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Tuesday morning. Hospital Day! 5:30 am Wake up, and get ready to go to the Hospital. We will leave the hotel before 7:00 am 6:45 am Van departs hotel for hospital. We all pile back into the van for the shortest part of our journey -- the trip from the hotel to the Hospital. Cross the Red River for the first time today, back into Shreveport. 7:00 am Arrive at the Hospital on King's Highway. Tuesdays are regular clinic days, but some days of each month are reserved for CP cases (Cerebral Palsy) only, others are for back cases and spinal cord injuries. Cleft palette clinic is also scheduled, and they have "state day" for children who are "local" (a two hour drive or less to the Hospital) Mondays are for surgery; Fridays are for Hospital admissions and pre-surgical testing, but any day of the week that a Shriner's patient needs care, they can come in. We have arrived at the Hospital with less than 12 hours notice in several cases, and have always been cheerfully worked into whatever the days schedule is. When we arrive at the Hospital, everyone goes inside and signs in at the Clinic desk, and gets hospital ID bracelets (for the kids) or badges (for the parents), and then we go across a huge beautiful multi-purpose atrium to the cafeteria to eat. The Hospital Cafeteria is non-profit, so Emily and I each feast on bacon, eggs, hash brown potatoes, biscuits, juice, and coffee (for me) for $3.49! The food is excellent, and we get to see (and hug!) some of our friends who have been working there since before we starting going to the Hospital almost 9 years ago. It's a really nice way to start the day! 7:30 am Back to the Clinic waiting rooms. After breakfast, we go back over to the "clinic side", where there is a huge waiting area/lobby/playroom for the children to run around and play in. The Hospital is kept so clean that even though Emily will spend most of her time here in "sock feet", her socks don't show any dirt when we leave in the afternoon. Every night, all the carpets in the Hospital are cleaned with a special machine, and the hard floors are scrubbed and polished until they sparkle. Until they call her back to the scales to be weighed and measured, (every child is weighed and measured at least once per year to insure that they are growing as they should) Emily will play with her new friends from the van and the hotel, provided that she has done all her homework we brought from school. After scales, we typically go to x-ray, and then she plays some more until it is time to see the doctor, followed by a visit to Orthotics & Prosthetics, across the way to Physical Therapy, and finally back to Orthotics & Prosthetics to pick up shoes, orthotics, and/or braces if they are ready. Between seeing doctors and going to the different departments (and meeting with nurse practitioners and family-life councilors and patient-care coordinators) we typically hang out in the playroom, watching Disney movies on the TV. The staff at the Hospital is simply incredible! In all the times we have gone to the Hospital, and all the hours (and hours, and hours, and hours...) we have spent there, I have never once seen anyone who works there be grumpy, or distracted, or "have a bad day". As always, they are cheerful, focused, loving, sweet, kind, compassionate, and friendly. There is no pity allowed here ever -- those children who come thinking that they won't have to work on their recovery are quickly (but gently) taught otherwise. Most of the people we see and work with at the Hospital (probably 90%) have been there since before we started going to the Hospital almost 9 years ago -- so they have seen Emily grow up, and so as we move through the Hospital, we are often stopped for hugs, and a round of "How are you doing?" and "You've grown so much"! The Hospital is also a teaching hospital, (as well as a research facility) and so we are accustomed to meeting residents and interns from the LSU med school also. Probably one of the things I like the best about the staff's attitude is that each child is taken on his/her own merits, and their progress is their own. Emily certainly isn't the "worst off" child here, (but certainly not the "best off" either) yet the staff still takes her problems seriously, and keeps them in perspective. She won't be compared to the double amputee in the next room; nor will she be compared to a "normal" child. The goals for her care and progress are reasonable, and custom-tailored for what is actually achievable by her. The staff accepts her limitations, and incorporates them into her treatment plan. It is amazing that at birth we were told that Emily would never be able to walk, but because of the efforts of everyone at the Hospital, she does so well today! (This next section assumes that everyone is done and we are all back on the van by 10:00 am, otherwise adjust time table accordingly) 10:00 am depart Shreveport for Tulsa After all of the kids are done and have been released, our drivers round us all up, and we head back for Tulsa. There have been a few times when we have been at the Hospital until at least 3:00 pm -- if a patient needs to see the hand specialist, who flies into Shreveport. The specialist typically won't arrive at the Hospital until 1:00 pm, so it may be nearly midnight before we arrive home in that case. 10:30 am Cross state line from Louisiana back to Texas 11:45 am Jefferson, Tx. Stop at corner Texaco station, and head west on 412, back across northern Texas 2:15 pm Paris, TX. Stop for late lunch. Most of the children have slept the entire trip so far, some will sleep for the rest of the way back to Tulsa. The van is almost always much quieter on the return trip! 3:00 pm Back on the road, headed north from Paris, TX toward the state line, and the Red River 3:30 pm Cross back over the Red River for the second time today, and the final time this trip. Back in Oklahoma! 4:30 pm Bathroom break at the McDonald's at the south end of the Indian Nations Turnpike. We are approximately 30 miles north of Hugo, Oklahoma. 5:30 pm Bathroom break/phone home/rest stop at the McDonald's at the north end of the Indian Nations Turnpike. From here, van riders call to notify family members of our approximate return time to the Akdar Shrine Center in Tulsa. Grandpa will pick us up in Tulsa, and take us home, and that means we didn't have to leave our car in the parking lot overnight. 7:00 pm Akdar Shrine Center, Tulsa. 7:30 pm Home. Total "seat time" in the van on an average trip: 15 hours in 2 days. Total mileage driven during 2 day trip: 864 miles Typical cost to travel to the Hospital with the Shriners: $50 for meals (for 2 people) Typical benefit to the patient: priceless... 
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