Colin the Caterpillar

Hello

My name is Colin the Caterpillar and I've just got back from an adventure with Becky. Becky works at the chiropractic clinic which Eloise the Elephant visited as part of her adventure, and said I could spend some time with her. I jumped at the chance, because I'd been wondering about some things that I thought a clinic specialising in bones might be able to help me with…

I'm different from the other animals and I'm not sure why. I don't have legs or a tail. I'm pretty small in comparison, and I don't walk or run, I kind of scuttle and crawl. I don't even slither on my stomach like a snake does, my back kind of arches and I slide along. I haven't met another Caterpillar before so what if I'm getting around wrong?!

Becky was really nice and said she could look into it for me to reassure me. So first up she did a physical examination and gave me a bit of a massage because I was feeling stressed.

She thought about it a little while and said she'd better order an x-ray to be sure.

It wasn't remotely scary, all I had to do was stand in front of the board and stay very still. Becky clicked some buttons and it was done! Once the X-ray was over, I had to wait a few minutes for the computer to upload the results. A junior doctor came in to ask me some questions…

…but Becky asked him to leave because he didn't specialise in Caterpillars and was making me more stressed. She suggested I played with some toys instead in the waiting area. This was much more fun!

Becky showed me what most humans and animals look like on an X-ray.

The white bits are the bones. She said I didn't have any white bits on my X-ray because I don't have bones. How can I not have bones?! Becky said that caterpillars are different from most animals because when they grow up, they transform completely into a butterfly. And once that happens, I wouldn't scuttle and crawl anymore, I'd have wings so I'd be able to fly. I asked her how long until I became a butterfly and she said she wasn't sure but she could measure my height and posture and see if I was getting to be the right size.

Not quite ready yet, but soon I'd be preparing to go to sleep for a little while in a chrysalis, which is like a protective shell, and then once that had happened I'd wake up as a butterfly.

I still was feeling a bit sad that I was so different from the other animals. They can all go much faster than me and play together. Becky said I didn't want to be exactly the same as other animals anyway, she said it's good to be different and have my own things which I'm good at. She had a point- I'm really good at climbing trees, and because I'm small, I can wiggle into places other animals can't get into. Plus I'm really good at doing the worm dance move. Becky said I'd be able to do all those things and more when I become a butterfly. I still wasn't convinced until she introduced me to Bryony the Butterfly for a chat.

Becky and Bryony reassured me and gave me a trophy for being so brave.

I learnt a lot about what happens to caterpillars when they become butterflies on my adventure. I'm hoping to go on many adventures both as a caterpillar and a butterfly!

Brooke the Bee: Out With Lottie

Hello

After my first adventure, I headed off to meet my new friend, Lottie. Lottie is 4 years old and one of the Post Pals, meaning she has to spend a lot of time either in hospital or going to appointments. Today she had to go for an immunotherapy appointment. I had no idea what such a long word meant, but Lottie explained it was to do with her body fighting her neuroblastoma cancer.

I was a bit worried about going to the hospital because it’s so huge, but Lottie showed me around. First up, we both needed chest X-rays, which takes a picture of the inside of your body so the Doctors can see what’s going on. I was a bit frightened of the machines, but Lottie taught me how to be brave and I had my X-ray. It wasn’t anywhere near as scary as I thought!

Then she introduced me to some of her fishy friends in the waiting room!

I didn’t want to get too close, because bees don’t like getting wet, so Lottie held me close to the tank so I could see.

I think I liked the orange ones the best because they were really quick swimmers. I’ve had a great time meeting Lottie, and I was glad I could keep her company when she needed to go to her appointment. I wonder what we’ll get up to next!

Photos shared with permission from Mum. 

Eloise the Elephant

Hello

My name is Eloise the Elephant and I was very honoured to be handpicked by Dr Bex to help her in her chiropractic clinic. I’m the first animal from Out With Animals to be offered a temporary job as part of my adventure- no pressure! 

I had a tour of the clinic when I first arrived. This was a really good thing because I actually realised I didn’t know what a chiropractor does!

 Dr Bex said everyone thinks chiropractors are a bit scary sounding because they work with bones and sometimes they make cracking noises. She said that’s why you have to become a doctor because you have to know lots about the human body and how it works, not just to do with the bones! 

It’s not as scary as going to the GP surgery because the clinic feels a bit like going to someone’s house rather than a medical place- there’s always some music playing and the reception staff offer to make you a drink. They’ve also got some cool equipment in the clinic, like an X-ray machine. It means they can make sure nothing’s broken before starting work.

First up, we had to check who the patients were for the day. 

Then Dr Bex said she would adjust and treat me so that I knew what it would feel like for the patients.

I have to say I was a bit scared at first. And I’m a healthy elephant- I always take my mud baths and eat my leaves. But afterwards I felt like everything moved a lot better. Dr Bex said that’s because our bodies get used to moving in funny ways and sometimes they need a bit of help running smoothly again. 

I felt like I was ready to see some patients now. But Dr Bex said she needed me to do some reading about some of the different bones first. They’ve all got funny names from a language called Latin. 

Dr Bex found a model to help me. This was much easier to understand!



Finally I was ready to see my first patient! Obviously I’d only been learning about bones for a morning, so I wasn’t allowed to do much- Dr Bex had to train for years- but I was allowed to help with this lady’s back because I’d been studying spines.

She said she was pretty impressed with my work but I was a little bit clumsy. She had a point- my trunk kept getting in the way! 

It was time for our tea break so I spent it with some of the other animal volunteers who help out there. They told me that it’s not just people who are in pain who come to the clinic, people come for an appointment to keep healthy and to avoid pain in the future. 

I assumed that all of the patients that came to the chiropractor clinic would be adults so I was really surprised when our next patients arrived!

Mr Bear usually helps Dr Bex treat children so we both helped her out. I asked them if they made sure they had their mud baths and ate all of their leaves like me, but they said humans don’t do any of that! 

Our next patient was also a child. I jumped up and scared him when he was lying on his tummy! 

Except he laughed so much I nearly fell off the treatment bench! 

We’d seen all of our patients in clinic so I thought we’d be able to go home. Dr Bex laughed and said that she had to make sure all of her clinic notes were up to date and she had some paperwork to do.

She said that I could chill out for a bit though, because I’d worked so hard.

Finally we were able to go home! I was really tired after all the hard work so I curled up with Dr Bex’s cat.

I really enjoyed working at the chiropractic clinic because I got to learn about some of the bones and the way our bodies work. It was also fun seeing lots of different patients and feeling like we were helping them have healthy lifestyles. Thank you very much to Dr Bex and the other staff at the clinic who made me so welcome and I’m looking forward to having more adventures very soon!