Once upon a time, a 6 year old goes for an eye exam….
The nurse gets her to recite a bunch of letters on a screen. She does exactly as she’s told. Fast forward through all the pictures and tests. We are now ready to see the doctor to give her the real exam. Doctor never introduces himself to her. The only things he was saying to her was in regards to what he wanted her to do. It’s not like he was being mean to her. He was just not very “kid friendly” and he was rushing to get it over with, the type to let the nurse do 99% of the diagnosis. A doctor that’s learned children have short attention spans; a doctor that knows he’s got to be quick on his exam when it comes to kids.
Doctor- “Look through these holes.”
(Anna complies.)
Doctor- “Is this blurry?”
Anna- “Very blurry.”
Doctor- “Can you read those letters?”
Anna- “Yup.”
Doctor- “Read those letters to me.”
Anna- “H, S, L…”
(Doctor cuts her off and changes screen to different letters.)
Doctor-“Read those letters.”
Anna- “ I, F, L…”
(Doctor cuts her off and changes the letters again.)
Doctor- “Read those.”
Anna- “Q, E, I…”
(Yet again he cuts her off and tells her to read different letters.)
I cringed because I knew she wasn’t going to take this for much longer.)
(Anna lets out a quiet grunt, takes a breath and starts reading the letters again.
This time I held my breath.)
(Anna slams back in her chair puts both hands on her head and her eyes are wide open. I knew she was about to go on a rant.)
(Anna takes a deep breath and starts talking extremely fast and clearly.)
Anna- “I can’t take this anymore! I tried to be patient! I was doing what you said… Every! Single! Time!!! I wasn’t done doing the first thing you told me to do before telling me to do something else. I’m confused! None of this makes sense to me. Why didn’t you let me finish reading the letters? Why did you keep cutting me off? I wanted to tell you the letters because I was happy I could see them! Don’t you see what you was doing to me? I couldn’t take it. You confused me! I always do what I’m told but you was treating me like I was doing it all wrong. I thought I had forgot my letters! You could have told me to read 3 letters and I would do that but nooooo you got complicated! Why couldn’t you tell me to read one letter?! (takes a deep breath), I’m sorry. I just got super frustrated. I’ll read as many letters as you want me to but please tell me how many you want me to read before you change them.”
The doctor is sitting in a stool in front of her with his back to me. The entire time he sit there very still and not saying a word. He waits till he knows she’s done and slowly turns and faces me…
Doctor- “I feel like I was just scolded by my principal and I regret my actions. This child is 6 and just stopped my world from spinning. Everything she said was reasonable and logical.
Me-”Doctor, please meet Annamarie, my 30 year-old daughter that looks like a 6 year old.”
(Doctor turns back to Anna.)
Doctor- “You can read all the letters you want. You tell me when you want to move to the next letters”
Anna- “Thank you.”
Doctor- “All done with the letters Miss Annamarie. I’ve got a couple more tests for you to do and then I’ll make a decision on if you need glasses. I’ll be back to talk to you after you’ve finished your test. You are a very special girl.”
(Doctor looks back and forth between me and the nurse.)
Doctor- “I feel like I need to go write sentences or stand in a corner now.”
Fast forward through the test with her randomly talking to the nurse.
Doctor comes back in the room with a pep in his step, sits directly in front of her, and explains to her what’s wrong with her eyes IN DETAIL as if he were talking to me. She asked a few questions and he happily answered. He turned to me.
Doctor- “I owed her the respect of telling her instead of you. I hope you didn’t mind.”
Me- “Not at all. Her regular doctor actually prefers to talk to her the entire appointment.”
Anna (butts in)- “Because I remember stuff when you don’t”
(hysterically laughs).
Me-“I really hope she didn’t come off as being disrespectful to you. I cringe the entire time that she’s meeting a new doctor. I never know what’s going to come out of that child’s mouth.”
Doctor- “You should be very proud of her. I never even thought she was out of line in anything she said. I’ll be looking forward to seeing her next year.”
(Doctor opens the door to walk out. Stops. Turns around with complete seriousness on his face.)
Doctor- “Is she British?”
(I couldn’t answer him for laughing!)
Doctor- “Ya know what, don’t answer that. I’m going to just tell myself her dad is British.”
(My child is definitely NOT British, nor does she know anyone British. Yet, my child does have a British accent.)
Annamarie met a new doctor… The End.
BaHaBritter 