Flying Too Close to the Sun

Lin

Raina cried into my shirt as we waited in the waiting room at the doctor's office. I had my arms wrapped around her and kissed the top of her head. I hated seeing her like this. As a parent, it was the worst, seeing your kid suffer, knowing you could do nothing about it. Well, I was trying to do something about it. Hopefully the doctor would get it right this time.

They called Raina's name and I carried her back to the exam room. The nurse asked me some questions and asked me to set her on the scale. She cried for me, but I held her hand. The nurse recorded her weight and then she was back in my arms.

We'd brought a little blanket from home, so she stayed wrapped up and curled up in my arms. The nurse left and told us the doctor would be in shortly. I pushed her hair away from her forehead and kissed it.

"You want some water, sweetheart?" I offered, and she shook her head. I just held her and waited. The doctor greeted me and Raina when she walked in a few minutes later.

"I hear Miss Raina's still not feeling so hot," she observed, leaning in to look at her. She buried her face in my shirt.

"She's been throwing up multiple times a day," I told her. "The medication didn't seem to do her any good."

"And her appetite?" she began taking notes on her laptop.

"She doesn't eat much," I reported.

She nodded as she typed. "She's lost two pounds since she was here the other day."

"Really? Wow," I said. For a five year old, two pounds was a lot.

"How's her energy level?"

"Low," I said. "She sleeps a lot of the day."

"Okay," the doctor said, putting her stethoscope in her ears. "Raina, I'm gonna listen to your heart okay?"

I adjusted my daughter in my arms a bit so she could get to her chest easier. She instructed Raina to take deep breaths as she moved her stethoscope around her chest. She asked me to lean her forward a bit as she did the same on her back.

"Okay," the doctor said. "Everything sounds good. I'm gonna do some blood tests to see if we can find out anything else. I'll send a nurse back in, then I can answer any more questions you have afterwards."

I leaned my head down to talk to Raina, knowing she wouldn't like getting blood drawn. Anything with needles the kids weren't a fan of. I explained to her what was going to happen and she started crying more. I hugged her tight as we waited for the nurse.

When it was time to get the blood drawn, Raina was too exhausted to do much protesting. The nurse was very understanding, quietly explaining what she was doing. She rubbed her arm with alcohol and found a vein, then drew the blood as quickly as she could. When the needle went in, Raina whimpered a little but didn't protest.

"Good girl," I praised her, kissing her head. The nurse was done and the doctor came to see us again a few minutes later. They'd call us with the results once they were in. When we got home, I got Raina some ice cream and we watched Moana together. She recognized my voice in 'We Know the Way', and smiled at me.

"That's Daddy," she said quietly, smiling.

"That's right," I kissed her forehead. "Daddy wrote that song."

Raina had now stayed home from school for three days, and she was upset about it. She loved school, but she could barely stay awake for two hours at a time. School was out of the question at the moment. The next day, I got a call from the doctor's office.