Positive Focus Thursday - Listening and Unicorns

Wednesday produced two different stories, but they are both intertwined.

First, I was the driver for Texter for a couple of doctor appointments. One in the morning which was a follow-up and the second one with a rheumatologist to hopefully get an answer to her question, "What is wrong with me?"

Me, while I am happy we may finally have an answer, it also means I'm not at home doing 'my' stuff. However, because of where we were going, I could stop by 2nd and Charles and use my store credit and maybe pick up Lady K's birthday present. So it would be one chore ticked off my 'to-do' list.

Between the half-off sale on it and the 'flash' $5 off on $25 or more, the $50 plushie cost me $2.50 out of my wallet. I call that I win!

Meet...

Grandma, the unicorn!

Actually, there is a story behind Grandma. When I walked across the street to pick up Lady K when I got home, I told her while I was waiting for Mommy to finish up with the doctor, I saw this...

Since I was sitting outside in the car so I could listen to my audiobook, I walked over to see what it was. (Plus it was really nice outside and sitting in a doctor's office didn't have any appeal.)

It was a unicorn! And it was looking for someone and it got lost. The Tooth Fairy had told 'her' there was a little girl who just lost a tooth who was having a birthday and she needed to go find her. But there were so many people and she was lost. 

So I helped her out of the tree and she followed me home.

I got squeals and screams when Lady K got her out of the car. 

Later in the evening, I asked Lady K what she was going to name 'him'. First, I was informed it is 'her' because it has eyelashes. I stand corrected. Secondly, she named it 'Grandma'.

Ok, Grandma?

Because that way anytime I am not around she can still have Grandma with her. 

Yes, there might have been a watery eye with that pronouncement.

But back to Texter and the doctors. Doctors who are listening to her.

For several years now, Texter has been complaining about aches and pains. To the point, I confess, I had turned a deaf ear to. To the point, I would think "suck it up" or "just one day without complaining about aches already".

Based on positive blood test results, as well as the negative results of an MRI and an eye exam, it was looking more and more like she was finally going to get an answer to the question 'what is wrong with me'. And the best part of this process, she was talking to a doctor who she felt was listening to her and not shoving her out the door when her 15 minutes was up. Someone who wasn't dismissing her and telling her it was 'hormones', 'all in your head', 'you are making it all up', etc.

Of course, the hives and then the more hives as an allergic reaction to one of the drugs they gave her to take while they were sorting things out, did help show there was 'something' wrong.

She has been so thrilled just to have someone listen to her and believe what she was saying about the aches and pains she is feeling. And all I could think of was I had stopped listening. 

How many times do we do that? Stop listening.

Oh, we hear those around us talking, but we tune it out. Like in the cartoons, it all becomes 'blah, blah, blah'. 

The problem Texter is experiencing will not be 'cured' and go away if she has what we think she has now. But it is treatable and something she can learn to live with. She already feels better just because someone is listening to her and she will soon have a 'name' for what is going on in her body. But people are finally listening to her.

To see the delight and relief on Texter's face coming out of the doctor's office because she is closer to getting a real answer to her problem makes me feel bad for all the time I heard her, but didn't listen, makes me ashamed of myself. And to have a large, white, squishy unicorn named Grandma because she wants me around all the time, when I don't always listen to what she is trying to tell me, hurts.

So listen to those around you. Really 'hear' what they are saying. Not just the words, but the meaning behind those words. Make the time. Because there will be a time you really need someone to listen to you.