Hip-hip-hep-A!

Madan had his 7-year-old well-visit last week. I forgot to give him a heads-up about the Hepatitis A shot. I was so consumed by the flu mist, his need for reassurance that the mist was, in fact, a mist and not mist masquerading as a shot that I had failed to warn him about the other vaccine.

Oops.

As he lay on the exam table sobbing over how much the Hep A shot would hurt, I did what any Mama would do. I gave him his options.

"Dude, trust me. You want the vaccine. Do you know what happens to you if you get Hepatitis?"

"No. What?"

To be honest, I had no clue. I quickly scanned the white sheet the nurse handed me. "You get jaundice and turn yellow. You get a bad stomach ache and diarrhea. You might even need to be hospitalized!"

"I could turn YELLOW?" His eyes grew wide with worry. "Could I also DIE?"

I quickly read further. "Yes, but only in rare instances -- like 3 people per 1,000. Isn't a quick shot and a second of pain much better than death?"

He considered his options, but needed more information to make an educated decision. "Let me see the sheet." He started reading the part that said, "Who should get the Hepatitis A vaccine and when."

Luckily, I'm a faster reader than my first grader. I grabbed the paper before he got to the part about "men having sex with men" and "persons using street drugs." I wasn't about to explain shtupping to him in any capacity or debate the difference between Motrin and Marijuana. I couldn't believe he needed more information to accept the injection.

So, again, I did what any Mama would do. "If you get the shot, you can have a lollipop AND some Halloween candy when we get home."

"AND Phineas and Ferb?"

"Okay, AND Phineas and Ferb."

If the nurse hadn't walked in at that moment, holding the needle, I think he might have actually cheered.