Noah and I found ourselves in a terribly uncomfortable situation today, but I'm pretty proud of my buddy for handling it fairly well. While in the optometry office this morning, I noticed a woman who appeared to be having trouble breathing - her respiratory sounds could be heard clear across the room. Then I noticed the trach. Oh, okay...that makes sense. Well, I guess her breathing issues were not normal because she then begins to clean the thing out right there in the middle of the doctor's office.
Noah went bug eyed, covered his ears (which is what he does when he's really freaked), pulled his feet up into one of the office chairs, and got really quiet. I have to admit - *I* was beginning to freak out a little, because the smell was just horrible. It was one of the worst odors I have ever encountered and I was trying hard not to gag. Noah was sitting to my right and I watched as his eyes slowly rolled up from looking sideways at her to rest on me (he never took his hands off his ears) and he politely whispered, "Mommy...WHAT is she DOING?" I told him that she was having trouble breathing and what she was doing was sort of like when he blew his nose when he had a cold. He nodded and didn't say another word about it. I don't know if she had to perform that tracheal suctioning right there in the office or just didn't want to excuse herself, but I was proud of Noah for managing his fear as best he could. She scared the crap out of him and yet he kept his cool with just one polite question.
He waited until we were leaving the building to hit me with how he was really feeling - that it made him "sad...and really, really, really scared."
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