We've been lucky, I guess. In two years our little one has not been seriously ill. She's had a few fevers, and pink eye, and some falls, but nothing serious - until yesterday. She's had a fever the last few days. At times high it's been, and a few times really high. We almost brought her to the emergency room yesterday morning. Even in kids, I didn't know thermometer readings went that high. I won't tell you the reading, it still frightens me to remember it. But with children's Advil and a room temp bath it came down quickly, and we felt comfortable waiting untilour clinic opened a few hours later. Because both her parents really needed to work, we agreed that one of us at least would complete some work obligations. And, I brought her into an overbooked appointment in the middle of the morning.

Well, the fever was down when we got to the clinic, but she wasn't looking good. She was glued on me and didn't talk to anyone. She looked very sick. She was, of course, and she was also sleep deprived, which did not help anything. Her fever went up, and up, while we were there, even after they gave her Tylenol. The did lots of scary things to figure out what was wrong, and then said they wanted to hospitalize her to keep her from getting dehydrated, keep an eye on her, etc. Well, just before we left the clinic she was due for her next dose of Advil, which they gave her. And, by the time we got to the hospital, after stopping at home, the Advil had kicked in and she was doing better. They ended up not keeping her in the hospital and sent us home after several hours and parental tears shed (mine) out of stress and frustration.

She's still has a fever, but at the moment, seems more her normal self. She's watching cartoons 2 year-old style, which at least for her is very interactive. She's going through her toy box, talking, and seems more or less OK. We'll bring her back to the clinic today so they can look at her again, and give us more info on some of the other labs they did.

In the meantime, I have now had the experience of watching my child go through numerous back-to-back frightening medical procedures; some of them painful, some of them extremely restricting of her body, all of them uncomfortable. I don't know who is more traumatized by the experience, me or her. And, as a couple, her parents have solidified some of our differences regarding health care services, and we have clearly established that despite the vastness of these differences, our love and concern for our child are the same. And, we have created a plan for how to communicate more effectively the next time she is sick and we are not together. As for today, I am so thankful that our beautiful child is a little better. And I have way accepted the fact that my juggling of multiple out of state trips between yesterday and Sunday are not going to happen.

I have to end this post, my "sick" child wants me to read to her, and keeps bringing over books to read together, and animal toys to enjoy the reading experience with us.