advertisement
-
Deb Clem-Buckert
on Sep 1 2010 - 12:00 PM
Silly Bands, Purple Bracelets, Leukemia and Lots of Inspiration!
- read more
Margo Posnanski
on Aug 31 2010 - 06:00 AM
The Princess Who Once Wore Red Plastic High Heels
- read more
Laura Bauer
on Aug 30 2010 - 06:00 AM
What do you mean you want to hang out with your family?
- read more
-
Mom2Mom was built by moms like us at The Kansas City Star to make it easy for Kansas City moms to share experiences and photos, get and give advice, plan family fun and more. Contact us, find out more about us or see answers to our frequently asked questions.
Kady McMaster
-
Ugh. When will the sickness end?
For more than a month, at least one of my kiddos has been ill at least one day a week. Not with seasonal or H1N1 flu, but just with the regular crud kids get.
Tom has had one bout of a respiratory virus and currently has a stomach bug. Maggie’s on her second round of a respiratory virus that includes swollen tonsils and an extreme sore throat. But it’s not strep, as attested by the two negative throat cultures. So far this month, Joe has remained healthy, but last month he won the prize when his respiratory virus turned into pneumonia.
This is earlier and more sickness than we’ve had in years in our family, and it’s enough to make a person consider withdrawing from society, especially given the nonstop flu coverage on TV and in the newspapers. But, like I told my worried mom, you can’t stop living.
We’ve gotten our seasonal flu shots, and if I can find the H1N1 vaccines, I’ll be getting those for my kids. Joe’s got asthma, and I think I’d be remiss as a parent if I didn’t get him this protection, especially since he’s already had pneumonia this year. And we wash our hands, and I use Purell and sanitize my shopping-cart handles.
But I think we all need to calm down a little.
Case in point: Maggie, Tom and I were waiting for the elevator at the pediatrician’s office on Tuesday. Maggie had coughed until she threw up Monday night and finally went to sleep with me propping her up (because she kept sliding down her pillows.) She needed something stronger than over-the-counter cough medicine, so we had to go in. Tom was with us because he had a stomach virus. He was carrying a large empty butter container just in case.
We were waiting for the elevator next to a woman holding the cutest Anne Geddes baby I’ve seen in a while. When one of my kids coughed, the woman shot me a look like I was Typhoid Mary and moved about 10 feet away. The kids and I bailed and took the stairs.
As we were signing in for our appointment, a mom and two kids came into the office. All three had on medical face masks. My kids’ eyes grew huge, and once we got into the exam room, I told them that family might have had flu. Or maybe they were just paranoid.
Everywhere we went in that medical office building, people looked scared. If someone sneezed, others froze. It was crazy. It was an office building full of doctors’ offices. Sick people go to the doctor. Ergo, you will run into sick people if you’re in a building full of doctors’ offices. Deal with it.
I don’t know what the answer is, but I know what the problem is. We have too much information nowadays.
Back in 1918, people were scared because they didn’t really know how the flu was spread or why some people got it and some didn’t. Tuberculosis still raged. It was the Dark Ages, medically speaking.
Now we’re in the Age of Enlightenment, and we’re still scared.
But personally, I’m not going to hole up and hope for spring. We're not going to skip school programs or the theater or church or going out in public in general. We're going to preach good hygiene to the kids and remind them to cough into a Kleenex or their arms and keep on keepin’ on.
What else is there to do? Life goes on. There's always some virus lurking right around the corner, and you can't live in fear.
I've always heard not to give children cough medicine. The doc says it's good for them to cough and loosen the gunk up instead of not coughing and not breakin' the crap up. Not to mention some of them are dangerous for kids under a certain age... I just stick to Children's Motrin. But you know me, I'm a home remedy kinda mom anyways... Warm baths with vapor and lots of honey.Hope everyone gets better. ... My father always liked that honey and lemon in strong tea for coughs, too. ... I'm shouting at the kids to always wash their hands AND I'm staying off the CDC Web site -- it's like overload. (Like reading "What to Know When Your Expecting" when I was scared about every possible pregnancy complication.) Colds and flus USUALLY aren't complicated, just draining and frustrating as hell.Have you talked to your dr. about getting a pneumonia shot for your DS with asthma? I got mine recently, and they told me it's good for 5-10 years (I had no idea--I thought it was a yearly thing like the flu shot). The 5-year was if you're in a higher risk category, like if you have asthma. I don't know if it's approved for children, but it might be worth checking out.I get both sides of this argument regularly from my mom and my mother-in-law. They take opposite points of views on this (and other things). As annoying as it can be, I guess it helps me try to keep my head and remain reasonable. Just think, last year we were all in a tizzy about melamine in our food.I'm going to contradict tfjonas ( no shocker there) although I do agree that coughing up the crud is necessary-- so is sleep. I'm sure your doc gave you a script for her to just take at night. That's what we do, anyway ( after the cool mist, and the vapors, and hte gallons of warm fluids). Gotta