It’s a holiday and my teacher daughter is just starting to feel better after a whole week of being really, really sick.
She’s hundreds of miles away from her wannabe primary caretakers.
We’ve walked her though the fever, the nausea, the lethargy, the sleepless nights, the boredom, the tears, the emotions, the loneliness.
We’ve suggested medications if she could drag herself to the shops across the parking lot.
We’ve offered water drinking advice but nothing stays down.
We’ve had our hearts torn out with comments like,
“I’m tired of lying here alone.”
We’ve heard the reluctance in her voice as she promised to get in her car to buy some gatorade or 7up.
We finally heard the desperation as she was sent home from work two mornings in a row. Hubs found a medical centre close to her home and promised to pay the bill.
“I’m scared,” she said, “what if it’s something serious?”
I told her I’d call 911 if she didn’t go and wondered where all her friends were?
“My place is stuffy, I wouldn’t want anyone here,” she replied.
She went to the medical centre where they found her to have a temperature of 103.2 degrees. They gave her a shot to stop the vomitting and a diet to adhere to once she felt she could hold something down.
A doctor told her what we’d been telling her all week, drink water, take tylenol and to come back if her temperature didn’t subside.
“I didn’t appreciate you threatening to call an ambulance, Mum,” she said when the shot began to take effect later that evening.
I had to jump start her into action.
I looked up her diet, BRAT, bananas, rice, applesauce and toast, for gastrointestinal distress. Apart from the bananas everything else were favourites so not too difficult to follow; but did she have them in her apartment and if not…where were her friends?
“I don’t want anybody here, Mum!” she fretted.
If only she was 1/2 a mile away as she used to be.
After a day of feeling better but light headed, she took herself to see a film on Saturday before noon. She called later to say she was feeling worse again and admitted to veering off her diet and onto a two hot dog craving!
“I was hungry, Mum!”
Her fever was still drifting in and out yesterday and after about ten phone calls she called the medical centre again and was reassured that the bacteria was still present in her gut and her body was valiantly fighting it, hence the lower fever and not to return unless her temperature spiked to 103 again.
Now her body aches, from dehydration, her stomach aches from the heaving, her head aches from complete lack of caffeine, and my ear aches from holding the phone!
Today is a holiday, thank goodness really because she still isn’t well enough to go to college or work. Not so good though because it means another lonely day.
“I’m sick of eating by myself,” she moaned. Is a six hour car drive feasible on a holiday, I think?
When she called she had slept well, brewed some coffee with the expert coaching of her father, and eaten some cereal. In between phone calls she was cleaning her place…
“What do I use to sterilise my keyboard?”
“How do I get rid of the stale smell?”
“Do you think I should wait and do my laundry at work?”
She checked her email and called excited because her professors had written to her and attached syllabuses, calendars and books for their classes.
She checked her college account and called fed up because her financial aid was still not in.
She called because she remembered she may get to come to Dallas next month for the State Fair.
She called when she opened her mail to find that her health insurance is finally going to kick in at work.
She checked her texts and called bummed that she had missed her food stamps interview.
She called because she’s concerned about her check not covering her bills this pay period.
Once she returns to work tomorrow and college on Wednesday I doubt I’ll hear from her… so, much to my ear’s dismay, I’m taking every call!
And in between chats, I’m writing this blog inspired by her ordeal.
Glad you’re feeling better Winks!
Happy Labour Day!
Go light on the hotdogs though, remember Bananas, Rice, Applesauce, Toast!
Well hello there! My name is Vivienne McNeny.
I am an empty nester exploring life as a Boomer…you could say I'm happily Boomering along!
As a homeschooling Mum I have finally quit the job of role model and mentor to my four children. I do what I want to do, eat when I feel like it, enjoy life with my blue eyed cowboy and clean my house once a month or so whether it needs it or not!
In true English form I write about the emergence of my true identity now that I can no longer hide behind my children as their Mum.
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