Don’t you just love winter with its ever-changing fabric of kid illnesses? Today marks Day 6 of the Kid Sick at Home Crisis. SO grateful my daughter’s illness isn’t serious after all, but there were some scary moments: high fever, rashes. The fever caused her to hallucinate, screaming at a picture on the wall: “That scares me!” I didn’t take it personally that it was a family portrait of us and covered it immediately with a dishtowel. When she slept, I thought, Oh good, she’s resting.
Meanwhile, her little body was becoming dangerously dehydrated. That’s when she took a turn for the worse, but I still didn’t get it. By the time we got to her pediatrician, all kinds of other symptoms were presenting themselves. Mono and strep tests: negative. The doctor sent us home with advice: get as many liquids with real sugar (for glucose) in her as possible. So I started with a strawberry smoothie, flavored mineral water and juice. By 10 am the next morning, she made a miraculous recovery.
Her lips returned to a bubble gum pink. Rash: gone. Red throat: gone. Little girl: back. Trying to corral my guilt for not realizing she wasn’t drink enough is like trying to lasso wild horses. I just didn’t know. I was giving her all kinds of things to drink, but it wasn’t enough. Hydration is apparently the Universal Truth of any illness. I should know – I’m the one who has ended up in ER from dehydration. So if you’ve got a sick kid at home, you might want to monitor fluids and ask him to go potty just to make sure all systems are GO. It could be less misery for your child – and you.
jacki kane 