Snip, Snip

Well, its official. Nathan needs surgery. Its a relatively minor, outpatient surgical procedure but it has to be done under general anesthesia.
Honestly Kids, two surgeries in three months? Are you kidding me?
Of course, Jillian's response was jealousy - she will be the only one to not yet have experienced a surgical procedure... Once I reminded her that she was the only one to have had a broken bone in our family (except Daddy), she felt special again and got over the temporary bout of envy.
Because our insurance runs out on Thursday, the office is doing all they can to schedule the surgery for Thursday. Its very short notice - we only learned of the need for this little snip yesterday... But I'm thankful because we did find out about it. And we do have insurance until Thursday. Chloe's bills are being covered, the kids all went to the dentist and doctor, and my co-pays for the pregnancy are being covered... So, in the midst of this latest little hiccup, I'm grateful for our many blessings.
As for Nathan, I'm trying to have faith that one of three things will happen: either 1. God will provide a gap in the schedule to fit Nathan in and the insurance will approve a "short notice" surgery, 2. we'll miss the deadline, a few months will pass and the problem will correct itself (the specialist says this is unlikely) or 3. we'll have to have the surgery in a few months and we'll have the financial resources to pay for it some other way.
Nathan is nervous. He's the most weak stomached of the kids when it comes to pain and he's just more worrisome in general. I've been doing my very best to calm his fears and answer all his questions. I strongly believed that kids who are well armed with knowledge are less fearful of any kind of medical process. If I know ahead of time, I will tell them before an appointment if they're going to get a shot. And I tell them if something is going to hurt. I believe they should be prepared. And I don't ever want them to feel tricked or betrayed. It has proven to be very effective thus far.
Bless his heart, in addition to being worried about what is going to happen to him, he's stressing about missing school. Odyssey, their school, is very particular about attendance and Nathan has learned that one of his classmates will not be eligible to return to school next year because he's missed 22 days this year. Nathan panicked because I've had to check them out early 4 days in the past two weeks due to all these appointments and now he may miss Thursday entirely. Also, he has a spelling test and a Viking test on Thursday.
On one hand, I appreciate the struggle of the teachers and educators that know how important school is. On the other hand, stressing out my 8 year old because he needs to go to the doctor is completely inappropriate. Granted, I don't know how much of this pressure is actually being applied by teachers and staff and how much of it Nathan is assuming for himself. Either way, its distressing as a mom to watch this little boy stress about these things. I have tried repeatedly to reassure him that I will stand in the gap for him. I will support him and I won't ever intentionally do something that will endanger his school career or his grades. Quite on the contrary, I am the one who pushes him to excel.
Nevertheless, he worries.
And so I worry about him worrying. I wonder where he learned how to stress so much?
That's a sarcastic comment, but also a sad one because I don't want to teach him my bad habits. Hopefully by him watching me learn to lean on Christ, he'll learn too. That's the hope. And hopefully, I'll learn fast so that he will too.
Until then, I'm going to intentionally not worry. For both of us.

I find out today, most likely by 11 am, whether or not the surgery will be scheduled for tomorrow. I'll let you know.