My big boy needs his mommy

I took my soon-to-be-missionary son to an ear specialist today. He has been having problems hearing, always saying "huh" to everything we said. It was annoying us at first, as we thought he just had selective hearing, but we finally had it checked out a month ago. The Dr. cleared out his ears as best he could, gave us drops to continue for 3 weeks, but the problem remained, so we were referred to a specialist.

I remained in the waiting room while he went back to see the Dr. I wanted to offer to go with him, but didn't want to embarrass him. He's a 19 1/2 yr. old boy (man?) who towers over me. So I waited, and waited and waited. I started to worry, and wondered at one point if he needed me. I began to get agitated. He came out shortly after that and told me the story.

The Dr. had to do some very invasive work on his ears, touching the eardrum many times (very sensitive), using tools that caused so much pain, my son wished he had been put "out" for the procedure. This is a kid who has been known his whole life for having a high tolerance for pain. However, for this particular procedure, he said at one point his eyes were watering (he doesn't want to admit he was crying) and he thought to himself "I want my Mom". It broke my heart to hear him say that. I should've gone in there with him in the first place. But at least he knew I was right outside, not far away. I'm so glad the problem was rectified before he was in the MTC and sent to a Dr. without me (which happens often this Dr. said).

We had a wonderful time driving home because we could actually have a "whole" conversation, where he could hear every word. It opened up a whole new world to him. I stopped and got him a burger for a late lunch and as I handed him the bag, he said "wow...these bags are so noisy!"

I'm so glad my son is feeling better now, and it melts my heart to know he still needs his mommy.