My pleas for a week of wellness fell on deaf ears. Or, perhaps, pus-filled infected ears. Either way, we’re still a freaking mess over at our house.
Literally moments after I sent my blog last week, Ruby came downstairs and said tentatively, as though knowing exactly how much I was about to freak out, “Uh, Mom. Georgia feels kind of warm …”
“No,” I said. “No, I won’t allow it. You’re both going to school. No.”
I took her temperature. 100.4. Dammit.
Georgia stayed home. Ruby went to school but came home at 3:30 so knackered she fell asleep on the sofa for 90 minutes, which is something I don’t think she’s done since 2008 – or maybe ever.
Georgia ran a fever all weekend. I had a crushing headache all weekend.
Monday, I took Georgia to the doctor – ear infection – only to receive a call from school that Ruby had thrown up in Chapel.
I managed to get the two of them settled at home and take myself to the doctor, where I was diagnosed with an ear infection and a sinus infection. I got a steroid shot and then went to the pharmacy to pick up six different prescriptions for the pitiful three of us. (Just for something a little different, the next day also brought two more prescriptions for my husband’s back pain. They love us at Rite-Aid.)
I have not sent both of my children to school together on the same day since Feb. 5. That’s three weeks of illness. “At this point,” I told my husband, “I think maybe we should just burn the house down and start fresh. Maybe we can just move to the country and home-school them in the middle of a field or something?”
It could be worse. I know it could be worse. I am so grateful to have decent access to quality medical care for the whole family. I am so grateful to have an employer who offers generous sick leave and a boss who tells me, “Relax; take care of your kids.” I am so beyond grateful that my kids are typically so robustly healthy and that we’re not dealing with anything worse than gross but mild illnesses. But I am really, really ready for all of us to be well.
Also, I am extremely glad that I didn’t give up hand sanitizer for Lent.
