Nathan and the Doctor

On Monday Nathan complained that his chest hurt. He would take a deep breath and point to a pain on the lower left hand side of his chest. I told him if it persisted we would go to the doctor's. Wednesday morning he said it still hurt. Deep down I figured it was either a bruised rib or a bruised muscle from coughing, but last time I waved Nathan off as "fine" he ended up with an ear infection in both ears, so this time around I decided to call the doctor.
I called to ask if I really needed to make an appointment. Well, as soon as I said, "... his chest hurts..." the nurse on the other end assured me I should. I asked what was available for Thursday afternoon and she asked with concern, "Are you sure you don't want to come in today?" Hmm... I thought... I guess I should. So off we went.
Usually I bring all four children to the doctor's and we just grin and bear it. At least we grin and bear it until stitches are taken out, at which point I nearly pass out while all four children are pacified with free stickers and we leave as soon as the room stops spinning. However, bringing three bouncing, healthy children in with one sick or ailing child is really not in my favor. Our doctor is a very sweet and soft-spoken man and I end up having to read his lips as he whispers the prognosis to me through the crashing and squealing of children. Today my friend Donna watched the children on short-notice. (Thanks, Donna!)
Attempting to do school work at a doctor's office is a bit humorous. It very much leans towards, "Look, squirrel!" Nathan would fill in a letter, look at the TV, be reminded by his mother to finish his work, look back to sound out another letter, and then find himself fiddling with the bead toy behind him.
When it's finally our turn in comes a young doctor. She's incredibly friendly and, did I mention, incredibly young? Her inquiring into Nathan's ailment was near comedic. He explained that it hurt everyday, but "paused" sometimes. She was puzzled by that and dug for more information. He explained that by "pause" he meant "pause" like you're playing music and then you pause it. He looked at her with his big brown eyes and seemed to be thinking, "How can you not get that?" Boy, did that doctor try understanding what he was saying. It hurt when he took deep breaths, paused, but hurt all the time.
She asked if he had been coughing a lot lately and as I was explaining that his cold had been a while ago Nathan piped up with, "Well, remember, Mommy! You gave us cough drops when I was younger? Like four?" Thank you, Nathan, that is indeed true.
Finally, to see if it was possibly a rib fracture she asked him to take off his shirt. She pushed and poked and rubbed that area, but Nathan said it only hurt if she "pinched" it. He demonstrated for us by sucking in real deep until his rib cage popped out of his slender body, and then he grabbed that last rib and squeezed it. The doctor laughed and assured him she wouldn't want to squeeze him that hard. Sure enough, the boy left a fingernail mark on his little chest from all the squeezing.
In the end we decided it was probably bruised-due to coughing, free stickers were given, and I walked out happy that in this particular case my instincts had been confirmed. I was mostly glad I showed my son that I had heard what he was saying. Plus, I used my new FSA card for the first time and remembered to keep the receipt, so all in all I'm feeling quite capable today.