Broken Bones and Warm Hearts on This Therapy Cat Visit

I had a therapy visit at the children’s hospital, but the first patients I saw weren’t kids — it was staff! I enjoyed visiting with them at the front desk, and then my human and I headed to the exam rooms.

The rooms were pretty busy this time! Lots of kids were getting casts looked at. It seemed like there were a bunch of broken wrists and arms on this visit. I had lots of fun giving out high fives and paw shakes, although usually with the non-injured hand.

There is one small corridor in the exam area containing four rooms where the cast techs do their magic. I saw teen boys in two of the rooms and a girl in the third. My human is always a little surprised and happy when the older boys want to see me. That’s actually more common than you would think.

A cast tech was busy working on the second boy’s arm, and it was obvious that it was kind of painful. One of my big jobs is actually pain management — I sort of help take the patient’s mind off unpleasant procedures. I think I did help this one a little.

Another thing I do is keep young patients occupied when things are going on that don’t concern them. In one room, two boys surrounded me, wanting to see my tricks. Meanwhile, their mother discussed some complicated insurance paperwork with one of the hospital’s staff.

Not everybody was getting a cast. One little girl I saw had two artificial legs, and the sockets had Disney kitties printed on them. So of course she was totally delighted to see me. I think she and the boy getting the painful cast were my favorite patients of the day.

Of course not every moment of my visits are delightful! One mom couldn’t help picking me up and cuddling me, even though my human warned her I’d get a little squirmy. And on the way back through the lobby, some kids were playing and being a bit loud and rowdy. That made it hard to visit a shy little girl in the princess dress we saw. But it was still a good visit with so many nice moments.