Juggling motherhood in medicine is sometimes hilarious. Maggie told her kindergarten class her daddy is a scientist, and her mommy chops off legs for a living. (For the record, I was in vascular surgery).
I still crack up when she says things like “I hurt my fibula when I fell.” and “I coughed up stuff from my esophagus.”. The vocabulary of kids with parents in medicine can be a bit different from their peers.
For example:
“Mommy, I wanna fix bones when I grow up”. ~Magg's age 5 after she fractured her collarbone.
“Can you fix Lambie? He has a hernia!” ~Magg's age 6 with her stuffed animal “Lambie”.
“I’m sick, why can’t you fix me?” ~Magg's STILL asks this question.
"I'm going to be a "vegemetarian", but I still want to eat bacon and chicken nuggets". ~Magg's age 7.
"Mom, I think I'm constipated. The only thing that helps is candy". ~Magg's age 9.
“Will I really get diabetes if I eat that candy?” I wanted to say yes for a split moment then I thought to myself, “I don’t want to put false medical advice in her head”. But at the same time, I still tell her when she rolls her eyes at me, they might get stuck up there if she does it one too many times.
....And literally 1 week ago she told me she thinks she has Tourette’s. I told her “If you had Tourette’s I would know it”. She said “I’ve been hiding it and it happens when I put my head back. I’m sure I have ‘them’”. Ha! Gotta love the innocence.
She is now 14, and even though she still knows how to pronounce ‘Chicago’, it will always be ‘Wiscago’ to us.
As she is approaching high school this fall, she now has different career aspirations. She no longer wants to "fix bones". At the moment she wants to be a child psychologist so she can help children that have depression and anxiety “feel better”. My Magg's has a heart of gold. I think any kid would be lucky to have her in their corner.
So my advice to her and any other child reaching for their dreams and goals:
“Whatever you are, be a good one”. - Abraham Lincoln.
Xoxo -Lisa.