I recently spent a day with my ten year old son that neither one of us had been looking forward to.  Upon recounting the tale to a group of friends, however, they were so amused by the day’s events, that they insisted it be my next story.  So here it is…and on the advice of one aforementioned friend, names have been changed to protect the innocent….namely, my son!!

     As I mentioned, this was NOT a typical Mother/Son day.  Definitely a toss-up over who was dreading it more, Troy, my ten and half year old son, or myself.  For on this day, we were off to see the Urologist.  Or, as I told Troy, the “penis Doctor”.  And now, my friends, you are as uncomfortable as my son and I were when we headed out the door together!  My husband and I have four children.  Troy is both our oldest, and our only son.  When he was born, we made a conscious, and educated, decision to not circumcise him.  At the age of seven, an undescended testicle was discovered, and he had minor surgery to repair this.  We were told by the surgeon at that time that his foreskin was not retracting, and he recommended circumcision, but said we still had time to see if it would “sort itself out” so to speak.  And now, here we are, three years later, headed back to the penis Doctor, because, no, it had not “sorted itself out”!  

     We sat in the waiting room, my son and I, me feeling a mother’s guilt and distress for the pain my child was in, (and would most certainly be in if he needed the surgery!), and he, feeling the fear and apprehension of the exam that lay ahead.  I looked over at my precious child, and noting the panic in his face, reached out to hug him close to me.  He began to tear up…I as well, though I tried to hide it from him.  I glanced around the room, which had quite a few other men waiting for their own uncomfortable exams, and nudged him.  Leaning close, I whispered, “Cheer up, it could be worse.  Imagine being the Doctor, all he does all day long is look at penises.  Note to self, never become a penis Doctor!”.  My son swiped at a tear, and a grin spread across his face.  As we both started giggling, his name was called, & off we went, hand in hand, to face the music.