I especially hate choices that have to do with my children's health. For instance, are they sick enough to stay home? A simple question with two choices...yes, they are sick or no, they are not sick. Hmmm... if only it were so simple!
My mind goes back to when Ellen, who is now 6, was 2 years old. We were at our homeschool cooperative and she had a runny nose. Really, how many 2 year olds don't have runny noses? So, I took her to her class and did my class and didn't worry about it. At lunch time, Ellen was wandering around the gym eating out of every lunch box that was open and sitting on the floor until another mom said, "ummm... Ellen is eating everyone's lunches!" Oops! Slight embarrassment but not a big deal, right? Wrong! After a nap at home, she woke with a 102.5 fever and a trip to the clinic revealed strep throat!!! Major embarrassment I as I sent an email stating "I'm sorry... perhaps Ellen ate out of your child's lunch box and she has strep. Just thought I'd let you know..." Obviously, the right choice on that day would have been to stay home that morning rather than expose all the children who left their lunch boxes open on the floor!
Here we are in 2010 and I've now been a mom for almost 13 years. Surely I have learned a thing or two and gotten better at knowing if my children are sick or not... maybe not.... Ellen complained on Saturday night of a sore throat. Yep... one side was swollen with a few blisters. Sunday morning both sides were swollen and more blisters but no sore throat. So, I made the choice to stay home from church with her... no pain, no fever, no loss of appetite, nothing that would indicate that she was sick. Chad called from church to check on her and we made the decision to not go to Ohio to see friends as we were planning but to keep her home "just in case". It's now Monday evening and though her throat is still ugly, she says "I AM NOT SICK!"
So, is my child sick or not? That is the million dollar question and I think I once again made the wrong choice.
I asked the doctor about this very thing the last time we visited. My girls seem to constantly have swollen throats and I've come to understand that is sometimes normal. So his advice was not to worry unless there was fever, etc. But I'm still not convinced... one of my girls has a throat so swollen I wonder how she continues to function. Yet she does continue to eat and play. However, when asked to do something she doesn't want to, she suddently has a sore throat. Obviously there are motivation issues here that need to be dealt with; however, the pain may be real... her throat looks like it should hurt... and on and on the debating goes ;-) Remind yourself "Better safe than sorry" LOL
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