Sophie’s Hospital Saga Part II
Ok now for the good part.
The hospital stay was such a pleasant one for Sophie and us. We were really blessed with friends on the base we took us to and fro the doctors and hospital. It’s times like these that I’m so thankful that we live in community.
The nurses and doctors at the pediatric ward were all pediatrics trained in Waikato Hospital, apparently it’s not the case everywhere. We were so worried about Sophie having to receive an IV treatment because she had a real bad experience back home when she needed blood extracted for a test. But we was so surprised that they do it pain free here! They administered a local cream(!) anesthetic. Ya CREAM! Duh why didn’t they do that for Sophie when she needed the blood test when she was a baby! Argh! Anyways, we were really thankful that it was pain free and they even used a teddy bear plaster to cover it up. Sigh… so sweet. When they took out the IV on the last day, they covered it up with a smiley plaster. Sigh… what a comfort.
The best part of the stay was that Sophie got to go to a room ran by a group of Play Specialists. YA! That’s really what they are called – Play Specialists! I would like a job like that! On the first day, Sophie was still confined to the bed so they sent over a tray of craft materials, a box of Duplo and some books. Aiyo, so sweet lah. The next day, Sophie went over to the room with her IV station and did painting, played with Playmobil etc.
Sophie painting in the play room with her good hand, quite a Picasso huh? 
We also met a wonderful Filipino family who shared the nursery room with us. It’s so nice to meet fellow Asians! And we got a taste of amazing Asian hospitality – the family prepared and packed breakfast (rice with luncheon meat and eggs! Shiok!) for us every morning while we were there! Food SO warms our hearts. That really really blessed us. We got to pray for their son who has an acute case of eczema before we left.
Finally the thing that really shocked us – all we needed to pay for was the medicine and it only cost us NZ$3.20. Seriously, I had a shock when the pharmacist told me $3.20. I almost laughed. I learnt about welfare system in school but having experienced it, I’m truly amazed. I know there was pros and cons to any system but being on the receiving end, I must say we are truly blessed.
So all in all, it was quite a scare and I must have broken down crying at least 2 times but God has held us and we have been so blessed. Sophie’s leg is still healing from the blisters and she is still on antibiotics but she’s finally eating well and running around like normal again.