Happy 2016!
Kayla ended the New Year with a bang! The day after Christmas she rolled her ankle while walking in the house. Kayla, my father, and I loaded up the car and began our trip to Boston Children’s emergency room. Kayla and I have taken a lot of trips to Boston together. In fact, we have the routine down to a science and have actually made the trip in 8 hours, which included a doctor’s visit and numerous other stops. Kayla knows the routine, and we usually follow it.
Although there was an extra passenger in the car (my father), we couldn’t deviate from the Boston routine: first stop, Starbucks on Shelburne road to get a triple shot cappuccino for me and a drink for Kayla. My father had already made his daily stop at McDonald’s for coffee at the senior citizen rate. And then we headed off on Interstate 89.
Our next stop was Warren, New Hampshire to fill up on gas and get Kayla a “healthy” lunch at McDonald’s. Since it was so early, lunch was not available at McDonald’s, but in all honesty, Kayla likes to go to McDonald’s to get the lovely plastic toy in the happy meal. She settled for sausage and apple juice, and thank god, they threw in the toy! The highlight of the Warren stop was my father’s excitement about the price of gas ($1.85 a gallon), which he later talked about to my brother, John, who lives in Singapore.
Our final stop was Boston Children’s Hospital on Longwood Ave. It was so early in the day we were able to drive right in and unload Kayla. We were greeted nicely, gave our medical history, had her vitals checked, and had her leg x-rayed. We were put in a room where we waited and waited. All the providers were extremely flexible while they worked with Kayla. You would think that Kayla would be used to visiting the hospital and would adapt because we have visited them so many times. But Kayla never wears the ID bracelets, never sits on the hospital bed, she refuses to use a wheelchair, and she was pretty adamant that nobody was touching her leg.
After waiting 4 hours, the orthopedist was able to come and take a look at Kayla. He talked to Kayla and told her about each step he was taking as he casted her leg. Kayla told him what to do next because she has been casted so frequently she knows the process. Once the cast was on, Kayla was much more relaxed and at ease. The doctor rushed our discharge paperwork so we could get on the road and head home.
Of course prior to leaving, we got dinner to go at the café in the hospital. And of course we stopped at the store that Kayla has come to love, Target, where she got to ride in a Caroline’s Cart! Three hours later we arrived home. The great thing is we get to do this again in 9 days, so she can get her cast off, get x-rays, and get checked by her orthopedist!
Even though Boston Children’s Hospital is quite a distance from Vermont, it provides excellent care for special needs children and services that are not available in Vermont. In my opinion, it is definitely worth the trip!