Thursday, September 27, 2007

Merlin's Wand Needed...

Word count: 1144, and I'm undecided if I'm at the end of Ch 3 or still have another scene...I'll decide that tomorrow!

I want a magic wand.

Or a magical cure for invisible illnesses.

You know the kind; they mysteriously infect your teenager every morning, rendering them hoarse; making their heads pound so badly you'd swear alcohol was involved; 1000 reasons why they can't go to school. No fever; and they gladly obey the directive to go back to bed and stay there the rest of the day.

When I discovered the joys of staying home sick, there were Happy Days reruns, followed by Laverne and Shirley and Three's Company. And a wonderful game show called Wheel of Fortune; Match Game; and of course, The Price Is Right. I'd gladly stay in bed until my parents left for work, and then I'd hit the couch and devour my morning television. The afternoon was spent reading; putting on my faux rock concerts; listening to my records. And then I'd be perfectly normal until 6:30 the next morning, when my throat was sore, my head was aching...but my mom (a school nurse) would take my temp and insist I return to school. Especially if I slipped and mentioned I would miss a test.

That's not the case around here. My children know if they stay home, they have a mother who tapes Charmed every morning (at least, for the next month or so anyway!); I'll be on the computer throughout the day; I'll have my 'old people's' music on (so my daughter complains!). And there will be no video games allowed. So given this strict environment, what child in their right mind would even WANT to stay home? She's taken her meds; she's asleep; I've instructed her to gargle salt water every hour on the hour (I'd really hoped that would have changed her mind...but no...), and she's going to help me move the furniture in the LRM and help wipe down the baseboards! Yeah, I'm a hard one today.

But the child has no fever; her throat's not swollen (it was on Monday); she was perfectly fine last night. And I apparently was behind the door when God passed out the ability to look down a throat. I can't see spots, colors, or see swollen tonsils. Hubby has that ability, and he won't be back until tomorrow night. And since my family doctor is 2 hours away, I don't think a sore throat is grounds for a trip to the ER.

Unless her dad comes home and sees a problem in her throat...I just hope I've not aided a case of strep throat to contaminate the entire 7th grade!

4 comments:

Unknown said...

I know nothing about kids other than they are short but oh, I used all the excuses to get out of school...

jackie said...

If she has strep throut. Take a flashlight, look at the side of the opening to the back of the throat. If there are little white things there she has strep or some other antibiotic requiring illness. if her throat in that area isn't red, puffy, or obviously icky, sh ehas a serious case of the blanket syndrome. Blanket syndrome is earmarked by a deep seeded need to wrap in a blanket and stroll around and lay on furniture any where allowable.! there's you diagnosis.

Molly Daniels said...

I'm voting for the blanket syndrome!

Molly Daniels said...

And AJ? My daughter and I can now see eye-to-eye...literally! I'm now the 4th tallest in the family...right in front of Will and the dog!