Containment: Alexandra tells us about her experience
25 May 2020
Alexandra is enjoying life again by discovering the City of Lights.
At 24, Alexandra was diagnosed with leukemia. She survived, thanks to a stem cell transplant, but was confined to a hospital room for a time. She tells us about her experience.
When we compare ourselves, we take comfort…
Many of us find confinement, this imposed but necessary isolation, stifling, long, very long, even unbearable. In 2018, I had a similar experience during my bone marrow transplant. My immune system was weakened, forcing me to stay home and greatly limiting my activities and outings.
Today, many friends and family are asking me to tell them about this experience they had to contend with, at the time, from a distance, and not personally as they do today. They also ask me how I am experiencing and living through this new confinement.
Confinement: I remember…
It is obvious that it is not easy to stay at home, to not be able to meet friends and family, to not be “free” as we still were in February. But for me, having been already confined twice in the past, this one is much easier to live with!
Today, I am at home. I can walk outside, get some fresh air, go to the grocery store. Above all, the biggest difference, the most important difference of all, is that I am healthy. That changes everything!
Of course, I can’t work right now. I’m a flight attendant, but I hope to be flying again soon.
Confined to a hospital room
My first two confinements were imposed on me by disease. Yet, I didn’t experience them in the same way at all.
In 2018, I was first confined for 45 days in a room at the Saint-Jérôme Hospital in order to fight my leukemia and be eligible for a transplant.
A few months later, I received a call from Hôpital Maisonneuve-Rosemont (HMR) informing me that they had found a donor. During my transplant, I was again isolated for 45 days. I could not even open a door or a window. That’s what I call being confined! My survival depended on it!
Locked in my hospital room, I read, played board games with my parents, watched TV shows and most of the time… I simply slept!
Learning to appreciate and enjoy every day
Today, the most important thing during this pandemic is our health! Ours, but also that of others.
By staying confined, by following the rules and staying at home, we protect each other. That way, we’ll ensure that, later, we can fully enjoy every little happiness in life, in health, with our loved ones!
