Muffins with Mom – Laughing through my pain – A teen and his bedside manor

There’s Dr. Doolittle who talks to animals, Dr. Phil who gives advice and then there’s my teen son. He has no Dr. before his name, but tried to assist me when I was feeling ill. His intensions were good, but…

The other night I was experiencing stomach pains and I had chills. I tossed and turned in bed, but could not get comfortable. Finally, I went in my son’s bedroom and curled up on his floor with my blanket. I hesitated to stay in his room because he had the TV on with the sound blasting as thought he was at the movie theater. I stayed because he had the space heater on.

As I moaned, my son asked if I wanted to take anything, I told him yes. He left the room in search of pain relief for me. When he returned, I heard drinking glasses clanging around, but minutes passed and he didn’t bring anything in my direction.

“What did you find for me to take? I asked.

“I couldn’t find anything.”

“But I heard you clanging glasses around like you were preparing something.”

“Oh, I was just moving some things.”

I rolled to a sitting position and dragged myself into my room and found the last packet of Alka- Seltzer, then inched my way back to the warmth of my son’s room. Handing my son the packet I said, “Put this in water for me.”

My son picked up one the drinking glasses (that had already been used), filled it with water from the bathroom sink and plopped the Alka-Seltzer in. Maybe he thought that in the dimly lit room I wouldn’t notice he’d given me a previously used glass.

This wasn’t the first time we’ve used Alka-Seltzer for pain relief, so I assumed my son knew how to prepare it. The instructions say to dissolve the tablets in 4 ounces of water. Sometimes I use a little more to take away some of the after taste.

My son dissolved or perhaps diluted the tablets in a 12 ounce glass of water and handed it to me. “Umm, Dr. Jekyll, this is too much water. First a dirty glass, now this. Are you trying to make me sicker?”

After my chills subsided, I broke out into sweat and returned to my room in search of sleep. My son didn’t have the gift of Dr. Doolittle nor Dr. Phil, but he did have the ability to comfort. I told him that next a simple hug would be enough.

Have you experienced a situation where you had to laugh through your pain?