Today was Casen’s 6 month follow up appointment with his plastic surgeon, Dr Siddiqi.
It was almost reminiscent walking into Primary Children’s Hospital, our ‘home away from home’ for a week back in February. That is certainly a special place. The staff does amazing things there, and I am ever grateful for their kindness. As a pediatric nurse myself, I went into this whole experience with a very critical eye. I was ready to pounce on any complacent nurse’s aide or some mediocre nurse. But you know what? I spent the whole last day of our stay there writing Thank You cards to every nurse and aide that had anything to do with Casen’s care. I could find NOTHING to critique. Primaries is everything everyone says it is.
One of the pediatricians I worked closely with down in St. George once told me that physicians from around the world aspire to work at Primaries, “…because for some reason, kids get well there.”
I think we all know why.
Today I was struck with that same feeling of awe while sitting in the waiting room of the neuro/plastics wing. Many children there had obvious deformities, requiring surgery after surgery after surgery, no doubt. It put into perspective how small my son’s case was compared to almost everyone else’s. Let me paint a picture of what the scene was like today. The room is bustling with people. Parents all around understandingly acknowledge each other and offer an empathetic grin – we are all in the same boat. Kids are overjoyed to be playing with such fun toys. A little girl shows me her doll named Abby, she especially loves Abby’s long purple and pink yarn hair. A beautiful black girl about 9 years old, with no legs, balances her body on the floor in front of Barbie’s dream house, exclaiming to her mom how much fun she is having. A 5 year old boy named Joshua, born with fetal alcohol syndrome, only has one working hand. The other one, crippled by his condition, does not stop him one bit. He plops right down by Casen and starts playing with him, showing him the ins and outs of the toy Casen has been eyeing.
It was like a piece of heaven here on this loud, wild and unrelenting earth. I could have watched the kids, these beautiful, precious kids, interact with each other all day!
Every single one of us is a Child of God, and He sees us all through the same eyes. We are all SO wonderful and precious to Him.
Dr. Siddiqi is one of the most highly acclaimed plastic surgeons in the world! He’s done many things that have impressed me that I haven’t seen with other physicians, and surgeons no less!
I present to you the wonderful, brilliant man behind the surgical mask.
5 comments:
I'm guessing Casen is one of the many successes of primaries. I'm grateful and glad that all is well. He is a cutie.
Anna, that was so beautifully written. It brought a tear to my eye. Casen is such a cutie and I am glad everything is going well with him, can you believe he is almost a year? Our little guys are growing up too fast.
Beautiful post.
Geez everytime I read your posts I end up tearing up... I'm so glad he is doing good. Sorry I missed at church sunday, I was wanting to see you and your little guy. But we went camping the night before, and lets just say it was a struggle to make it through sacrament... Hope to see you soon!
I just have to tell you this story: A 3-year-girl in our ward was just diagnosed leukemia last week. Her family was on vacation visiting family in UT when they decided to take her to the hospital because of a couple of reasons. As a result, they have remained in UT for a few extra weeks while Sarah has been admitted into Primary children's. When I heard that, my first thought was "oh I am so glad they are there, 'because for some reason, kids get well there.'" Of course, I had just read your post--but it was definitely reassuring.
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