they did while John and I went to a time for just the parents. This was the only time when there was talk of conditions, medications and the hardships of having a sick child. They separated the men from the women for this time. We thought that the boys would talk for about ten minutes then watch football. John said they talked the whole time. Not sure what went on there. As for my time with the women, it was really good. We cried for each other's children and for our own. There was something very special about that time and I was really blessed by it. These were all moms of kids that lived with pain too much of the time. There's a part of you that can't be okay when they are hurting and those women were right there with me. I didn't count on having that kind of experience and it was really a blessing.

After dinner Saturday night Haley was really in pain and wanted to put her pajamas on at 7:30. I had given her everything I could for pain at that point and knew that she needed to go home and to her bed. She was positively drained and had that look on her face that a mom just knows isn't good. We had to leave camp early. I was crying as they hugged me and told me that they understood. They drove me to pick up my car and I was still crying. I want my girl to be well and she isn't. It was so disappointing that we needed to go. Then I started to look through the photos that we took from just that day. She did more fun stuff in one day than we've done in a long time. She did have the best day, she laughed lots and really enjoyed herself. God really gave me peace in that moment. Maybe we can't do so much at once, but we need to do more to enjoy life, even if it's at a little slower pace. That's the biggest lesson I learned this weekend.