Frequent flyers

Malcolm had a doctor's appointment with his pediatrician on Friday at 5pm. He has an appointment on Tuesday morning at 8:45am at the eye clinic at the hospital. So he is starting and ending his Thanksgiving weekend with doctor's appointments. The good news is that both are just routine follow-up - no emergencies or even concerns to worry about.

We very nearly always see other kids (and their parents) that we know when we visit the hospital. Sometimes it feels a bit like a reunion as we may see several people we haven't seen in a while. This is great as it is often nice to chat a bit with someone who has been through a similar situation to what we have been through, or have some of the same ongoing issues with balancing a busy life with doctors appointments and health concerns. Sometimes it is nice just to see how great the kids are doing. We are always happy to see other kids that we know.

The not so great part of running into so many families we know at the hospital is that it's kind of a reminder that we're part of a club that we never really wanted to belong to. There are kids like Donovan who rarely darken a doctor's door and then there are kids who spend a significant amount of their time in doctors offices and hospitals. We see the same kids there time after time who, like Malcolm, are part of the latter group. The only consolation is that they often do grow out of it. We hope that in a couple of years we will almost never have occasion to visit the hospital, and even now it is much less than a year ago, and becoming less all the time.

I won't even mention the kids that we don't see anymore for the worst reason ever and whose absence leaves a hole in our hearts forever.

So for the most part we quite enjoy our visits to the hospital. On this Thanksgiving weekend, I guess we can be thankful that we have such a great hospital to visit, that so many of the kids we know are doing so well, and that we no longer have to spend so much time there. All good things.

Mary Ellen