Wednesday, November 4, 2009

The Flu and Fury

So, our kids appear to have the H1N1 flu. I say "appear" because they've stopped swabbing and testing here and since our kids had the regular seasonal flu shot but not the H1N1 (whole different story...don't even get me started) the doctor just assumes it is of the swine variety. Which sucks. They've been miserable and cranky and SICK. Our son is a major concern given his asthma and history of respiratory problems so our doctor is keeping really close tabs on him. So, far both seem to be handling it as well as can be expected, though so I just have to hope and pray that they both continue to fight this off.

They've been sick since Sunday which means we've been housebound and aahhh I think I might lose my mind soon. I guess on the positive side I have managed to gut my son's room, closet, the playroom, and the downstairs closet of old, broken, or unused toys. I just have my daughter's room left but am putting that off. I need to hang on to part of my sanity.

While we are on the topic of illness and germs let me just share with you a major irritant. Parents who don't keep their sick kids home and away from other children. Teaching for six years it was shocking to me that parents would send their visibly sick and miserable kids to school. Once the shock wore off, anger set it. Anger that they'd be so inconsiderate to not only their children, but the rest of us who are now exposed. This frustration has only intensified as I've had kids of my own.

When my kids are sick I don't take them to play dates or to the library, or to my daughter's gym class,or to church and Sunday school, or to any of the other social function with which we are involved. I seem to be one of the few that actually lives by this code. It is shocking to me the number of parents who bring their children to gym or dance class sicker than dogs. Or the parents who bring their children to church horribly ill because they think God will definitely damn them to hell if they dare miss one Sunday to care for a sick child. (I'm a church goer, but I tell ya, church people are the WORST about taking their sick kids out).

Anyway, this brings me back to my original point. Last week at my daughter's gym class a mother was in the lobby with us who looked on the verge of death. She was coughing, sneezing, sweating, wheezing. I'm sure she had the flu. I even made a comment to my mom, who had come to watch my daughter, that I was going to flip out if we ended up sick. Sure enough, three days later my son is sicker than a dog. Granted, he could have picked this up at Target or Costco, but chances are pretty good he got it from the inconsiderate lady who just infected preschoolers.

As I wrap up this tangent, I'll simply say this. Sickness is part of life. However, I would greatly appreciate it if sick people stayed home. It's not that difficult of a concept.

2 comments:

Nancy said...

My sister works at a public school pre-school and she said they cancelled their "holiday" party last year because they knew parents would send their kids in saying "Oh but they wanted to come so baddddd".
Parents don't seem to realize that teachers don't want to get sick either.
She had a girl just oozing green out of her nose (mother's a nurse!), called the parents to pick her up, father came all pissed off said "she doesn't look sick", took her home, to the doctor. She had a DOUBLE EAR INFECTION!
I don't understand either! Well, actually I do...parents are pressured to be at work and have time to stay home with a sick child or the child is the one in control.

Joanne said...

I'm so with you on this issue, I could rant too. The shoppers in the stores coughing without covering their mouths, the sick kids dragged out. I won't even go near the malls on the weekends, it's so bad. They've been closing schools here right and left because of swine flu, sometimes for an entire week. During which time they CLEAN the building. Okay, aren't we CLEANING the buildings beforehand? Oh, I don't know. I'm staying home.