Life Behind the Green Door: Time Spent at the Hospital With a Sick Grandchild
I’ve stared at this door multiple times over the last seven years
This is an interesting door. I’ve stared at it for the past seven years, sometimes for as long as six weeks. It never changes.
On the other side are teams of nurses, doctors, and personnel dedicated to pediatric transplants and children with serious illnesses.
The door is one of many. Used as the entry and exit to patient rooms at the local children’s hospital.
My grandson and I are frequent visitors, with him having spent close to three hundred days hospitalized over the last seven years.
We stay one night or as long as two weeks when admitted. I am always prepared for the long run, keeping a backpack ready with a few changes of clothes, medications, a spare laptop, a few books, and a collection of charging cables.
The story behind all this is my grandson has end-stage renal disease, aka chronic kidney disease. He is currently waiting for a transplant. In the meantime, he is on dialysis, a lifesaving procedure.
Because he is a minor, his dialysis is administered at Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston and requires a parent or guardian to be with him. His…
