A Friend You Haven’t Met Yet

Sophie was sent home from school early on Monday.  She had put her head down at lunch and cried, refusing to eat.  She had a low grade fever, was not herself, and most strangely was unable to walk normally.  After a nap at home, Sophie was still unable to walk or bare weight without pain, so I took her to her pediatrician.  He sent us to the ER for x-rays and blood work.  The diagnosis was that a virus had settled into her right hip joint, causing inflammation and pain.

Skip ahead a few days.  She has not been able to shake her fever, is still in pain, and has begun to refuse food and drink.  So on day 4 of this illness, we returned to the pediatrician who sent us back to the ER for more testing and an IV of fluid.

We’ve been here for hours and are finally waiting for discharge.  Her blood work looks good.  The rapid strep test was negative, and the IV of fluid perked her right up.  She’s eating goldfish crackers and drinking a little chocolate milk.  They put in a catheter to test for a UTI which was also negative.  She was just dehydrated, which we knew.

Mark and I are here while Alexander and Helena have a party with our friends.  They think it’s a party anyway.  Knowing that we would end up in the ER, I packed plenty of books, toys, and the iPad to keep Sophie occupied.  I brought my laptop and have gotten a bit of work done and Mark is grading papers.  You do what you need to do to pass the time.

While skimming fb, I came across this video by John Franklin Stephens, who goes by Frank.  He’s a hero of ours and you can find another letter he wrote on the sidebar of this blog.  Frank has a way with words.  He speaks eloquently as a self advocate who will not back down to bullies who use hate speech to belittle people with intellectual disabilities.  He does so in a way that is inspiring, powerful, thought provoking, and compassionate, even to those who disregard him.  Though I won’t give the person he is speaking to a moment of my time, I am honored to share Frank’s words as he educates us about the kind of people we should all strive to be.

Thank you Frank for standing up for yourself, for Sophie and all of our friends in this beautiful community.  And with that, this family is busting out of this joint!