Thank you, Thank You, Thank, YOU

I never thought I'd say this, but THANK YOU, kids, for being little monsters!!! You made life much better yesterday for a little gal in the hospital.

You see, this pretty, sweet 14-year old girl who has cerebral palsy was being transferred to Louisville to a hospital that has children's rehab. She was terrified and so sad about having to leave our Peds. floor because she has been treated well and was used to us. She was hysterical and fighting as much as she could with both legs in casts and braced apart 3 feet or so. Soooo, while the ambulance attendants were going to find a bigger gurney and her mom was moving things out of the room, I asked if I could have some time with her.

She didn't respond to the gentle talking so I changed the subject and asked her what she liked in school. Before that, she'd just turn her head away whenever we tried to talk to her. She answered, "English" but said she hated Math. So I began by telling her about Jenny's paper on her first day with Mrs. Chen: "I am not David. I am not Brian. I like English and don't like Math and Science, etc. etc." She laughed a bunch at that. Then I told her about David's little trouble in Chemistry that got him in big trouble until the teacher screamed at your dad. She really laughed at that and then said, "Did your other son ever do anything wrong?" I had to really hunt, of course, to come up--well, no I didn't. I told her about the note on the back of the sensitive girl. She was laughing until tears were rolling. She kept asking me about anything else you all did and I didn't disappoint her! Kept the stories going. When the attendants returned, I was telling her about Jonathan's little escapade; she made them wait until I finished!!! They were glad to do so because she was having so much fun. She didn't cry any more when they took her away. One of the nurses gave her a little disposable camera to take pictures to send us and she was OK even though sad.

As I said: THANK YOU, THANK YOU AND GOD BLESS YOU ONE AND ALL!!!