quarantine

It all started with a headache on Monday. Now it is Thursday and we are still under a self imposed quarantine. I cannot tell you exactly what is wrong, because I haven't actually seen a doctor, but the best guess of my best friend is the flu. I probably should mention here that my friend is a pediatric nurse who has spent several years working triage for a local children's clinic. She is almost always my first call when any of my children are sick. She is the one who then advises on whether or not I should take the kids on to the doctor or just wait out whatever is going on and fusses at me if I don't call her immediately when I realize someone is sick.

She is a very convenient friend ... and since we have been friends for more than 25 of our 35 years, trust is not an issue.

Okay, back to the story.

This whole mess started with LB having a headache on Monday. Not much to be alarmed about. I gave her a dose of Tylenol and we went on about our business. Tuesday morning she woke up before 8:00 (which is unheard of in our house, for a child at least) and I soon realized that she was running fever. Great. Tuesday's are our busiest days around here. We have speech for JW in the morning and LB has dance in the afternoon and, on this particular Tuesday, we were supposed to be having supper at my parents' house to celebrate my sister-in-law's birthday.

The hardest part of the day was when LB realized that she couldn't go to dance. She is in her 6th year of taking dance and this is the first class she has ever missed! She cried, both because she absolutely loves to dance and because she would miss any new steps that they would learn that day and that meant that Mrs. Gerry (her beloved teacher) would have to re-teach the new steps next week, just for her. And to be honest, she was also a little sad that she wouldn't be recognized at the recital for perfect attendance. I think she'll survive the disappointment.

My only fear in not taking them to the doctor is that whatever has come to visit our family is not the H1N1 virus. You see, this flu, at least among the children I have known to have it, has been pretty mild and there has been little need to treat it. But in the back of my mind, I keep thinking that they could have strep or some other infection that would require treatment to get better. So, I guess today will be decision day.

So what do I hate most about the kids being sick (other than them being sick in the 1st place)?
1. They watched enough PBS Kids yesterday to turn any brain to mush.
2. By last night they were bored, so they decided fighting was the answer.
3. The four of us had to miss church last night. Maybe I'll blog one day about why I love Wednesday nights at our church so much and then maybe you'll understand why I hate missing so much.

Today will be the day to pull out the big guns to fight the boredom. Maybe I'll run to Dollar General and get them a new game ... or maybe we'll just go ahead and have school. Whatever we do, I am sure that by the time Ronnie gets home tonight I'll be looking for an escape.