Are You Still With Us?

I used to be really good about getting kids in to see the doctor for their well check ups. Sometimes they even went on their birthday. I know...what a mean mom. Then something happened. I'm not sure what, I just started to get panicky. I would try to get the courage to call the doctor and then I would start imagining all the horrible things that they might be diagnosed with. The older they got, the harder it was to call and make an appointment. Then they started getting old enough to go to scout and young women camps and needed physicals before they could go.

I finally broke down and made appointments. Last week four of my kids had to go to the doctor. What a stressful week! At some point someone had diabetes, anemia, brain tumors, sinus infections, low thyroid, heart trouble, etc. It's getting really hard to think of new diseases for them to have! I might have to start looking things up on the internet. Maybe not, though.

Jared's appointment was scheduled first. I went to pick him up from school, and they told me he had just gone into some new standardized test. I asked if it was a mandatory test, they told me it was, so I left him at school. It's amazing how sick a kid can get in my imagination. I figured that since he had a field trip the next day he was given a reprieve so that he could enjoy his last trip before duh...duh...duh...the illness.

Emily and Carson had appointments at the same time. Carson wanted to go first because he loves to get his blood pressure checked. Well, until it starts to "hug" his arm. Then he says "ow, ow, ow" and starts to squirm. It was time for him to have his complete blood work done so we had to draw blood. So sad! He told the nurse to "bop" (stop). She told him how brave he was and gave him two stickers. I had to wait 4 days for the results, but he is healthy as can be. I came away with referrals to a pediatric ENT, cardiologist, dentist, and optometrist. Oh the stress!

Emily was next. It was time for her to get immunizations. She isn't too fond of needles so she wasn't happy. She didn't even notice the first one. The doctor wanted to get diabetes testing done. More blood work to do, but she had to be fasting so we had to go back later for that. Three days later I got her results. No diabetes. Hooray...we can still eat M&Ms. A good mother would start a healthy eating plan, but not me...ice cream for everyone!

Kinsey had her appointment a few days later. She finally grew...yay! She has been very tired lately so I figured she was anemic. The doctor said "well we can certainly check her for it". Kinsey said "no, no, no". The doctor said "don't worry it's just a finger prick test". Then Kinsey had to get a finger prick and immunizations. The one that has paralyzed a few girls. Was I worried? Of course! We got the results of Kinsey's test a few days later. Is she anemic? Nope...just the going-to-midnight-every-night-and-waking-up-at-six-every-morning disease. Plus, she isn't paralyzed!

We got Jared an appointment a few days after his first appointment. By this time, I was so stressed that Gary took the day off and took him to his appointment. He has been getting headaches lately. I was sure he had a brain tumor. Nope...just allergies and sinus trouble. He had to get his 7th grade shots, but no blood work. I didn't even read what he could have gotten from the shots. Turns out it was not the universe giving us a few extra days to enjoy life without a horrible illness, it was just a school test. Boy, what a relief!!

Funny story...we took Kinsey back to get her finger prick and the nurse starts to tie up her arm. Kinsey turns white and tells the lady it's just supposed to be a finger prick. The nurse tells her that finger pricks hurt worse so she will just draw blood. Kinsey gets the panicked look (she's a lot like her mom...sorry Kinsey), but decides to do that. I tell her to look away and the nurse tells her how wonderful it will be. Like a walk in the park. Well it was a painful walk in the park, but the nurse was oblivious. She says "now there, that wasn't so bad right? Are you still with us?" Then she starts waving the blood vial in Kinsey's face and says this is your blood! Kinsey looks like she's going to puke and I'm not feeling much better. We practically ran out of there.

As we get to the door, I start laughing. Kinsey's offended that I am enjoying her pain so much. Only someone like us would get a nurse that takes pleasure in taking someone's blood, sees that we are a bit queasy and then waves the blood in our faces. Yeah...that's not really helping lady!

So...a stressful week ends. Everyone is healthy. Yay!! Now we have to start making dental appointments. Boo!!! I wonder if anyone has mouth cancer? That's a bad one, you know!!