"It is health that is real wealth and not pieces of gold and silver."

"It is health that is real wealth and not pieces of gold and silver."

~Mohandas K Gandhi

Saturday, September 17, 2011

Well, hello there, new school year.

Last Friday, the first Friday of the new school year, I got a phone call from my son's daycare.  His right eye looked red/pink.  Awesome.  Fortunately, this was the end of the school day, so I went and picked him up.  I looked at his eye. 

After 18 years working in education, if there's one thing I pride myself on being able to diagnose on sight, it's pink eye.  This did not look like pink eye to me.  For one thing, the skin around it was red an swollen, too, in a way I have never seen with pink eye.

Second fortunate thing: it was Friday.  I had the luxury to say to myself and my husband, "I do not think this is pink eye.  We'll see how it looks in the morning, and if it doesn't look better, I'll think about bringing him to the doctor."  His pediatricians, bless their hearts, have Saturday morning hours.

Saturday morning, the eye looked better.  Not all better, mind you, but the kid was sneezing quite a lot, so I began giving him some Claritin in the morning.  I did call the doctor and describe the eye, too.  Bless them- they called in a prescription for eye drops, without having me bring him in.  She did say it sounded to her more like allergies, though, and to get him some OTC eyedrops. 

So, now it's a week later.  I gave him Claritin every morning before school, which seemed to help a bit, but by Thursday, the cause for the red glassiness became apparent:

The kid has the first cold of the school year.

I am quite fortunate in that my son is one of those types who soldier on through pretty much anything.  He's running around and playing normally, but sleeping quite a bit more at night.  He's also sneezing and coughing and blowing his nose quite a lot.

It's very hard for me, sometimes, to be able to do all the mommy things, like cuddle my kid when he's sick, and not sit there tense, wondering which sneeze is going to be the one that sends the virus into my system.  He, you see, has a normal immune system; we had him tested when he was just over a year old.  He will be fine, with very little medical intervention, by this time next week.  If my husband gets sick from this, it will take him less than a week to be fine. 

I, however, am the one my son wants to snuggle with when he's sick, and who he bestows big wet sloppy kisses on even more when he's sick.  There's no avoiding any of it, really, and it's very hard for me to not be resentful of both of my men during these situations. 

This week is a busy week, too.  His birthday is Tuesday, and we are having a small family party next Saturday.  He has OT Monday, and his yearly physical Wednesday.  I have to bake cupcakes tomorrow because I won't have time Monday.

I just hope the cold stays away from me until after next Saturday.  And that it doesn't become so bad I have to call in sick during freaking September!

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