Screaming Penguin - Source Does Matter

It's great that Children's Healthcare of Atlanta has finally signed up. I e-mailed with them a couple of years ago and corresponded with one of their fundraising directors and the Child's Play contact person, but nothing seemed to come of it at the time. So it's great to see that CHOA has finally gotten themselves signed up.

I don't imagine most people have any idea how grueling a long hospital stay is. Keagan's third surgery had us at Egleston for three weeks (at least one parent needs to be there 24/7; we traded off trips home every other day for clothes and mail), and it was hard on everyone... not just because of the physical nature of everything and the overwhelming medication he was on, but also the boredom of passing day after day with nowhere to go, little do do, the impossibility of sleeping when automated medical dispenser alarms go off every 45 minutes (and it takes a nurse 10 minutes to come and turn the damn thing off), the futility of day after day of not getting discharged, when you start thinking you should just sell the fucking house and move into the hospital.

So any little bit of help for kids and parents enduring long stays at hospitals is going to be welcomed and treasured far more than I think you can imagine. On our last stay, in 2004, there was a single Nintendo 64 on a cart that could be wheeled from room-to-room on the "step down" floor. It's nice to know that in a few months, we can upgrade the kids and families there to XBox 360s, Wiis, and DSes. That'll help a lot of kids, young and old, better endure their stays.

So yeah, we're going to be kicking in for a bunch of items from the list.