Monday, January 23, 2012

Taking a Sick Day

Last night, my girl was not feeling good. She was quiet all day when we were with friends, and she was in bed by 7:30 pm so I knew she was not feeling good.

When she went to bed, as usual, I went with her, tucked her in, crept in beside her to get cozy, warm, and have a little chat.

As I brushed the hair away from her face, two thoughts flooded my mind and took over me. First I thought about a time when Haley didn't get "regular" sick. She was on antibiotics for the first few years of her life, so I didn't deal with the ear aches, colds, flu, nothing like that! I was lucky. But, I also knew that if she had a fever, I would be going to the Children's Hospital Emergency. It usually meant that she had a bladder infection, and always, I was on alert that it could be something worse. That is just how things were at that time. That was our time of discovery of so many things that could be yet to come.

With each spike in fever I would wonder if this would be the time that they would do surgery to correct her bladder reflux. Once that surgery was eventually done, she had been infection free for about six months. It was a Friday and she had a fever, and I felt the knot in my stomach tighten. I hated when fevers came on a Friday, because if I went to your doctor, I knew test results were not going to get back to me until after the weekend, and I would be wrought with worry all weekend. The alternate was going to the Children's Emergency and plan for at least a 6 hour wait. This time I went to her doctor, and I remember being so thrilled that it was just strep throat! I realized, this was the first time she was sick with just something "regular"I was so excited that it was just something like that, simple! I remember those times, every time she feels under the weather.

The second thing that came to mind was taking a sick day. As she was falling asleep, I thought about how great it was, that I didn't have to make a call to get someone to open my store, cover my shift, or do the tasks that needed to be done in my day. You know that every mom who runs a business, works outside of the home in some capacity, has that dread of making arrangements, not because they are sick, but because their kid is sick. We just work when we're sick, but you can't do that when you have a sick kid. I was thankful in that moment, this was the first time since quitting my job that the situation arose.

So, having had these thoughts, inspired a post on my other blog, A Pinch of Creativity. If you have not checked it out yet, please do so here at A Pinch of Creativity.

Thanks for stopping by, have a wonderful week!

~Tannis~

2 comments:

  1. I'm so sorry that you have had so many difficulties with your daughter. I just ghostwrote a book called Joshua's Missing Peace where the mother was trying to figure out what was going on with her son. It turned out to be PANDAS, an advanced form of Strep.

    Thank you for sharing such an intimate story! I hope she is better!

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  2. I do hope that Hayley is feeling better by now. And I'm glad that this time her condition was routine - although nobody would want a strep throat! Keep us all informed Tannis.

    Best wishes,

    Keith

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