Call to Action

It is midnight, I am peacefully sleeping.  This is quite unusual because for the last three weeks,  midnight has found  me attempting to cough up an extra lung that my body apparently thinks I have hiding somewhere.  The peace is extinguished by a slamming door.

I open one eye and standing next to my bed is this large almost man, who just two years ago was my small son.  He looks like he is in pain, and as I open both eyes, I realize if he is in my room, waking me up and asking for help, then he most certainly is in pain.   Call to action, mom....wake up, someone is sick and there is no more time for rest.

Ordinarily, he attempts, much like his toddler self did, to do everything quite by himself....no help from mom.  God forbid, really who needs THAT woman!!! 

Yet, he is here in front of me, his face and body twisted into contortions that make him at times look  almost unrecognizable and then just as quickly look like that little toddler.  My heart breaks for him, but I dare not tell him so or he may storm out.  I gather awakening wits and begin questioning him with my arsenal of pharmacy/mom questions, which I hope will help make him feel comfortable and in good hands.  He balks, he complains.  "Why do I always have to do this? Why do I have to answer questions?  I am in pain!"

Hmmmmm, I think (but do not utter a word aloud), usually answering questions helps the other person understand what IS GOING ON!!!  Silly Mom, for wanting to try to understand anything about the the pain, what could I have been thinking???

Regardless,I continue, "how much did you drink today?"

Now I have two sets of raised MALE eyebrows, my husband and my son.

I justify, "look guys, there were two ice hockey games and two hours of stacking wood in the backyard. Were there any fluids replenished?"

I have captured my husbands curiosity but my dear sweet son is convinced I am from outerspace....and well son, the more you mature into a man, the more I think you are from Mars : )

Long story short: two episodes of hugging the porcelain bowl, pain that seemed to radiate from the right side, a trip to ER with two CT scans to rule out appendicitis and the diagnosis was in summary all related to lack of fluids.   Nausea meds via a large bag of IV normal saline and he comes home looking much like his regular self.  He asked for breakfast and I knew we were back in healthy action.

Silly mom, asking about drinking water, insisting water bottles be carried around, only to have them ditched in the garage on the way out of the house.  Silly mom,  buying water filters to take out the chlorine and lead to keep heart and kidneys strong.  Silly, silly mom.  How right could that silly mom be?

Years ago, I would have stood on my head to prove that I was in fact right from the very beginning.  Now though, the fact that the CT Scan found nothing at all, including appendicitis was my greatest gift and gave me a happiness that no amount of "proving myself the superior in knowledge" ever would, even to a teenager, hahaha!

As we walk the road of mom and teenage boy, I will make mistakes and so will he, we are after all only human.  Surviving the journey will require a call to action type of love...always on, always ready and shared as needed.  

I love you, Tim!!  (ahhh, the ultimate embarrassment!)