Cooking Up A Cure

As I type this, Mister Man is upstairs in his room, I hope sleeping. He came home from school today crying, insisting that he had strep throat. Since he's only claimed this once before - the second time in his life that he had strep - I sighed and felt his forehead. With the evidence of a fever in front of me, I called the doctor and we soon verified that he did, indeed, have strep.

Tomorrow is not going to be the day I'd planned, but that's ok. Mister Man will be home sick with me, sad that he's missing out on school and miserable with his sore throat.

Just as my mom did with me when I was sick, Mister Man and I will cook and bake together. He'll have his choice of recipes to make - but I'm pretty sure I already know what he'll choose. Expect to smell pancakes and cookies coming from my house by mid day.

With my mom, our go to recipe was chocolate chip cookies. I learned to break eggs younger than I have memories. My first memory of breaking eggs was of my sister and I arguing over who got to break the egg first. Fortunately for my mom, chocolate chip cookies - at least our recipe - requires two eggs, minimizing the arguing.

It's still easy for me to bring to mind the recipe without so much as peeking at the back of the bag of chocolate chips. I know that my butter goes in first, followed by three quarters of a cup each of brown and granulated sugar, and one teaspoon of vanilla. I can see the texture of each step and taste it on my tongue just thinking of making the dough I so often created with my mom.

As I grew older and my mom wasn't in the house watching over me as often, I made the cookies on my own when I needed a break or needed to relieve some stress or to feel better. It was my tie to my family and to knowing that someone was there for me.

I still use this today. My grandmother's recipe for thumbprint cookies? There are days when I miss her so acutely, when I think of all she's missing not knowing the wee ones or being around to eavesdrop at restaurants and it just gnaws at me. Those cookies bring her back to me, and I smile through my pain, remembering the times we stood side by side making them together.

Bunsteads are my dad's family's New Years. Marguerite Salad is Thanksgiving and Christmas. Biscuits are made for special dinners. Food is the tradition in my family that binds us together. I'm trying my best to pass that along to the wee ones, giving them the same sense of comfort and love that I got my from family and the time we spent together.

Already, the wee ones can peel a mango by themselves - albeit less efficiently and less quickly than I can. They know the order of ingredients that go into several dishes. They're learning how to make bread and pasta sauce, and they can't wait until they cook their first meal by themselves.

And yes, both wee ones can break an egg by themselves. Mister Man's already working on his one-handed technique, although that may be awhile in coming.

This post was inspired by the book Mr. Rosenblum Dreams in English, this month's selection for the From Left To Write book club where we write a post inspired by the book rather than a traditional book review. I received a copy of the book for the purpose of writing this post. There is no compensation involved, and all opinions expressed are my own.

Pssssst I have a Facebook Fan page Facebook page. Come, like me! And, yes, I'm on Twitter, too - just sayin'.

Who Needs An MD Anyway?

Quick reminder of two giveaways here and here.

***

On Monday night, Mister Man told me that he felt like he had strep. At the time, he was overtired from a long weekend and too many activities and being out of routine. Monday had involved a late dinner and later bedtime, and I wrote it off to him just being out of sorts and tired in general. After all, he had zero symptoms of any illness at all, not so much as a sniffle.

On Tuesday, I received a call from my friend who was doing carpool pickup.

Hey, Michelle. I just wanted to let you know that Mister Man told me that he thought he had strep. I felt his lymph nodes, and they're swollen and knobby. Do you want me to meet you at the doctor? Huh. I guess that wasn't just him being overtired.

I took a quick look at the clock - 4:20 (she was ummm running very late after having locked her keys in the car at school). The doctor closes at 4:45, but it was worth a shot.

When I called, the nurse didn't really want to see us. After all, he didn't really have any symptoms, and this was a recent onset. Besides, all the appointments were already taken. I begged, and she put me on hold while going to talk to the doctor. Provided I could make it there by 4:45, we were golden.

Living all of three minutes from the doctor, Little Miss and I were there with plenty of time to spare. Mister Man walked in a few minutes later and promptly started reading. After waiting a few more minutes, we were ushered back to see the doctor.

So why are you here? she asked after introducing herself (nope, not so lucky as to be able to see our regular doctor who we adore).

Well, Mister Man said that he thinks he has strep, and his lymph nodes are swollen, so...

Does he have a stomach ache? A fever? Cough?

Ummm, no.

Well, does he have a runny nose? Is he not eating?

He's been acting normal. He just told me that he has strep.

