My Sunshine

As an active family of climbers, explorers, and goof-offs, we have been remarkably lucky to have had very few extra visits to the doctor over the years with our kids. Maybe we should have gone in for a few bumps here and there, but things have always been just fine. So when Oliver got out of the shower the other night and we noticed a largish bump protruding out of his little groin area, I immediately thought - hernia. Guess what? I didn't even need to go to medical school for that diagnosis, because I was right!

The on-call doctor thought that that's what it sounded like over the phone, but recommended that Ollie go to the urgent care clinic just in case it might be serious. Great. Right at bedtime on a school night. Poor baby! I stayed home with our daughter so she could get some sleep, and off they went with my baby in his jammies to see what was up. That hernia thought it would play hide-and-seek, because by the time they got him onto an exam table, it had jumped back into his body! Hilarious, but based on my fresh internet education on hernias, I knew it might try that.

I took him in to see his pediatrician the next day, and Oliver surprised me by saying, "Can't I just go to school? I really want to go to school! Mama, I think they're having snack right now!" Sorry buddy. She confirmed our suspicions, but made me feel a little bit better by saying, "It's not an emergency." Then she made me feel worse again by telling me that the next person I'd need to talk to was a pediatric surgeon. My baby needs surgery!! Oh my.

I'm thanking my lucky stars that we are not in a much worse situation, of course. Everyone I've talked to about this has said that it's a very routine procedure, and that these doctors can do this kind of surgery while blindfolded, and playing Scrabble on their iPhones. Fantastic.

But I'm imagining the moment when I have to let go of his little hand and they wheel him away from me to cut. him. open. Yep, still not cool with that part. At least I know a few moms who have gone through it, and they've told me that it's no biggie. Ok, that's not what they said, but I'm trying to cope by focusing on the fact that I know their sons, they lived through it, can still walk, cough, and laugh out loud while blindfolded, and playing Scrabble on their mom's iPhones. Sheesh.