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Bear and Dove

Calfgrit3 started showing the signs of an eye infection Saturday evening: red eye, drainage. Sunday morning, his discomfort showed as irritability. Our pediatrician is open on Sundays, but only in their main office which is a 20-30 minute drive away. And they’ve got only one or two doctors available, so wait time can be another 30 minutes. We decided for me to take him to the local urgent care.

He was really a grumpy bear all morning. Everything set him off into a crying fit. I eventually got him out of the house. When we got to the urgent care, we found it crowded — standing room only. Oh geez. Just what I didn’t need right then with a sick 3-year-old. We’ve all been to this urgent care a few times in the past, and I’ve never had to wait more than about 10 minutes to see a doctor. But then, I’ve never seen it that crowded.

I considered backing out and just going to the pediatrician, but I figured that by the time we got back to the car, drove all the way out there, and waited in that line, we’d probably already be seen here. So I decided to wait with Calfgrit3. It wouldn’t be a fun wait.

But he surprised me. We got lucky and got a seat pretty quick, and he was calm and happy. He sat in my lap, in the chair beside me, and stood next to me pretty well for a long time. We ended up waiting an hour and fifty minutes to see a doctor. For a preschooler to be calm and happy, waiting, for nearly two hours is an astonishing feat even when he feels good. Had I realized it would be a two hour wait, we’d have left early on. Had I known Calgrit3 would be so good for the entire time, I wouldn’t have believed it.

We spent 10 minutes with the doctor, and then left the office. Calfgrit3 then decided he’d been good and calm long enough, and he turned into the grizzly bear again. Nothing could make him happy; he obviously just didn’t feel well. The whole rest of the day he was just irritable and unhappy.

But miracles of miracles, he was happy for two hours straight at a doctor’s office.

Bullgrit
bullgrit@totalbullgrit.com

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