Everyone Needs a Mom

Disclaimer: This is in no way to discount the importance of fathers. It’s just not about you this time.

My children complain that they never got to go to the doctor unless they were dying. They blame this on the fact that I’ve worked in Emergency Departments all of their lives. They exaggerate. On the other hand, my sister says I’m one of those neurotic mothers whose children always have to have a coat or a sweater on whether they are actually cold or not. She probably doesn’t exaggerate. My children are getting mixed messages.

As I said, the majority of my career (nurse and NP) has been spent caring for patients in Emergency Departments. The way you do this work for a long time is to realize that every patient coming through that door believes they have a true emergency. Many of them do. Many of them don’t. They don’t know what we know.

Let me preface this by saying these are not baby-boomers or even people of my generation. These are people under 35, for the most part…people who could really use a Mom about now. Some of the complaints they come in with are:

• “I got my period 2 days early.”
• “I vomited once an hour ago.”
• “I started to have a sore throat today.”
• “I have a bug bite.”
• “I fell down. I feel fine but I just want to get checked out.”
• “I cut myself.” (abrasion that's not bleeding...or paper cut)
• “I need a pregnancy test.” 

When I was younger these ultra-minor complaints used to try my patience – especially on those crazy, busy days. Now, they make me sad. They make me wonder why, if they had this sort of question, they didn’t just call their Mom. I would’ve called my Mom. I would’ve gotten my dose of sympathy or possibly a well-placed, “Well, you klutz!” and I would’ve been on my way.

It’s possible they didn’t have a Mom like mine and maybe they were rushed to the doctor with every ache and pain and odd symptom their body developed. They didn’t teach them that not everything is an emergency. They didn’t teach them that a normal part of living is sometimes being sick and it might do you good to just go to bed. They didn’t teach them how to care for themselves (don’t eat McDonald’s if you just vomited an hour ago) – by doing simple things like just drinking liquids, taking their own temperature, resting, and containing themselves from exposing others.

Perhaps I need to open first aid stations a block from every hospital called “Momma’s House” to field questions, take the McDonald’s bag away, hand out Gatorade, do pregnancy tests, apply bandaids…and give out sweaters.

Our girl's sick pose.

GI bug Christmas 2012.