Hospitals and My Reality

A few weeks ago my dear friend's daughter had an emergency appendectomy performed here in St. Louis at the amazing St. Louis Children's Hospital. Late in the evening, both mother and daughter came up to St. Louis in a rather long drive of an ambulance. Because my friend has other kids and very complicated life, I stayed with her daughter, who I will call Sapphire, while my friend took care of some other business. I only saw Sapphire twice during her stay and was very honored to do so, as her mom was there constantly.

As a visitor I would park in the huge parking garage, take the elevator to the tenth floor, and hang with the kid and her mom as long as they would allow. It was pretty cool spending time with this kid because she's really neat.

Anyway, my experiences at that hospital reminded me of one single thing: 
if you and your children are healthy, be grateful.
Be very grateful.

There was not one moment while I was there that I thought there was a deity. If I had thought that, somehow, a deity allowed, caused, or did not do anything for these kids I would have been FURIOUS. The things I saw from the outside, the families and children who were clearly living their lives within these various tragedies and circumstances, now those people were admirable. The staff: WOW. These human beings who dedicate their lives to the care of children and parents when they are feeling at their most vulnerable. Hopeful medical research projects going on. Human beings and helpful groups doing amazing good works. Treatment based on massive medical intervention processes. But not a single sign of help coming from afar.

I passed the neonatal ICU. I passed a tall teen in the hallway with their hair cut off holding onto the waist of her mom who also had her hair cut off. I passed a family in the cafeteria holding tight to a small child in a wheelchair and another family in the cafeteria feeding a very tall young man. I passed a group of kids hanging on to their IV poles while chasing each other around a small play area. I met a girl named Amber who was able to greet the checker in the gift shop by name. I passed a school kid wearing a kerchief slouched on the bench, reading a book. I knew of one toddler who was there without a single adult to comfort them in the night. And I kept hearing ambulances rushing to the hospital, presumably carrying someone's child.

All I wanted to do was rush home and hold my own kids and my granddaughter, and I know that, when my friend was able to take Sapphire home, that is exactly what she did. 💗

 Your thoughts? 

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