I'm pretty sure she rolled her eyes at me at that point.

Ok, Buddy. Why don't you hop on up over here, and we'll take a look at you.

She listened to his chest, looked at his ears, his nose, and inside his mouth. Then she turned to me with her hands on her hips.

I can see a little post nasal drip, but everything else looks completely clear. I'll do a culture since you're already here, but it's not going to come back positive.

Ok, I said meekly, sitting quietly in my chair and trying to explain to her that in November he also had symptomless strep. She wasn't interested in hearing about it.

Four minutes later, she returned to the room.

Well. It's positive. I'm going to write you a prescription. Does he have any allergies?

I was pretty impressed. Mister Man has only ever had strep once before, and his throat wasn't hurting then either. What can I say? The boy knows his body. Maybe next time we can skip the middle man and just write our own prescription!

And in the meantime? Let's just say that I didn't exactly get as many things done today as I'd planned. You'll notice that it's 11:45, and I haven't even checked email today. Fingers crossed he stays well enough and symptom free so he can go back to school tomorrow!

Karma Is Not My Friend

Psst, I'm having a giveaway here. Go. Play. Enter. How is it possible that only one person has entered so far?

***

So.

On Saturday morning, I got an email from one of the parents in Mister Man's class. Apparently she'd been one of the Halloween party helpers the day before and left partway through the party with her son. Yep, he was feeling sick enough that he voluntarily left in the middle of a party. The mom wanted to let the rest of the parents know that he had swine flu and that she was really sorry and hadn't known about it before then.

No biggie. I get it. I've sent my child to school thinking he was totally healthy and then had him come home. And I know how fast the flu comes on.

A few hours later, there was a note from a parent whose child had tested positive for strep earlier that day. She noted that he had a low grade fever and a rash on his stomach but no other symptoms.

Another email arrived shortly after that one from yet another mom whose child tested positive for strep that day and who also had only a tiny fever and a rash on his bottom. She had him tested for strep against the doctor's wishes only because the boy's brother had strep earlier in the week.

And then another one arrived, apologizing for being the one who introduced strep into the classroom early in the week. Again, she noted the few symptoms, which is why it had taken her so long to get tested for strep.

I smiled and deleted the emails. My children don't get strep. I've been exposed to it hundreds of times when I was growing up and never got it once. I'm sure my wee ones have the immunity passed on. Plus, they eat well, sleep a ton (as Melisa can attest to!), take Vitamin D daily, and are good about washing their hands.

While I was at work today -- in the office, my one day a week, of course -- the school nurse called and left me a message. I needed to come pick up Mister Man because he had a low grade fever. Oh, and his right lymph node was slightly swollen. I then had two voicemails from my mom, one letting me know that my dad was on his way to pick up Mister Man and the other to let me know that my dad had him and she was at bridge and unavailable.

I sighed when I picked up the messages and called my dad. Mister Man was totally fine. He had no fever by the time he got to my parents' house and was busy playing with Legos. I said I'd call the doctor and see what they said.

After explaining the swollen lymph node and epidemic of strep and mentioning that he was also complaining of his ear hurting him, she asked that we bring him in. Her only concern was the ear hurting him, at this point. Had I not said that, they were fine waiting it out and seeing if he got any worse.

My dad was able to take him to the doctor for me, and I got a call a few hours later saying that Mister Man had -- to the shock of the doctor -- tested positive for strep. He showed no other symptoms, so apparently we caught it early.

And that smile I had earlier in the week when I deleted those emails? It is completely wiped from my face. Now I figure swine flu is next. That or Karma is coming back to bite me for saying that I'm immune to strep myself.

Whee.

Oh -- and a post script to all this fun. My parents decided to keep Mister Man at their house overnight since I have two PTO-related meetings tomorrow from 9:30 to 2:20 tomorrow, so it's easier to do that than drag Mister Man around tomorrow morning. They filled the prescription and gave him his first dose.

A half hour after giving him the first dose, my mom called to ask me a question. Isn't Mister Man allergic to amoxicillin and penicillin?

Ummm, yeah, why?

Well, that's what the prescription he had was, and we just gave him a dose about a half-hour ago.

Oh. Great. Well, apparently now we'll see if the hives he got as a baby (while admittedly being introduced to several other foods and soaps and such at the same time) were related to the amoxicillin he got or whether he truly is allergic. Tomorrow morning I'm ensuring he gets a new prescription.

Reason #632,719 why I need to quit my job.