Tips for hospital visits

              Well, as I type this, Feisty Pants is still in the joint.  (She is sooo sure it's a prison and we are just not admitting it.)  She is, however, very thankfully on the mend.  So since I do not have to stop every five minutes to suction her, I may actually get this written and posted.   I've decided to try to make this one about pointers about visiting a sick kid in the hospital.

               So.... First things first.  DON'T COME VISIT IF YOU'RE SICK.  We all like to see ourselves as tough and grown up, so we muddle through our days even when we are under the weather.  We go to work and do our daily errands as if spreading our germs was ok.  Working hard is a virtue.  Working sick is frankly, selfish.  I've had people show up to see FP with a cold. Really, people?!?  She is an immunocompromised kid in a hospital.  Why don't you just come to my house and lick the silverware?  One more well meaning idiot shows up sneezing and wheezing in a hospital room with FP and I am going to need bail money. I don't believe you when you say it's just allergies.  Until  I see a note from your doctor, it's the plague and you should be under quarantine. What is a cold to you was a helicopter ride to Philadelphia and a ten day stay on a ventilator for Feisty Pants.  What seems like a mild flu to you can be a death sentence to the disabled or elderly.  If you really must see FP's radiant countenance, we can skype.

              Next, before you bring things, find out if they're ok.  Cookies and candies and goodies are a lovely thoughtful gift, unless you can't have them.  And if you are a little kid, it may make you feel worse to not be allowed your favorite cookies because you're npo right now. (NPO is the abbreviation for some fancy-shmancy latin meaning nothing by mouth.) And some noisy toys are annoying to other patients.  And some kids can't have the flowers due to allergies or lung issues.  And stuffed animals are dust collectors that are not good for kids with lung issues. (By the way, skip wearing perfume when you come, for the exact same reasons.)  Toy and books and bubbles and arts and crafts stuff are almost always safe and awesome.  A small cheap handheld video game (the kind you find for about 5 to 10 bucks) are a great toy.  They keep kids occupied while stuck in bed, and usually don't get too loud.

              Also, when you do come, try not to overstay.  Kids seem to have tons of energy.  But healing takes tons of energy.  A very sweet person once brought Feisty Pants a paint set.  They spent a long time helping find a position to paint. Set up all the paints and paper and water.  Helped her hold the brush and get all set.  Only to have FP burst in heart breaking sobs because it was simply too exhausting to her to even try to sit up straight at that point.  Which almost made the grown up cry too.  So let's just give ourselves a break, shall we?  You don't have to entertain her.  Just hug her and let her complain about the horrid IV she is stuck with.  She can do that for hours on end.

                So, there's my advice.  If the tone is a little bitchy, you'll have to forgive me.  I've been Feisty Pants' cell mate all week and she's a tad cranky, to say the least.  I actually hope this post helps next time you have a young friend in the hospital.  Oh, and one last thing, no matter what Feisty Pants tells you, we are really her actual parents and you don't need to help her escape her captivity.