Hear no Evil

This afternoon I took Brandon to his regular appointment at the ENT.  Our little guy is just 5 years old but it's amazing how much his little brain can process.  This morning he overhead me telling Jim that I would be taking him to his appointment this afternoon and immediately I could see his blood pressure rising.  He even went as far as to tell me I should have told him about the appointment AFTER school instead of BEFORE because now it's in his head all day.  I reminded him that I was telling Dad and not him, but responded with, "Well, I heard you so..."  And the day begins.

As background, the reason Brandon even has a regular ENT appointment is because two years ago, right before Christmas he failed his hearing test at school.  This lead to appointments and the realization that as a 3 year old he wasn't just ignoring us and wasn't trying to be funny (although it kind of was in retrospect) when he's answer Huh? to every question we asked.  The kid couldn't hear and it was because his ears were full of goop (pardon the clinical term).  We quickly learned he'd have to have tubes put in both ears.  Not a big deal, happens to lots of kids, but we felt bad we hadn't realized it earlier.  My impression of kids who need tubes are those that constantly get ear infections and have perma-boog on their noses all the time.  That wasn't Brandon.  I could count on one hand the number of ear infections he'd had in his short life.  He really wasn't ever sick.  The poor kid just had the hearing of a 90 year old.  Huh?

He got his tubes, quick little outpatient procedure, and on the way home his little 3 year old voice said from the back seat, "Mom, I'm hearing."  That was the best news and how quickly the surgery seemed to work.  He then proceeded to throw up from the anesthesia which wasn't quite the best news.  Quick recovery and immediately his hearing and speech seemed to progress.

Fast forward to the next Christmas.  Take him to the ENT and get the news that one tube is clogged and the recommendation is to replace both.  Not only was it the 2nd Christmas, well Advent really, that he would have to go to the hospital.  This time, he remembered and knew he wasn't interested in attending this event.  The day of the surgery he even told me point blank donning his little hospital gown that he was NOT going to do it.  "Nope, I'm not doing it" as he turned and flushed the toilet with authority.  Well, he did do it, and it did work, and he did throw up that day from the anesthesia.

So now any time we mention Dr. Desai, who is the sweetest little man with a fabulous accent and a gentle way with children and even wears one of those big magnifying lights on his head which I find quite entertaining - Brandon immediately associates a trip to see Dr. Desai with another possible trip to the hospital, post anesthesia stress, poking in his ears and sometimes up his nose.  He hates it and it makes him quite anxious.  It made me think about how much we all take in over time and how our past experiences enter into the present.  While I'm sure Brandon would rather think about the lollipop he gets after his appointment or how nice everyone is to him there - his mind goes toward the not so fun memories.  I think the same can be said for many experiences for a lot of us.  We get anxious about things because we remember how it made us feel at some point and we remember it, vividly.  

So, we survived and while he may have a future adenoid surgery to look forward to, nothing was decided today.  Brandon collected his well deserved green lollipop and bid farewell to the office staff for another 4 months.  I'm proud of my brave little guy and think that his continued composure in facing his ENT nemesis serves as a great example of confidence for all of us.

I would rather be anywhere but here...