Tuesday, June 28, 2011

The Bubble Girl

Bubbles make the world go round. Or at least solve a multitude of children sized problems. Today was another Hospital visit. 5 kids. 4 echo appointments. 1 in for a special diet program. That kid, Yahya (or in English, John), is missing a certain enzyme that helps digest food so he has constant diarrhea. GROSS! The doctors helped his parents figure out what he can and cannot eat so now all is well.
But anyway, back to bubbles. Usually this can be kind of traumatic for the little ones, so a big part of my job on hospital days is helping them to smile. So I have learned one of the quickest, easiest ways to solve this problem... Bubbles!
Example #1: Little girl is sitting. Her mother has to go get something and walks off for a moment. Child starts crying! Yikes! Other parents are glaring. We're on the verge of catastrophe. Solution: bubbles! I walk over, whip out my handy dandy to go bottle of smelly bubbles (Yes, they are really scented. In fact, one of the other kids today tried to eat them!). So I blew a couple of bubbles and the problem is solved. Tears have stopped and everyone settles back in, happy that the crisis is averted.
Example #3: We are having trouble engaging one of the older (14 years old) boys who is in for an Echo. Apparently he is too cool for coloring and paper airplanes. The solution: A bubble blowing contest! Three guys from another organization were there so they all took each other on blowing the biggest bubble. The patient also felt comfortable joining in with all these other older boys enjoying themselves. 
Example #3: All the other patients have left for the day. Things are quiet. Yahya is the only kid still around that is awake. So to keep boredom at bay... bubbles! We had a glorious time blowing and popping bubbles for at least twenty minutes.
Bubbles solved a lot of troubles today. Thanks to my constant carrying of my scented bubbles, my coworker has dubbed me "The Bubble Girl". I'll take that as a compliment! They really are great. But I will need to restock soon. We are nearing the end of my current supply and I would hate to not have them if another crisis comes up!

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