A Rough and Wonderful Therapy Cat Visit

You are probably wondering about the title of today’s post… how can a therapy cat visit be both rough and wonderful? Well, it sure started out rough! It was on Monday morning, a time slot we don’t often do, and there was nowhere to park! My human drove around for 15 minutes looking for a space. A line of cars snaked out of the parking lot, waiting to get in, so she looked on the street. There was nothing there either. Finally, just before we would have been late, she found a space and hurried us inside.

The first place we usually visit at this particular hospital is Pediatrics. This time, however, nearly all the patients were in isolation, and we couldn’t visit them. And the couple of kids that weren’t in ISO were sleeping or busy with a nurse, so we couldn’t see them either. So we went up a floor to the Skill Nursing section.

We actually saw a patient to visit right in the hallway of Skill Nursing. He was with a nurse, and was really happy to see me! I had a nice time with him, and my human took a photo with the camera the therapy organization gives us… and that was the last photo we took for the rest of the day! The camera ran out of the Poloroid-type film it uses, and when my human put in a new pack, it wouldn’t turn on anymore. She had an extra set of batteries… except when she opened up the bag to get them, they had rotted. (It wasn’t the batteries, anyhow, she later found out.) See what I mean about the visit being rough?

By the time we finished with the Skill Nursing patient and dealing with the camera, it was time to visit Behavioral Medicine. That’s actually the reason why we were doing a Monday visit. It’s the only day this section gets therapy pet visits, and my human likes taking me there every so often. The area is locked down pretty securely, so they have to let us in, and then we sit in a game room, waiting for the nurses to gather the patients. It took an extra long time this visit, but once the patients arrived, it was totally worth the wait. They were all delighted to see me! There a young man who had spent time in prison but was trying to straighten his life out. And a young girl, who really liked me a lot. And some older people, and a woman in a wheelchair who was deaf and mute.

My human explained briefly how I became a therapy cat. She also answered any questions the patients or staff had about me, or therapy pets in general. Then she had me do some of my tricks. That always goes over well! The deaf mute woman wanted me to shake her hand… and I did! That was a totally awesome moment. She was very cool, and I think she and the young girl were my favorite patients of the day. Spending time with these people made all the trouble my human had gone through worthwhile for her.

Me? I thought the whole visit was awesome! After all, I didn’t have to drive or work the camera.

* * *

See all of Summer’s merch at her Designercat Shop, available on Zazzle.