Family and Staff Need Me as Much as the Kids

As we’ve done so often recently at the children’s hospital, we started off in the surgery area. They had a lot of patients this morning, and we got to see a couple that were awake. Both were girls. The younger one petted me and asked my human lots of questions about me. The second was a teen girl who practically melted when she saw me and took lots of photos.

The surgery area and rehab are both on the second floor, so we stopped there next. The first patient I saw in the waiting room was a 6 year old girl with a wrist brace. She shuffled up to me and petted me while her parents talked in Spanish and English. The rehab area itself had two boys I got to spend time with. The older boy was really happy to see me. He had cats at home and he was definitely a kitty person. The second boy, who was younger, maybe 7, lit up when he saw me too. He took a short break from his exercises, which involved picking up plastic keys with his feet, to pet me.

As we were leaving, the first boy’s mother mentioned that her daughter was in the waiting room and was sad she had missed me (she was sleeping when we were there). So my human brought me over to see her before we went downstairs. At the children’s hospital, as with every facility I visit, I’m there for the staff and supporting family as much as I am for the patients.

The lobby, which had been nearly empty when we arrived, had filled up with a few young patients. Before heading into the exam area, I visited with a teen girl and her mom. The first child I saw in the exam rooms was a very young toddler who had never seen a kitty before. She was a little scared and unsure of me. In spite of her parents’ attempts to encourage her, she did not want to touch me. That was okay. She was just very young.

The last patient we saw in the exam rooms was a little boy wearing leg braces, and his sister. They were both really happy to see me, and kept playing with my legs and tail. They have a kitty at home (their mom showed my human a photo of him), so they knew to be gentle, but not many cats would want little hands all over them like that. I didn’t mind because I knew they were nice kids, and my human watched them the whole time to make sure I always felt safe. So it was a good visit and I posed for a photo with them both.

I always enjoy my visits to this hospital.

Here are some other times I visited here: