I started my therapy cat visit to the children’s hospital before we even got to the lobby. A young girl and her mother joined us on the elevator, and she was happy to see me. And there were plenty of kids to visit once my man signed us in.
One of the first lobby visits I made was with a little girl in a wheelchair, missing her legs below her knees. Even though I’m not a lap cat, my human let me sit in the wheelchair with him for a few minutes. Then I sat on the couch and gave a high five. He loves it so much!
After a few visits to the lobby, we headed into surgery. Someone plays guitar and sings in pre op. My man and I peeked and it was a woman, and there was a girl on the surgery gurney with a guitar too. He wasn’t playing — he had a broken arm — but he was able to hug me with his unscathed hand. He is cute and happy.
We also visited the rehab, which was very busy! Many patients get PT, but most of them are able to pause and visit me for a few minutes. Even the young man with the broken hand was happy to see me.
We spent the rest of the visit in the exam rooms. The cast rooms were completely full so I saw many children with feet being fixed. A girl was lying on her back with her arm outstretched, and she was very sweet. So were his parents, who seemed like really nice, kind people.
While we were visiting we heard a man screaming in the background. He is my next patient. Apparently they used some kind of noisy machine to remove his cast and it really pissed him off. He was mostly calm when I got to him, and I think I helped him get there. He had his grandparents with him, and they were another great family to visit.
The last visit was an older boy with a severe disability in a wheelchair. She had never had a cat before, and I was so honored to be her first cat.
After we finished my visits and signed out, we went down the elevator with some of the patients I saw today. So it ended the same way it started.
