Mr. Ambassador

I took Sawyer to the doctor yesterday.  He has a rash that will not go away.  Turns out, they were not too concerned with the rash but with his ear.  Apparently, he has an ear infection.  I could have predicted that.  Anytime I take him in for anything, ends up he has an ear infection.  He NEVER shows any of the typical signs of ear infection. (fever, pulling at his ear, etc)

What was unique about this visit was they had a visiting med student from Emory.  So, our doctor sent this kid in first to let him do the exam.   The guy was very new to medical study, probably 1st or 2nd year at most.  He was good with Sawyer and could understand much of what Sawyer was saying to  him.  As he was looking through the medical paperwork, he came across the notation that Sawyer has Down syndrome.  He had not picked that up via his exam.  He asked me when Sawyer was diagnosed.  I told him we knew he had the markers in utero but we chose not to have amnio because it would not change our life choice.  He seemed a bit surprised by that but voiced no opposition.

When the doctor came in, they went over his diagnosis of Sawyer's condition, etc.  I mentioned that he had not picked up on the outward signs of Down syndrome.  Our doctor said, He is new to medicine and we are trying to raise him up right.  Our doc went on to explain to the kid-doc how smart Sawyer was and what a good kid, etc. 

So my hope from this experience is that this kid-doc will look beyond what the books say and probably what his teachers say, and remember the smart kid he met once early in his career and REALLY see that the answers to life's questions are not always found in books.  Sometimes they are found in the heart.