The Doctor is SICK

Well, it seems that Ane’s immune system isn’t as hardy as she thought.

The poor kid fell ill at school today, prompting a phone call to me from her teacher to come pick her up. She had the same fever that Tad had had on Friday – and threw up in the car on the way home. Joy of joys.

When we got home, I had her brush her teeth, gave her some water, and put her to bed.

She took a FOUR HOUR NAP.

Ane woke up feeling much better, and was even hungry enough to eat dinner. I think it is safe to say that she is over it now – her fever has broken, and there has been no more vomiting.

In the meantime, Tad was totally oblivious to his sister’s ills. He had his speech therapy appointment as usual – Ane slept right through it – and he was determined to be a pill for the whole session. So he’s feeling just fine.

If Ane hadn’t slept through the speech therapy session, I had planned on providing her with an extra-special treat.

When I was sick as a child – and my siblings remember this as well – our Dad would bring in the small, 13 inch TV (and later, VCR) from my parents’ room and set it up in the sick kid’s bedroom. It was the only time we were ever allowed, as kids, to have a TV in our bedroom, and it was a big deal to us. I think the only time it didn’t happen is when we were all down with the chicken pox – mostly because all three of us older kids were home sick with it (this was a good five years before Auntie was born), and Dad, who was in his thirties at the time, was also down with it. He had never contracted it as a child, even though Obachan says she “tried and tried” to expose him to it so he would have it.

I was in the fourth grade, I was working on a project/paper on flamingos (we had all been randomly assigned an animal or bird to research), and I remember how hard it was to write, because I had some chicken pox blisters between my fingers. My Dad was so sick that he could barely talk, so he had a bell that he rang when he wanted something. Since I was the oldest, I would go and see what he needed when my Mom was at work. Usually, he wanted a popsicle – his preference was for grape ones.

When I was violently ill with morning sickness when I was pregnant with Ane, he offered to bring me grape popsicles if I needed them.

And all I remember about flamingos is that they eat with their heads upside down in the water, their knees bend both ways, and zoos have to dye the shrimp they feed flamingos pink to keep the flamingos’ feathers looking pink. The end.

Anyway, the TV in the bedroom was a luxury only allowed to us when we were sick. So I got down the portable DVD player and picked out a movie for Ane to watch during speech therapy so she would get a special treat and stay in her room. But she slept through it all, never realizing what she was missing.

Oh, well. I’m sure there will be a next time.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 28th, 2008 at 1:47 am and is filed under Children, Family, Speech Therapy Saga.
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