“Julie, This WHOLE Thing is Crazy…” (Blog #19)

Author:  Julie H., Foster Mom

Miss D needed to get her tonsils and adenoids out this past month (related to sinus and hearing issues). We are working with multiple doctors to get her medical issues all sorted out. The night before we had to go to the surgical center, I was on the phone and texting the surgical center manager trying to get the appropriate signatures from parents to be allowed to get the surgery. The state form doesn’t count, we had to get a separate form signed. It’s never easy…let me tell you. There are a million hoops to jump through for medical, psychological, dental, and vision appointments. Some need a parent’s signature, some don’t. I can’t get on “My Chart” because I don’t have the right signatures, so I have to pick up a phone for all appointments, faxes, etc. The receptionists and nurses know me by name because they have to always deal with me through phone calls repeatedly!

Back to the night before the surgery: In the “last hour” we got the parent signature with the intervention of caseworkers and medical providers working together. After I got that last phone call from the medical center manager saying he got the signature he needed, I put the phone down and laid back on the couch exhausted. I looked at my husband and said, “This has been nuts!”. He looked back at me and said “Julie, this WHOLE thing is crazy!”.

Here we are as foster parents, given the responsibility of taking a child (who isn’t technically “ours”) to get a major type of surgery, to take care of her recovery, to be there emotionally for her as she goes through this, and for making sure she is ALIVE. It’s scary for us when it’s our biological children, but now it’s tremendously stressful and frightening when it’s someone else’s child! Think about it. Really think about it. Foster parents are out there in the world taking on the HUGE responsibility of raising a child that isn’t their own. Of course, if someone would ask my husband or me if Miss D was one of our own…we’d hands down say “YES”. We put our hearts and souls into raising her like our own. We strive to give her what she needs and wants and love watching her grow and improve.

In the end, Miss D is doing great! She’s back to school, is singing, is playing volleyball, and is eating those spicy Takis that she is obsessed with.