Thursday, March 06, 2008

You Have My Sympathy

Now stop whining.

Caitlin is sick. Yes, again. Yes, the child that doesn't normally get sick, is sick. Twice in two weeks. Running a fever.

She was out all last week and seemed a lot better over the weekend, so we sent her in on Monday. After much whining and complaining about having to return to school and getting dressed and the usual, off she went. Eric hadn't even returned yet from dropping her off before the school called to say she was in the sick room complaining that she didn't feel well. Cruel as I am, certain she was faking it, I asked them to check her temperature which came back normal.

So I made her stay, of course.

Then?

An hour later they called back and she had a 101 degree fever. Le sigh!

So I sent Eric to go get her again.

Today, after several days of a low level fever (they won't let her back in school until she's normal again) and not acting sick at all, her fever has spiked to 103. I insisted Eric take her into the doctor, which he didn't want to do all last week (In Eric's defense, her fever last week never made it over 101 and the doctor laughed when we mentioned it - they don't want to see her until she's really sick.). Finally, after listening to her whine this morning about how she couldn't drink the tea he made her (Too hot! Blow on it! It's TOO HOT! Just blow -- Whiiiiiiine! Argh!) or eat the breakfast he made for her (I'm hungry! Here, eat this. I can't eat that! Why not? I don't feel well! My stomach hurts! That's because you're hungry. Eat. Nooooo! I caaaaaaan't! I don't feeeeeeeel good! Argh!) or put a sweater on (I'm cold! Put on a sweater. Noooo! I'm already wearing a long sleeved shirt! I don't want to get hot! What?! Just put on a --- Waaaaaah! Argh!), we sent her back to bed again.

The whining intensified.

The actual word WAH was employed. The melodrama! The Waaaah-ing. The whining. The making sure we could hear how utterly miserable she was just existing was in play. Yea verily, Death was nigh. The incredible inability to shut her door so that she wouldn't wake up the sleeping baby was driving me crazy and ended in me grinding my teeth in frustration.

I shouldn't be mad at her: she's sick!

But...!

But I don't think it's possible that I could feel less sympathetic to a sick child.

Eric has taken her in to see the doctor. Both of the twins are napping (Yay for naps! Yay for nubbly blankets from Grammy! Holy moly those things are great!) and I am all alone in a quiet house. For the moment.

Is there time for tea?

There has to be time for tea.

Updated to add: The Flu. She has the Flu. As in actual influenza. She's never had it before and hey! Did you know that there's a drug they can give you to knock it out if you take the drug within 48 hours? Yeah! Except we're past 48 hours. Now we have to keep Caitlin from "shedding the virus" all over us and the twins. Oh man!

On the bright side, Caitlin feels better after receiving sympathy from the doctor.

And some chicken broth.

11 comments:

Jennifer S said...

Oh girl. That has to be the most accurate description of a (whining) sick child that I've ever heard. Sounds exactly like my daughter when she's sick. (My son is nothing like that...he's quiet and stoic and just hangs out on the sofa)

I know that feeling of wanting to tear your hair out when they're sick.And not believing them sometimes. I posted about that a while ago. My daughter was complaining of not feeling well (after I thought we were all healthy after the flu) and I told her the whining was over, everyone was well, and that she needed to stop complaining. She left the room, and I found her 15 minutes later, sound asleep on the sofa with a 102.5 fever.

That's some darn good mothering right there.

Hope she feels better soon.

Woman with a Hatchet said...

Thanks Jennifer. You're right, there is some mighty fine motherin' goin' on right there/here. Both of us, that is.

Hello, I speak English, sometimes.

Ah well. It's always nice to know I'm not alone.

Missy said...

Aack! Do you think it is possible to transmit flu viruses through the internet? That is almost exactly how things shook down for my girl. It was at the 103 fever mark (after four days in a row of fever) that I became convinced she must see the doctor immediately.

So far the rest of our family has escaped it. (Knocking on a GIGANTIC piece of wood) I just have a nasty ugly cold. Which is better than five days of fever and ick. I think.

Hope she feels better soon and hope the rest of you escape the ick.

Scylla said...

Oliver has the flu too!! Did you send it here fed ex or something?

Woman with a Hatchet said...

Nooooo! No to the internet or fedex transmission as vectors. Aieee! it's just that it's um...a very popular disease and Caitlin is um...very popular and you're both...um...copycats!

Personally? I have a theory as to how she got it: she hasn't been drinking ANYTHING at breakfast time and then doesn't drink the water we send with her to school. So when she's thirsty, the only water she gets is from the water fountain, which is never going to be enough AND it is totally covered in the germs from all of the other germy kids.

At least that's my theory and I'm stickin' with it.

Suzanne said...

Came over to you from the BlogHer linky love.

Oh dear, you've got the sick child whining thing down exactly. My younger one was out one day last week with the cold. Not to be left out, older son was at school all of 15 minutes today.

Hope she's feeling better soon and that the rest of you don't catch it.

Sandi said...

Oh man...nothing worse than sick little ones!
I can tell you though that they do outgrow it! YAY for that! My kids are nearly grown and rarely catch anything anymore. AND when they do? they go to their rooms and go to bed.. heh!

Kim said...

Hope she feels better soon and hopefully she'll eat too!

Red Flashlight said...

Speaking as a whining, sick child - I'll be staying home today. I still have the cold that went around your town two months ago!

Woman with a Hatchet said...

Thanks for the well wishes, everyone! Caitlin appreciates the good thoughts.

Suburban Correspondent said...

Girls are way dramatic in their illnesses, while my boys are stoic as can be. I took my then-4-year-old boy in for what looked like the world's worst case of pinkeye once and found out he had pneumonia. Poor guy.

If she has already had the flu for over a week, it is shed already. Good luck!

And did you read her the story of the little boy who cried wolf? I'm always telling my daughter that if she is going to wail and moan over every little thing, there's no way we'll know when she is truly sick.

She doesn't listen, though.

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