"It ain't over til' the fat lady sings!" at the Dr.'s Office

"It ain't over til' the fat lady sings"

Over the years, Nugget has developed some real anxieties that are a daily challenge for him. In addition, these anxieties can put a real damper on social interactions with others. I feel really bad for him since he can become totally stressed out by just a simple conversation between people if certain words, or phrases are used. We see a doctor every week to address these anxieties and so far I have been extremely pleased with the outcome.

 Today's visit proved to be more than just another visit to see the doctor. It was a first for me, both good and bad. At the beginning of each visit, I go in and talk to his doctor about progress, or lack thereof, and we plan accordingly about how to move forward. Nothing new today, we decided to proceed as planned. The doctor and I walked out together where it would be Nugget's turn to go with the doctor back to his office for a chat. As we walked out into the waiting room, Nugget was sitting at what he calls "his desk". This is the same routine, every time. He is sitting contently playing his Nintendo DSi. I decided to grab a magazine before finding a chair next to Nugget's "desk" and wait for him to finish his session. 

As I was flipping through the pages I heard, "Was that your son that was just sitting here?" with an agitated tone. I looked up to see a middle-aged, obese woman and she was not looking too happy. I immediately replied that it was, probably looking like a huge question mark. She snapped back saying, "Well, he called me fat!". I did not appreciate her tone with me, but I immediately apologized and said that my son has a little difficulty with his filter and will just say what's on his mind. I do not condone any inappropriate comments from my sons such as this, and if I had been sitting there when this happened, I would have used it as a teaching opportunity of appropriate/inappropriate comments. However, just the way she was acting towards me, I so wanted to say, "Well, some people call him autistic, but you don't see me making a scene". I kept my mouth shut. I did not want to utter the words autism and add to that stigma. Still, I did feel bad and had no right to judge her or her situation and I could completely understand why she would feel upset. I guess as a mother I just wanted to go into immediate defense-attack mode. Fortunately, she lightened up after I said I would discuss this with him. I guess that's what she wanted to hear since she just walked away.  I was sitting there trying to process what had just happened.