My Animal, My Son
It must be one of Murphy's Law of parenting that children tend to get sick in the middle of the night, on weekends, or long holidays when the only option for treatment is a clinic way on the other side of town.
Saturday night, while my husband was getting ready to take his mother to the bus for her night tour to Ise Shrine, I noticed that my son had a hideous rash. He'd had a high fever and a sore throat since the evening before, but I thought it was just tonsillitis, which he tends to get. But he'd had the rash thing before, too, and I recognized it as scarlet fever.
Scarlet fever is sort of like strep throat, and ever since I heard that Jim Henson died of strep throat, I get kind of freaked out by related diseases. I told my husband that we had to get Jio treated right away. He wanted to wait till morning, but I insisted.
Later, after he left with his mother, he called me from the road. He said that he could get antibiotics from his friend, S.
"But he's an animal doctor!" I said.
I refused the offer and told him that I would take Jio to the doctor myself. He wound up driving to the clinic across town, where my diagnosis was confirmed.
Saturday night, while my husband was getting ready to take his mother to the bus for her night tour to Ise Shrine, I noticed that my son had a hideous rash. He'd had a high fever and a sore throat since the evening before, but I thought it was just tonsillitis, which he tends to get. But he'd had the rash thing before, too, and I recognized it as scarlet fever.
Scarlet fever is sort of like strep throat, and ever since I heard that Jim Henson died of strep throat, I get kind of freaked out by related diseases. I told my husband that we had to get Jio treated right away. He wanted to wait till morning, but I insisted.
Later, after he left with his mother, he called me from the road. He said that he could get antibiotics from his friend, S.
"But he's an animal doctor!" I said.
I refused the offer and told him that I would take Jio to the doctor myself. He wound up driving to the clinic across town, where my diagnosis was confirmed.
Labels: life
posted by Gaijin Mama at 4:41 PM
6 Comments:
Cracking up at the vet idea!! Ah, husbands...
Scarlet fever always makes me think of Mary in the Laura Ingalls books (it caused her to lose her sight).
I hate illnesses...but I'm with you, no vet meds...
We had a bout of scarlet at our house this weekend as well, which meant a four hour visit to the emergency room to get the antibiotics. I wonder, if someone had offered animal medication 2 hours into our wait, if I would have accepted?
I feel totally ignorant! I thought scarlet fever was a thing of the past. Thanks for the info, and I had no idea that Jim Henson died of strep throat. Yikes. All of this medical info does wonders for an already paranoid mama :)!
It does have a certain Victorian air to it, doesn't it?
I never realized how serious a strep throat could be until I worked with a woman in Tokyo whose husband was on dialysis. He had ignored a bad case of strep throat and ended up losing both of his kidneys.
As for kids getting sick in the middle of the night, this was certainly our experience. We had a mosquito net rigged up in their room, covering their bunk bed, and the eldest always managed to get all her bedding, the tatami AND the mosquito net every single time.
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