My daughter came home for the holidays and promptly got sick. We have an 11 p.m. appointment at a local after hours clinic about 15 minutes from my house. It kind of makes me tired just contemplating it, but there’s nothing for it. She’s been sick for the last two days and nothing is making her sore throat better. And while I’d like to take her in the morning, I have a number of things I should not miss at work. Suddenly I find myself transported back in time through the many times during her infancy and childhood when I had to go to doctor’s offices, emergency rooms, and various appointments with medical and dental professionals over the years. I am grateful to have had access to good medical care for both of my kids as they were growing up and the means via good health insurance and full time employment income to be able to afford it.
Given all the things that can happen and do, it’s a wonder that any of us make it out of childhood. I have spent countless hours with medical professionals my kids for a wide variety of “normal” childhood ailments like bad colds and ear infections to grown up issues like mononucleosis (which hit my daughter during the first semester of her first year in college) through my son’s collapsed lung and subsequent surgery to repair it a couple of years ago. Compared to what some parents have endured with their children, who are far more seriously ill than mine have been I feel fortunate. I realize once again that no matter how old they get, they are still my children and I feel the same sense of helplessness when they are sick now as I did when they were much younger. Only now they’re a bit better at being able to explain their symptoms and situations to the doctor and I no longer need to go in with them while they are examined. I do know that no matter how old they might be now, when they are sick they can be as small and vulnerable as when they were children, still looking to me to somehow make it better for them. And so I do what I can.
Going to the doctor at 11 p.m. tonight will make for a long day at work tomorrow. There’s no wiggle room in my schedule so I need to be there in the morning and will have to drink fully caffeinated coffee to keep myself going. Nevertheless, I will be glad to be able to get my daughter some relief from her excruciatingly sore throat and other symptoms so she can rest and be headed toward recovery in time to be able to relax and enjoy her holiday. As for me, I’ll take my rest tomorrow evening when I get home from work and be grateful that she’ll be on the mend. For me that is more than good enough.
