Here Comes The Crud

Tad got sent home from school yesterday after 45 minutes of class. I got a phone call from the nurse’s office saying that he sounded lousy.

He has been hoarse and “froggy” for the last couple of days, but nothing was coming out of his nose, so I wasn’t sure that anything was wrong. Then, yesterday morning, right before school, he started to cough. And when I say cough, I mean hacking up a lung. Apparently, he wasn’t just trying to clear his throat, because he kept doing it at school and they thought he might gag and throw up. And his teacher reported that he was pulling at his ears and was concerned about a possible ear infection.

Add it all up and it means COME GET YOUR KID NOW.

So, I picked him up from school, where he was happily trashing the nurse’s office – they have lots of toys to play with in there. If he’d known that, I’m sure he would’ve arranged to get sick at school sooner. The teacher on duty (the school nurse is shared with another school, so she wasn’t actually there) said that she’d taken his temperature and it was normal. I discounted the ear infection possibility out of hand, since Tad frequently tugs at his ears, and with no fever, it was highly unlikely.

Still, I called our pediatrician’s office and got Tad in to see the nurse practitioner. She checked his ears, listened to his chest, felt his lymph nodes in his neck, and listened to his froggy speech.

Ears were clear. Lungs were clear. Congratulations, Tad, you have a cold that’s stuck in your throat. Drink lots of fluids, use a cough syrup if necessary, and he’ll be fine in a week. And that will be $20 for your copay, thank you very much.

I’m really not aggravated about having to take him to the doctor. What bugs me is that school starts at 8 am, and the boy barely has time to clear the crud from his throat before he has to be at school. And then he’s sent home 45 minutes later. Well, at least if I decide to send him to school today, I have the moral authority of a doctor’s visit to back me up.

We’re playing it by ear. The nurse practitioner said that if he slept well and woke up feeling decent, there wouldn’t be much reason to keep him home. But I dug up the school’s attendance phone number, just in case.

I’m just hoping that Ane doesn’t catch this one. I hate fall and winter for this very reason – everyone is indoors, cooped up, playing inside and sharing germs.

And the kids are awfully generous when it comes to sharing with their mother.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 3rd, 2008 at 1:59 am and is filed under Children, School Days.
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