L. turned four a couple weeks ago. Fun!

L. had his 4-year doctor visit this week, complete with four shots. Most definitely not fun.

He asked me a couple days ago, “Will I get shots at the doctor’s?”

Not wanting to mislead him, I told him that yes, I thought he might have to get a couple.

Next question: “Will the shots hurt?”

Hm… How does a good mom answer that? I wanted to walk the fine line between not frightening him while at the same time being honest.

I went with brief. And with bribery.

“Well, yes, they might hurt a bit, but I know you are a very brave boy, and I think that after you get the shots, you might get some M&M’s.”

He seemed content with that answer.

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L.’s well-visit is not the only time we’ve been at a doctor’s office recently. My poor mom has been in the hospital for one thing or another, four times in the last two weeks.

One morning last week, the boys and I took her to the ER. Mom was in major pain. A kidney stone that she knew existed had started moving. And was evidently gigantic.

I’ve never had a kidney stone of any size, and based on the experiences of my husband and my mother, I’d be quite happy to never, ever, ever have one.

My mom claims they’re worse than child birth. And that’s childbirth without epidurals.

C. & L. weren’t quite sure what to think when they saw their normally tough and unflappable Grammy in such pain. They sat quietly in the backseat of the car, and then in the ER, taking it all in.

Mom is fine now, after some pain medication and an ultrasound procedure.

But I didn’t realize what an effect that episode had on L. until we sat in the pediatrician’s office earlier this week…

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Dr. S. walked into the room, greeted L. with a high-five, then shook my hand.  He started to go over L.’s current height/weight stats with me.

But L. had an urgent need to share with the doctor.

He laid down on the crinkly white paper, grimaced, and then said,

“Doctor, I have a problem. There’s a kidney stone in my leg and it really, really hurts.”

Dr. S. just looked at me. Kidney stone? he seemed to be silently asking.

I could have explained everything, but instead, I just did the smile-and-shrug maneuver and changed the subject.

Apparently, L. had been listening to every single word during my mom’s trip to the hospital last week. And he figured he might as well not waste this visit to the pediatrician. Best get that kidney stone checked out right away.

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Unfortunately, though the M&M’s got us through the immediate aftermath of the shots, L.’s had a rough time.  He’s been running a low-grade fever since Monday (a typical side-effect for him), and yesterday, his right leg was very sore.

The poor guy was limping around the house, or sometimes crawling. Occasionally, he’d forget, and start to run (his normal mode of transportation), but the discomfort quickly reminded him that his comments to Dr. S. had been prescient, in a way. It might not be a kidney stone in his leg, but there’s definitely something in there causing pain.

As I tucked him in last night, he assured me that his leg was doing “much better.”  I’m hoping that today, he’s back to his usual bouncy, running, exuberant self.

And I’m hoping that my mom gets a break from doctors’ offices for a while.

Nothing against doctors, but I think we’ve had our fill.