It’s Just a Cold

Considering I have caught ‘just’ a cold off my eldest son, I can’t believe how attrocious I look and feel.  We kept him off a week from school with ‘just’ a cold because he looked so pale  with it and because we both have hereditary spherocytosis I am beginning to realise how he was feeling.

HS does not normally mean I feel worse than anyone else if I’m a bit poorly.  I think with all the stresses lately I must be at a bit of a low, but also with HS occasionally a virus can knock the stuffing out of us.  It’s not even as though I am streaming with cold like normal.

But, I am so glad I cancelled the hospital appointment.  The irony of it is that when I went for the pre op assessment I was asked if I’d got a cold or had one recently.  "No" I’d replied, I hadn’t had one for a long time.

Also only a few weeks ago during my routine, annual appointment for my HS, my blood count was so good I got discharged from having to go again!

What a difference a few weeks makes. 

I’m also having problems getting my youngest son into school again, which is really upsetting me.  He wouldn’t get out of the car, crying that he felt poorly with stomach ache and the start of a cold.

I ended up taking him back home.  I let the school know, who understand the problem I’m having and decided to use today to try and get to the bottom of all this.  After all, I thought his reluctance last week had been connected with his big brother being off ill.

Without going into all the gentle questioning I did with him about life in and out of school,  the bottom line is "school is boring", "he doesn’t like school" and "doesn’t want to go".

I also took advice off another mom who had had a similar problem last year and wouldn’t allow the television or computer to go on apart for one hour over lunch time to make being home ‘boring’.

I gave him plenty of attention, setting up some ’homework’ to do which he lapped up and I booked an appointment with my lovely doctor to make sure he was okay physically. 

After booking the appoinment I asked the receptionist to let the doctor know my predicament so that I didn’t have to talk about it in front of my son.  

She was brilliant. She gently led the questioning about his tummy ache around to when it happened, days, times it lasted through to school and any problems he might be having.  This made me feel better as I now have my doctor on side with his situation.

I’ve also set in motion my husband to help with the school run for the next few days to see if this makes any difference.  Tomorrow he has a school trip which should detract from everything else.  And, we’re going to make an appointment with the school to try out some theories we have coupled with the doctor’s thoughts.

It’s a start and although I don’t think this is the end of it, I feel as though the action I’ve taken today is the starting point forward. I can’t have him going into school so upset for his sake and mine and with him starting junior school next year, it’s so important that he is happy with his school environment.

I’ve also come to realise that I have a few really good friends in the other moms who have been looking out for me without taking over the situation.  That in itself has been worth it’s weight in gold.

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