Last month my son turned 5. It was like any and every other birthday. We were excited and happy for him. My heart was filled with so much love and joy watching him beam as he greeted his birthday guests. He absolutely enjoyed basking in the glow of 5 candles on his dinosaur birthday cake as everyone sang happy birthday to him. It was a great birthday full of happiness and fun.
Also like every year, he goes for his well check up. This year was no different. Each year my emotions are like a roller coaster at this time. While I enjoyed his birthday party, my nerves are equally strained at his well check up because I know that he will be required to have blood drain to check his thyroid levels, allergies (specifically celiac disease) and this year to check his hormone levels. I knew this was coming, I had spoken to his pediatrician about it before but the reality of it was just not easy.
Although my son had grown some, he was still not growing enough and now we have to consider whether or not hormone therapy is something we want to try. We will see a specialist once the doctor reviews the blood work. Of course, I do not think there are any guarantees on anything and I do not know enough information about any of this to make a educated decision, but the fact that there is conversation about it now is still kind of depressing. I was really hoping that my son had grown enough so that we would not have to have this discussion at all but obviously that is not the case.
Additionally, going with my son to get his blood drawn was horrible. As soon as we walked into the clinic he knew he was going to have something done to him. So of course he reacted as any little boy would. He started crying. This, I would have probably been able to handle. But his crying was also accompanied by "No mommy, not me." "Don't want to." "Go home." or some variation of those phrases repeated over and over during the entire time we were waiting. It was all I could do to hold back my tears and not fall to pieces. I am just thankful that we only have to do this once a year. I do not think I could handle it if we had to do this several times a year. Not fun. I'm pretty sure I was emotionally drained and exhausted for the rest of the week as a result of this half hour.
In the meantime, we are waiting to hear back from our pediatrician and what steps we need to take next. I am sure there will be more doctor visits in our future.
