15 August 2017
The difference we make: Eden-Rose's Story
Five-year-old Eden-Rose is a regular patient on the children’s day care ward at Leeds General Infirmary. Ness, Eden-Rose’s mum, shared with us that her daughter often has monotonous and distressing hospital experiences where she will sometimes have to fast for twelve hours or more and wait for hours at a time for surgery. However, Giggle Doctors have provided Eden-Rose and Ness with a welcome escape through laughter and play, so Eden-Rose now only wants her hospital appointments to be on days when the Giggle Doctors are there! Below is Ness and Eden-Rose’s story:
“Eden-Rose first met the Giggle Doctors when she was extremely frustrated and hungry after her surgery had been delayed from the morning till the afternoon, and she hadn’t eaten since midnight the night before. Two of the Giggle Doctors came in and just completely changed her mood from being fed-up and about to kick off to being really happy and having a good time! I was so thankful that they turned up at just the right time to preoccupy her.
For a child that’s constantly in hospital keeping a happy environment is the most important thing. I particularly push for keeping her involved and part of the decision making. Eden-Rose is in and out of hospital all the time, she’s constantly having multiple operations and probably will do throughout her life, so keeping everything really pleasant is important. As soon as she has a bad experience, that’s it, it cannot be erased. So we always try and ensure she’s happy and we make things play-based so that she understands everything.
As parents, we can sometimes become Eden-Rose’s worst enemies. We try to promise her things to keep her happy but the situation does change, so we can’t always keep those promises. For example Eden-Rose doesn’t like cannulas (a thin tube inserted into the body to administer medication or drain off fluid), so we will promise her there’ll be no cannulas until she’s put to sleep. Sometimes there’ll be complications, maybe if she’s too dehydrated she’ll need a cannula while she’s still awake. Then we’re just the ‘baddies’ and I can’t make her smile after that. As much as we try to be the ‘goodies’, sometimes as parents it’s not always possible. Eden-Rose doesn’t always want to be our friend after we’ve broken a promise like that, we do want to play with her and cheer her up but sometimes it’s a losing battle.
Luckily, the ward Eden-Rose is on does have a fantastic play team, but as it is a large ward she doesn’t always get too much time with them. It’s great having extra people like the Giggle Doctors, as it really breaks up the day and gives Eden-Rose something to look forward to. Eden-Rose’s favourite moment was when she had a Sleeping Beauty doll with her and the Giggle Doctors said, ‘Who’s that? Is that Sleeping Beauty?’, and every time she said ‘Sleeping Beauty’ one of the Giggle Doctors fell asleep and she would have to try and wake them up! Then Eden-Rose got really into it and started falling asleep when they said ‘Sleeping Beauty’! It was a really sweet moment, everybody was watching Eden-Rose and it really just captured everyone’s imagination. She had a fantastic time, her and the Giggle Doctors.
Giggle Doctor visits definitely have a lasting impact for Eden-Rose. The first thing she mentioned was going back to the hospital whenever the Giggle Doctors would be there. Normally she doesn’t remember moments too well, generally only remembering what’s happened yesterday, but she’s definitely remembered the Giggle Doctors. Overall it was just lovely how they involved everyone else around Eden-Rose and talked to them. Even the way that they left Eden-Rose to go and see other children was really well explained; they sang a song to leave and were lovely so Eden-Rose didn’t feel like they’d just up and left. Instead she felt like she was helping them go and help other children. They were just fantastic.”