By teaching, you will learn...

Today I learned that this is a true statment. By teaching, you will learn. It is so simple and yet so true.

I had to get to Children's early this morning in order to give blood because my MMR and Tetanus records are out of date. I went into the Laboratory Waiting Room and was shaking like a leaf. Most of you probably know this, but if not, I will explain. I have a complex about veins. Although I know they are obviously important, I think they are disgusting. In fact, just talking about them weirds me out. I hate it when people show the veins on their arms. GROSS! This has been a source of constant amusement for my family and I have been harassed about it for years. When I went into the exam room with the nurse to give blood, I immediately blurted out, "I may not look like a child, but I am as scared as one right now!". The nurse started laughing and told me to relax and that it would be over in a minute. Then came that icky rubberband that gets wrapped around your arm. Oh, Lord...how awful. My palms were sweating, my face went white and I could literally not breathe properly. Soon it was over and I had a pretty purple band-aid with an alligator riding a skateboard on it to show for all of my troubles. I wanted to roll my long-sleeves up and show my badge of courage to the world as if to say, "LOOK AT ME! Look what I did today. I got through it without even fainting!". I turned in my laboratory paperwork and headed down to the School Room so proud of myself.

I always spend my first hour or so at Children's delivering information on the school program to new patients, dropping off paperwork and picking up students from their rooms. It is probably the hardest part of my day because you are in and out of rooms seeing children who are in various situations under all different circumstances and you never get a chance to learn who they are. You only find out their first name, school and school system. You might walk in on someone who is sleeping, getting a treatment, talking with a doctor or nurse or someone who just feels plain ol' awful. For all these reasons, the child may or may not attend school. However, amazingly enough, most come down to the school program with a positive attitude and an open mind. When that happens and I get to sit with him or her, it is the most unbelievable experience. I actually get to teach this person something. Last week, I taught a 1st grader how to tell time. She walked in the classroom and didn't know how to read the big hand and the little hand. However, when she walked out the door, she turned around, looked at the clock and told me what time she was leaving! I think I was more excited than she was. Today, I taught a second grader how to identify coins and add change. At first, she didn't get it, but I could tell she was smart and eager to learn. After a little bit of frustration that it wasn't making sense, all of a sudden it clicked for her and she was on fire. She would pick out the correct coins from the bag of plastic money and then add the amounts together. It was after two or three problems that I noticed she would only use one hand to get the coins and then use the same hand to write out the answers. I asked her about it and she just casually said to me that it was easier to use one hand than to mess with all the cords. What she meant by cords was the numerous IVs attached to her hand that plug into a machine which monitors her vitals and is used to administer medicine as needed. Needless to say, it was another moment at Children's that put everything in perspective for me. That is when the phrase, "By teaching...you will learn" really came to life for me. Next time I have to give blood, I am going to think about how brave all the children I teach in the school classroom are and I will never again say, ""I may not look like a child, but I am as scared as one right now!". Next time, I will say, "I may not look like a child, but I am going to try to be as brave as one right now!".