Field Trips

Remember back in school how excited you would get when you knew a field trip was coming up? The level of excitement would build right up to the time you loaded on the bus. There was all the excited chatter on the bus while in route to the destination. Maybe the ride was what made the trip. What do you think?

I remember one of my field trips was to the Opera House where we listened to the symphony playing classical music. I really didn’t have an appreciation for that brand of music in grade school. Maybe that was the purpose in going in the first place, to develop that appreciation. At my age now I have to admit I really don’t mind classical music. The music certainly can calm the savage beast (Remember the movie Young Frankenstein?). I’ve played classical music from time to time in my office during particularly stressful days.

The one field trip most kids look forward to is going to the aquarium. At least I'm told it's popular by my grandkids. They really enjoyed looking at all the sea creatures. We watch fish swimming around the huge tanks and everything seems so peaceful. Later when we grow older we learn that it’s a fish eat fish world under the sea but watching them in the tank still has a calming influence.

Weekends in the hospital can be the pits. Actually any time in the hospital is the pits but weekends especially. Half of the rooms in Karen’s module are empty. When I walk the halls from Rotary House to Karen’s room there is no one (well, I pass maybe three people). I’m sure if I were to yell something I would hear an echo.

So, what do you do with someone who is bored out of their socks (Karen) and has been cooped up in their room all week? You go on a field trip of course. I asked Miss Madlyn (Karen’s nurse) if I could take her around the hospital in a wheel chair. She said that would be fine. Miss Madlyn found a stray wheel chair three floors down and brought it back to us. Okay, Karen’s getting excited now. Miss Madlyn disconnected Karen’s IV so we wouldn’t have to pull the IV tree around with us, Karen put on her robe, we tucked her in the chair with a pink quilt (thank you Darlene) and we were off.

As soon as we left Karen’s module I could see Karen’s spirits soar. We took an elevator to the third floor (Karen’s on the 11th) and stopped at a balcony that overlooks a lobby area. There were a few more people in the lobby and we found a grand piano with a volunteer playing some classical tunes. We quickly caught the elevator down to ground level and sat and listened for a bit. The aroma of popcorn was in the air and I bought a box for Karen for 50 cents. She took a few pieces (we felt like sinners) and then quit when we realized it was probably too salty considering the extra work her kidneys are going through right now. We kept the box of popcorn to take back to the room. Karen liked the smell of it.

We moved on after listening for about ten minutes. At the other end of the hospital was the aquarium area. It’s another lobby area with a coffee shop and several aquariums full of fish. We stopped at each aquarium for a few minutes and just watched the fish. We recalled another aquarium from another building where we had watched one particular fish bully the others around. After watching for a few minutes we headed back to the room. On the way back we slowly went by the cafeteria. I think I found where all the people are. It took us a few minutes to get back to the room. Karen’s spirits were definitely up. I think I’ll do this again with her tomorrow.

At the time of this writing we are still waiting to hear how Karen’s Creatine Kinase levels are doing. We are praying and hoping for the best. Dr. Ross was in to see Karen early this AM and commented on how he thought the swelling had gone down some. Believe me, we like hearing positive things and hang onto every word. Karen wants me to report to you that she is feeling much better today. She says she is glad she had the procedure done. It wasn’t fun but she’s ready to move on.

We thank God for all of you. Karen and I know you are praying and we appreciate your support so much. We (Karen and I) ask that God richly bless all of you.

Ken (for both of us)

P.S. Karen's Creatine Kinase levels came in. They rose again to 6700+. Please pray with us that the levels will turn around and start dropping.