Children who are on ventilators often require CPT (chest percussive therapy) and rib mobilization, which involves deliberately manipulating to create movement in the rib cage and chest to keep secretions from pooling in the lungs. That means hands-on spreading of the rib cage and deliberate massaging of the chest cavity, a bony area. It can be uncomfortable. To finish off our routine, I make a big deal of calling upon a personal and special friend of mine. You may have heard of Sesame Street’s Cookie Monster, but you may not have heard of this guy, the next-generation superhero…Tickle Monster!
Tickle Monster’s impending arrival is announced with “Uh-oh, guess who is coming?” Or perhaps, “I’m going to call that Tickle Monster and tell him you are sassy and he’s going to come and get you!” When the Tickle Monster arrives, he crawls up your toes to your legs and from your legs up to your tummy, and then around your chest to tickle your ribs and back. Sometimes there are two Tickle Monsters and they gang up on you—one on each side of your ribs! Tickle Monster is relentless in his quest to tickle someone to giggles!
Tickle Monsters are elusive creatures. You never know when one may show up! Tickle Monsters are always on the lookout for reasons to visit and will show up if you don’t want wear your splints, if you refuse to do your Shimmy Cocoa Bops, if you answer “no” to everything or if you are a “Stinker-Belle” making mischief with your nurses by trying to distract or tease them out of doing your exercises—with your disarming charm and smile. And Tickle Monsters show no mercy.
*Maddie is her real name. This story, originally disguised, is told using actual names by request and with permission from the family, who live in Manitowoc, Wis. Madison and her older sister, Sarah, have SMA (spinal muscular atrophy), a rare genetic disease that requires them to be permanently on a ventilator to breathe. Most SMA kids don’t live beyond age two. Maddie and Sarah are a testament to parents determined to have quality of life for their handicapped children and to their case nurses. This story won first place in the annual Curtis Brown short story competition 2008 in its original form. It is reprinted with permission.
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