While I won’t name names, a certain little boy just won’t quit growing! Not only is he outgrowing clothes at a faster pace than we had ever anticipated, but he is also outgrowing his orthotics just as quick.

Rather than helping with his hand and wrist placement, HG’s hand splints were starting to push against his hands. They had started pushing in his pinky fingers where they were going in towards and under his ring fingers. With over a month before our next appointment at Greenville Shriners, they were just not going to last. Honestly, we probably kept them on him longer than we should have.

We reached out to Greenville and they were more than happy to have us in before our next appointment. However, we also considered a revisit to Lexington Shriners was on the table.

I’m not shy when it comes to my disappointment and displeasure with the Shriners in Lexington. However, the 1-hour drive to Lexington versus our 5-hour drive to Greenville means they’re more convenient when in a pinch. Making some new hand splints seemed like a reasonable thing that we could try.

Really, being able to run up to Lexington if we needed an orthotic adjustment would be the best thing ever for us. With both being Shriners Hospitals, you’d think that there would be some level of commonality or working together for the betterment of a child.

You’d think that, wouldn’t you?

You’d probably also think I’d be a bit more professional, but frankly, I don’t feel like it.

Sure, I could pick my words carefully. I would write an elaborate and colorful piece talking about our return visit to Lexington Shriners, but ya know what? I’m not gonna!

Our last visit to Lexington Shriners was when we met the OT Sara, who created HG’s very first set of splints. We met with Sara again this visit, and really the finesse and care I felt we received from her before, was absent this time around.

I don’t know if we’ve just been spoiled by Greenville, or if Lexington has sour feelings towards us because we chose to go to Greenville. I can’t speak to what it was, or why things felt different. I can say we walked out of there with new splints and a feeling that we had wasted our time.

In fact, it took us longer just to get a reply from Lexington Shriners and to get an appointment than it would have been to go to Greenville and be seen because Greenville was willing to see us the next day when we first reached out to them.

So lesson learned; never again. Lexington Shriners is just not for us.

Not when it comes to the best care and treatment for our son and his arthrogryposis.

A disappointing lesson, but a lesson that needed to be learned all the same. Now we know