This was his first one and I have
been strictly forbidden from discussing the details in my column so I will
refrain from doing so at this time.
What I will say is that, when we
went to his pediatrician’s office, they did not have his file!
The woman at the desk asked when the
last time was that he had visited and I really struggled to remember.
I am incredibly fortunate that my
children are healthy overall. I know what a blessing this is and, believe me, I
thank God that they rarely get sick and doctor visits usually only involve
either a physical or immunizations.
That’s when I remembered his last
appointment with this doctor was for immunizations! He received the most recent
round of shots at the Health Department for financial reasons because we
weren’t on insurance, so he was about 6 years old the last time he saw this
pediatrician when they were located in their old office.
The funny thing about that visit was
that we were there to get a check-up on his baby sister and she had to get 2 or
3 shots. He asked if he had to get shots and I said, “Not this time.” Then he
requested to sit in the waiting room and watch cartoons so he wouldn’t have to
hear his little sister cry when the nurse stuck her.
After he left, the nurse walked in
and apologized because he was actually due for four shots! I had inadvertently
lied to him, but I still felt bad.
His sister received her
immunizations and I walked to the waiting room and called him over. I said,
“Buddy, I got some good news and some bad news.” He actually asked for the bad
news first.
“You need to get shots today.” His
eyes immediately filled with tears and he sobbed as he asked how many. “Four,”
I said.
“FOUR?” He practically shouted at
me. “What’s the good news?”
My brain raced as I tried to think
of something, but my mind went blank and what came out of my mouth was, “I’m
sorry, I don’t have any good news.”
He cried so comically loud before
the shots were given that the nurses and staff were suppressing giggles as they
walked by the room. It was so dramatic. His baby sister stared at him like he
just fell out of a spaceship from some exotic planet.
In those 6 years, this boy has only
been sick a handful of times. Even when all of us came down with the flu last
Christmas, he was only down for a day.
We don’t do anything special with
him. He eats like a horse and it isn’t all good stuff. The boy can empty a bag
of chips and a bag of apples at approximately the same rate.
As for this visit to the
pediatrician, we figured out that they had been using paper records and they
entered him in as a new patient with the understanding that his information
exists in a box somewhere. He did get a shot for viral meningitis which he
watched enter into his arm and barely changed his expression.
I guess he needed to redeem himself
from the last time.
Hopefully, he won’t need to return
until his next sports physical which he’s already not looking forward to, but
you didn’t hear that from me.
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