No exceptions!

After Emily was officially diagnosed with Arthritis I started looking into swim lessons.  The Arthritis Foundations recommends swimming as a great exercise for your joints and so I figured if I could bother Emily and her brother deep into swimming early perhaps it would stick with them.  At the very least they would know how to if they decided that was their exercise of choice.

Once she was out of the hospital I began looking for programs.  Anything private or semi-private was out of our budget so I turned to the YMCA.  It's still $50 per child for only four lessons, but that's better then $180.  Emily's brother is at risk for JIA in general because it's probably genetic and he is our child too; besides that we aren't going to leave him out so that doubles the cost of us.  I've tried teaching them on my own, but I don't have access to a warm indoor pool and we all get cold easily in the outdoor pools here so it becomes cold and unpleasant very quickly.

Anyways, I called the local YMCA to see about signing up Emily for some lessons.  The ones for her age group were without parents in the pool and since Emily is still pretty weak I knew she'd need some extra help so I figured it was as simple as telling our story and getting permission to be in the class with her.  No.  It's not allowed. No exceptions.  Not only that, but the Tai Chi class the YMCA has that is sponsored by the Arthritis Foundation is not for anyone under 15.  No exceptions.  In fact the YMCA made absolutely no exceptions at all.  I couldn't get a manager to call me back to talk to me and the only class I could get into the water with Emily was the infant class.  At first I figured that would work out because her brother is only two and would be in it with me, but we ended up paying $100 for one lesson for just Emily where she was completely ignored by the instructor.  It was horrible.

First, Emily was sick with a cold for the first two classes.  I can’t risk getting her sicker when she has a suppressed immune system.  So I thought perhaps they would understand our situation and allow us to reschedule for another class.  No, no exceptions.  Then it turned out the class was during a holiday weekend so there went another class, they just canceled it.  Finally we made it to the last class and it was an epic failure.  Emily's brother refused to even get into his swim suit.  I paid $50 for him to watch class and another $50 for the instructor to ignore Emily.

Emily and I got into the water a little early to try to get her warmed up.  Anyone with arthritis or joint problems knows warming up is important.  Not at the YMCA, that is not allowed.  No exceptions. We had to get out of the pool and wait five minutes for class to begin, wet and cold. Finally class begins and the instructor comes around to each child.  I tried to explain to her why Emily was a five year old in an infant class, all I managed to get in was that Emily has arthritis and is not as strong as other kids her age.  The teacher took Emily from me, sung the ABCs to her, returned Emily to me and then ignore Emily the rest of the class.  Leaving me to try and get Emily to do the kicking and bubbling on my own.  She skipped us each and every time she went around the class after that.  Finally Emily was not enjoying herself and I was beside myself with disgust so we got out and left.  I didn't even change out of my swim suit.  It was a horrible experience to realize that even though you ask for help and seek out things that will help your child there are places where there are no exceptions.