As you may recall a couple weeks ago my son Dopey came home from a visit with grandparents with full blown chicken pox. I did not forget about them per say, but got busy with life and pink eye, basketball schedules, Christmas preperations and concerts etc etc etc...
So when Doc came down with the flu we did not think twice about it. Just moved on with life and let her hang out in her room cuddled under a pile of blankets and pillows to sweat it out. Yesterday when I arrived at my office I found Sleepy, clearly very un-happy, with big red cheeks and tears in her eyes, telling me how sick she feels but if I could just let her rest and go back to class, she would be okay. See she did not want to miss her first ever basketball game on an organized team. I told Sleepy that for sure, she had a fever and could not put her team at risk and she had to go home. Score one for this mom, as I shrank down to her eye level and kindly and lovingly told her that there are many basketball games this season and that no matter when she gets to play, it will be her first game and that we will all be there to support her! She really wasnt buying what I was selling, but went and grabbed her stuff and home we headed.
In the car I reach over and feel her forhead which is on fire and then reach up and tossle her hair. Feeling a bump I ask her what she did to her head. She says -"don't worry mom, they are bug bites - I had the girls at school look at them they are not ticks." Bug bites. Really in December ?
I get her home and ask her to put on her jammies and come see me. I check her trunk and see a few red spots - check her hair and see some "bug bites" and think... that today is the LAST day for the chicken poxs that Dopey had to incubate... nuts I say to Sleepy, you got the pox.
I feed her and Doc lunch and then make arrangements for the other kids to get home from school and sports and do a few things around the house. About 3 hours later I see Doc as she is getting a drink from the fridge. I say to her, "is that a cold sore on your lip?" No she says. Well maybe she says. I ask her to come over towards me and as she does, I see a matching mark on her neck. I tell her to head to the bathroom where I check her trunk, cant be sure - but am thinking maybe she has the pox too... But how can this be? She is the one that brought them home 10 years ago for us all to share. Within the hour it was confirmed. Case number two for the day.
Our dwarf friend comes home from school and has a headache. Literally she sits all night on the couch and sleeps. I go to cooking class, come home and wake her . I have her talk to me a bit about what hurts and then give her a glass of water and two advil and send her to bed. No sooner is she out of my sight and I hear a loud crash. She passed out cold on the way to her room. I rush up to see her in a heap on the floor. I start trying to rouse her and after what seems like a long time, but maybe three minutes - she flutters open her eyes and asks, Did I fall?
Get her situated in bed. Head back to the first floor of the house and now am a mess because every loud noise sounds to me like a child falling - out of bed - into the bathroom ... Finally I get to sleep around 1am, fighting off my own headache and stomach issues.
In the am I wake to find that Happy wont get out of bed. He has a headache and is refusing to go to school. Hum..typically he is so compliant that I let this slide and tell him to go back to bed. Go make my rounds to the other sick dwarfs to find that Doc looks like a pin cusion and Sleepy is not far behind, both still running fevers and have the chills and many many more spots than yesterday. Because of the high fever and sore neck, we take Doc to the doctors. I check her in and whisper to the receptionist..."she is highly contagious, do you want her in the waiting room? Eyes get large as she scurries away from the counter clearing a room for Doc. Now that friends was the fastest appointment that I have ever had at the doctors office - we were in and out inside of 15 minutes!!
Side note - if you have three pox close together and you draw some holly leaves with a green maker around them you have a beautiful festive holly branch for the Christmas season. Just saying.
Now the friend that we have and Doc both are thinking that showers would be a great idea. Doc manages hers fine. However our friend does not. She passes out in the shower. After the shower she tries to talk me into going to school, because she has no fever and is not showing pox. She just has no strength in her legs.. Hum let me think, send you to school or not ??? Answer ..NOT
The count for the day - four home - for sure two of them til after the first of the year - the third jury is still out on her ailment - but the doctor says if there is a doubt, keep her home.
Now let's just see what next weeks illness will be. OR better yet, will there be more dwarfs with the Pox in time for Christmas???
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