My Memories of Yale-New Haven Children's Hospital

While having a diagnostic test at Yale-New Haven Children’s Hospital, I recently met a nurse who vividly remembered the day I was born over 13 years ago. She recalled that the Newborn Special Care Unit was already pretty busy, and when I showed up, it got a little more hectic. I was born with multiple birth defects and was quickly whisked into the Unit in critical and unstable condition. Fortunately I don’t remember anything of that day. And I don’t remember much about the 22 operations I’ve been through, but my Mom and Dad are full of stories of scary moments made bearable by caring nurses and doctors. They say they could never have taken me home at all without the encouragement and handholding the hospital staff provided.

One of my first memories of Yale-New Haven Children’s Hospital is how much my stomach hurt after a surgery when I was four. My older sister had come to visit and was trying to cheer me up with jokes, probably about bathroom humor. Each time I laughed, my abdomen hurt more. One of the nurses had the clever idea of showing me how to hug a teddy bear tightly against my stomach so that it wouldn’t hurt so much whenever I laughed.

What comes to my mind the most when I think of Yale-New Haven Children’s Hospital is the Pouch Patrol, a support group for children with an ostomy or continence issues. The group has been meeting at the Yale-New Haven for almost five years and is organized by pediatric surgical nurses and child life specialists. I was about eight years old the first time I went to the group and still a bit angry about a big surgery I had when I was seven. I was also feeling annoyed about the special medical procedures I have to do at home every day. So you can imagine how exciting it was to meet other kids who had similar birth defects and had been through similar experiences. It was the first time I felt like I wasn’t the only one to go through this. At Pouch Patrol meetings we play games, do crafts, and talk. Sometimes we visit different areas of the hospital like the operating room or diagnostic imaging where X-Rays and special tests are done. Once we visited one of the kids in the group who happened to be in the hospital for a surgery. The meetings are a lot of fun, but they’re special to me because I’ve made new friends who can understand my feelings. I’ve become good friends with a girl who is about my age and has some of the same medical issues as I do. We even get together outside the Pouch Patrol from time to time even though we live about an hour apart. I’m grateful for the Pouch Patrol and the nurses and child life specialists who make it possible.

Laura Titrud
Fairfield, CT