Favorite Quotes

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  • "I'm so busy.... I don't know if I found a rope... or lost my donkey! - Unknown"
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Saturday, July 12, 2008

Kendra and Kathleen - Trip to the Hospital


I was single when I first became a Foster Parent. My first long-term Foster Kids were Kendra who was 5 and Kathleen who was 3. They were the youngest two kids of a sibling group of 6.

I had only had the girls a few weeks, when Kathleen got very sick. She was a teeny, tiny petite thing. She looked much younger than 3. I had no medical history on the girls and really we didn't know each other very well yet. At to that, I was really a pretty inexperienced parent.

I took Kathleen to the minor emergency center one cold night. She was wheezing and coughing, running a high fever and very pale. The doctor was a very handsome young man. He had dark hair and green eyes. I'm wondering if he's single. He starts asking me questions about Kathleen's medical history. He wants to know if she's been diagnosed with asthma. I tell him that I don't know...that they are my Foster Daughters.

It seemed like we were in there all evening. They are giving her breathing treatments and putting an oxygen mask on her. Every time they mess with her, Kathleen starts wailing. Every time Kathleen starts crying, Kendra gets scared and starts crying too.

Finally the doctor comes back in and tells me that he thinks they need to put Kathleen in the hospital. I'm terrified. I've never had a child in the hospital, and I don't even know this one very well. And there's tons of red tape when a Foster Child is sick. And what am I going to do with Kendra while I stay in the hospital with Kathleen??? As all of this runs through my head, my eyes start to fill with tears. The doctor looks at me and calmly says "If you start crying too, I swear thatI'm going to throw ALL THREE of you OUT of here!!!" That bit of humor helped me get a grip. LOL.

I call my Mom and she says she'll come and get Kendra and stay with her at my house. I pack up the two little girls and head over to the hospital. By now they are both exhausted and so am I. We haven't had any dinner. On the way to the hospital, Kendra sees a McDonalds. She starts throwing an absolute fit to stop at McDonalds and get something to eat. I have a three year old in the car who isn't breathing well....no way am I stopping.

We get to the hospital and I park in the parking garage. Kendra is into a complete meltdown by this point. I'm walking across the parking garage and she just falls down on the cement kicking, screaming that she wants McDonalds and having a Wall-Eyed Fit. I just look at her and calmly explain that I am taking Kathleen into the hospital whether or not Kendra follows us, and I walk off. Kendra lets me get out of sight around a corner, and then jumps up and catches up with me.

I finally get checked in to the hospital. Granny has over a two hour drive, but I wait and wait and she doesn't come. She was driving in the dark and goes through a horrible thunderstorm. She said it was raining so hard she could barely see the road. Then when she got to Tulsa, she couldn't find the hospital in the dark. But she put on her "Towanda Suit" and finally made it to the hospital.

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