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Our five year old had his five year check up last week and as always WIFE made this a family event. I hate going to the doctor with the kids for check ups, I am the soft one, I cry almost as much as they do when they get shots. The baby is the one who truly breaks my heart, because he is so happy and then boom a shot in his leg, his sweet chunky leg and before you know it we are both sobbing. Hate it.
Anyway, as Dr. Vip from Glenbrook Pediactrics examined our son, he was doing the usual Q&A about his diet, sleep patterns, alcohol intake and on and on. When we got through his series of questions, he asked us “do you have any questions?”
WIFE’s eyes and mine met and I could feel the tension go up in the room. That’s the thing about going to the doctors office, if you ask a question about something that may be potentially wrong with your kid, you just may get the answer you don’t want to hear, an answer that may change all of your lives.
Our son was born with a hearing impairment, when he was about a year old he had surgery to correct it. Since that time, he has always had an eversion to loud sounds and the things that go along with it, big crowds etc. He gets very tense and tends to shut down in those situations.
We had discussed what it might be, quietly, almost feeling guilty, but now here we were in the doctors office, waiting to hear “those words” autism. I was ready and knew that whatever the big banana in the sky threw at us, we would be able to deal with it and make the most of it.
As we told the doctor the story, slowly and carefully, he listened and then looked at us and said the words we never thought we would hear “Relax, he’s fine. Truly who does like really loud noises or big crowds when you are three feet tall. Some kids like it less than others, but when you think about it, it’s loud, scary and really no fun for him.”
I was floored! Then I found myself questioning the doctor, because my zero minutes of medical training were kicking in. “Are you sure it’s not a form of autism? He really hates loud noises?”
“So do I” said the doctor. He told us that our son shows none of the signs of being autistic, but he/we would keep an eye on it. He went on to tell us that sometimes the best explanation is common sense, it’s always best to ask “the questions” but also know that sometimes the simplest explanation is truly the best one.
It made me think of the movie Hotel Transylvania and a scene where Adam Sandler-Dracula and Andy Samberg- a human are arguing. Samberg’s character is grilling Dracula about vampire habits, when he asks him about the steak through the heart killing vampires, Sandler’s character, Dracula answers “of course it would kill me, it would kill anybody, duh!”
In the 119 years I have been alive on this earth, it was the best answer to any vampire type thing I have ever heard and the smartest line in an Adam Sandler movie, not that there are a lot to choose from.
The point is Dracula was right, our doctor was right, Adam Sandler was right! As parents we immediately go to the worst case scenario with our kids, which is natural, but sometimes, it’s better to take a breath, view the situation and understand that to a kid a lot of the things they see in this world are new, exciting colorful, big and yes at times scary.
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