Originally written on 19 November 2017.
Terror is built deeply into my firstborn son. I should have made the jump. He had nightmares in the womb. They continue to be his most frequent form of dream. I spent nearly a year convincing him that our home, and especially his room, was safe. I helped him put a toy sword under his pillow every night so that he could sleep. I taught him how to cast mystical baddies out of his room. Now that he’s seven, he scoffs at it as if it were childish.
He swallowed a penny on Thursday, and it got stuck at the valve between his esophagus and his stomach. They sent us to Mott Children’s Hospital in Ann Arbor to have it removed. When they put the IV in, it took two attempts. On the second attempt, I saw how deep the rabbit hole goes. Wild, darting eyes, panicked screaming, trying to look away, or reason through it, as Nikki kept telling him to, and him getting more panicked because he couldn’t. I tried to help, to comfort, to connect and share the burden. Tears immediately began cascading down my cheeks and wave after wave of core-level terror tore me apart. I had to leave the room.
I thought I was failing my son. I thought I wasn’t strong enough to do what a Dad does.
The doctors thought I was going to pass out.
Does he live with that terror inside him every second of every day? The bravery and strength that it must take him just to get through the day, let alone have all the fun that he tries to pack in (so much like his mother sometimes)… thinking about it leaves me in awe.
He already things that I say how proud I am because I’m his Dad, and I have to. If he only knew how thoroughly he’s already earned it.
Pro-tip for seven-year-olds: Saliva is not the best solvent for cleaning your penny collection. Catsup comes highly recommended.
I’m exhausted, I’m spent, and I’ve accomplished a hell of a lot, considering. Gonna take me a bit to recover from this one. From all of this.
Not my son, though. He’s already back to bowling and playing Skylanders and poking me in the belly and giving his mom a hard time.
That’s my boy.
Glad to read you all came through the other side of this incident. My heart raced a little reading through it. My Love for my boys is intense and I go through every trouble right along side them wishing I could help while knowing I can’t take away the pain from life’s moments of terror. It helps to hear about real life from the pits of view of others.