I just finally got Saturday’s mail, and there was a lovey little thank you note from Cookie’s case worker in the mailbox. 
No case worker has ever sent us a thank you note before. We already liked Cookie’s case worker, but now I REALLY like her. I feel… appreciated. And that’s rare in foster care!
That said, we do have a doctor at the medical center that we have to take our kids to who appreciates us, and who expresses his appreciation, too. We love the guy.
It started off as a rocky relationship. We had to argue with this doctor, respectfully, several times in order to get things we knew kids who were with us needed. The biggest fight was to get a prescription for hypoallergenic formula for Mouse. He didn’t believe us that her projectile vomiting and failure to thrive were food allergy driven (she also had a brain injury that could have been causing the symptoms) until we proved it by paying for the super expensive formula out of pocket. Lo and behold, the vomiting, crying, and failure to thrive went away.
We got our script.
We completely sealed the deal with regard to this doctor’s respect for us with Sprout though. She was sooooo sick when she came to us. Like Mouse she was also failure to thrive, but unlike Mouse she was anorexic and simply would not eat or drink. We managed to keep her out of the hospital and off a feeding tube by sheer force of will and hard labor. We weighed diapers and fed her pediasure with a medicine syringe a milliliter at a time around the clock for weeks. And slowly, slowly, slowly she came around and started eating on her own again.
Not only did we earn his respect, but he has earned ours too. He has worked his tail off for our kids. He started the incredible clinic we take the kids to because he believed kids in foster care deserved coordinated, specialized care that recognizes the issues kids in care face.
To have someone like him, for whom we have a great deal of respect, say “thank you for what you’re doing” and mean it? That goes a long way to make up for the frustrations we face when we advocate for kids in our care and face road blocks because of red tape, and an overwhelmed and underfunded system. It helps keep us going.
sprinklesonachaoscupcake.com 