Harry says… (scared mum)

Recently Harry had a fall in his walker that resulted in a precautionary visit to the emergency department. He’s absolutely fine, but there was a special moment that I want to remember. And another that I wanted to share as an important reminder for me about Harry’s first step in his evolving role in his medical care.

As Harry fell and we rushed to him I let out a terrified shriek, the shriek of a mother who has a complete paranoia of falls and whose hyper-vigilance finds it impossible to reconcile any kind of accident, no matter how small, in her care.

As far as I was aware, that was the extent of the fear that I allowed to show, one brief shriek. We decided to take H to hospital as a precaution and I snapped into Medical-Emergency-Mum mode. Like many mums of kids with complex medical histories, once you’re in MEM mode, you become very calm and focused with any remaining panic and fear squashed to the side. We know the drill, we’ve done it countless times – grab the already packed bag, change of clothes, his drink bottle, snacks, medication, iPad for entertainment, talker, charger, sort the dog, arrange care for T etc etc… Within minutes we were in the car, me driving and J in the back with H. And yes, of course I was driving, even H knows that his mum is a bit of a repressed rev head! As we start driving, H says..

H📱: scared

J&M📢: (I can’t remember  our exact words, but we both chose words of comfort for Harry, remembering all our previous lessons learned and shared in Epiphany at the Eye Clinic)

H📱: scared scared mum

Oh my heart. Looks like my caring, intuitive boy saw straight through my brave mask and knew exactly how scared his mum was.

Boardmaker symbols for ‘scared’ and ‘mum’.

Later we were chatting to the ED doctor, doing our usual, “yes, he can understand everything you say”; “yes, he uses this talker to speak”.

Doctor📢: Harry, how are you feeling? Do you have a headache or any pain any where?

We navigated to the ‘health’ folder on H’s talker and he hovered his finger over the page, but didn’t say anything. The doctor went back to writing notes when a few moments later Harry said…

H📱: headache

And I saw it, the briefest flicker in the doctor’s eyes. The flicker that questioned any previous presumptions about this boy and his talker.The flicker that will hopefully ignite again next time he sees a child with a book or device.

He drew up some panadol for Harry and off he went, but the importance of that brief moment and it’s meaning for H and his future dealings with healthcare professionals remained. This was Harry’s first real self-diagnosis in a healthcare environment. There is no doubt that we have many many hospital visits ahead of us yet, most of them routine, but some unplanned and it’s vital that not only is H able to provide feedback on his symptoms, but that he is also empowered to direct his care.

H and I cuddling at hospital with his talker in our laps.