keep on living.. you are right, kate,.. even my germaphobe DH is not locking us up in a bubble!Yes, just to clarify that the cough medicine with codeine is just for the nighttime. I don't give cough meds in the daytime, but she lost two nights of sleep to the cough. It needed to be stopped. She's 12 and weighs almost 100 pounds, so she's OK. Plus I trust my pediatrician.My poor son had a yucky cough that JUST happened to end Monday on his 3 yr well child visit. I thought the pediatricians office was scary! Face mask everywhere-in the well and sick child rooms. I agree, if your kid is sick, it just has to run its course, but it REALLY has lingered with my son. I do Triaminic at night so he doesn't end up gasping for air around 10. All that mucus just pools after a few hours of sleep-mmmmm mucus :)Oh PS-Village Pediatrics gave him both the Flu and the H1N1 flu shots (he had the pneumonia one last year and apparently he is good for that until Kindergarten). So if anyone goes to Village Pediatric the H1N1 vaccines are in :)I hope everyone gets well soon at your place. I have a sicky one here too. I just keep tylenol and motrin around here and LOTS of juice. There were so many kids out sick at my older kids school that they just closed the school tomorrow because of sickness (didn't have school Friday because of PT conferences). I can't wait till all the flu buggies are gone.Do you take them to your MIL's house? I didn't understand this issue until it impacted me, so let me explain. People with autoimmune issues (like your MIL) are succeptible to these viruses and illnesses and they don't just get sick, they get really sick and some die. I don't go to church right now, I avoid inside the school, I wash down my grocery cart, and I wear lots of hand sanitizer. Yep, I fear it. Because with no immune system to fight it cancer survivors, AIDS patients, pregnant people, etc (and other autoimmune conditions) are in danger. The thing that peeves me most are people who send their kids back to school sick!!!!!!!!!!!! I know why people do it. I keep mine home til they are "more than" well. You may think I live in fear. I think I want to see my kids graduate high school.No, Annie, I don't take them to my MIL's house or to my mother's, either. She has a compromised immune system, too, for other reasons. I don't take them places when they're sick, except to the doctor. My point is that you're going to run into sick people at the doctor. You can't avoid it. You can't avoid it anywhere, frankly, because sometimes people don't know they're sick, and that's when they're most contagious. Like chicken pox. You're contagious even before you break out. But I don't want my kids to be scared of every little thing they get, either. Kids get colds and other viruses. Right now, Tom thinks he has H1N1 because he's vomiting and got diarhhea. It's crazy.
September 2010 Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 Tagsparenting (85)
kids (21)
tweens (15)
teens (11)
discipline (8)
holidays (8)
school (8)
family (6)
moms (6)
politics (6)
growing up (5)
pets (5)
childhood (4)
chores (4)
marriage (4)
mommy wars (4)
motherhood (4)
technology (4)
dating (3)
embarrassing moments (3)
fashion (3)
sports (3)
ads (2)
aging (2)
behavior (2)
cell phones (2)
child abuse (2)
childbirth (2)
competition (2)
conformity (2)
cooking (2)
dogs (2)
education (2)
environment (2)
fears (2)
friends (2)
games (2)
global warming (2)
guilt (2)
health (2)
hipness (2)
manners (2)
mistakes (2)
preteens (2)
role models (2)
scouts (2)
sex (2)
sex education (2)
shopping (2)
teen pregnancy (2)
television shows (2)
volunteering (2)
winning (2)
abuse (1)
adventures (1)
advice (1)
alcohol (1)
animals (1)
annoying (1)
bad day (1)
baking (1)
beauty (1)
believing (1)
birthday (1)
birthdays (1)
blogging (1)
boating (1)
body art (1)
bravery (1)
bullies (1)
bullying (1)
camp (1)
car pool (1)
careers (1)
cars (1)
charity (1)
children (1)
chris brown (1)
christmas letters (1)
civic duty (1)
civility pledge (1)
cleaning (1)
clothing (1)
clubs (1)
college (1)
communication (1)
cool mom (1)
dads (1)
daughters (1)
daycare (1)
death (1)
decorating (1)
dinner (1)
disappointment (1)
discpline (1)
diversity (1)
dog poop (1)
domestic violence (1)
drug use (1)
drugs (1)
economy (1)
empty nest (1)
families (1)
family dinner (1)
fan (1)
fathers (1)
firstborn (1)
flu (1)
food (1)
friendship (1)
gagdgets (1)
garage sales (1)
gardening (1)
george clooney (1)
getting older (1)
gifts (1)
giving (1)
graduation (1)
grammar (1)
groups (1)
growing older (1)
guns (1)
habits (1)
head lice (1)
health care (1)
history (1)
hobbies (1)
home (1)
home repairs (1)
homework (1)
hope (1)
housework (1)
infidelity (1)
internet (1)
jeans (1)
labor (1)
larry johnson (1)
laundry (1)
law (1)
lawn care (1)
math (1)
media (1)
memories (1)
men (1)
menopause (1)
middle school (1)
minivans (1)
mom jeans (1)
mothers (1)
movie night (1)
music (1)
myths (1)
nagging (1)
names (1)
needy (1)
neighbors (1)
obesity (1)
obsession (1)
pain (1)
parents (1)
phobias (1)
phones (1)
profanity (1)
prom (1)
puberty (1)
public schools (1)
race (1)
reality shows (1)
rihanna (1)
romance (1)
rudeness (1)
santa claus (1)
school bus (1)
schools (1)
self improvement (1)
sick kids (1)
sick pets (1)
sickness (1)
sleep (1)
snow day (1)
soap operas (1)
soccer moms (1)
social life (1)
social media (1)
social responsibility (1)
society (1)
spiders (1)
spouse (1)
stories (1)
stress (1)
summer (1)
summer fun (1)
swimming suits (1)
swimsuits (1)
teen girls (1)
tests (1)
thanksgiving (1)
toilets (1)
toyota (1)
toys (1)
traveling (1)
twitter (1)
values (1)
venting (1)
violence (1)
war (1)
weather (1)