Pneumonia! It’s pneumonia!

So it turns out that Mark has pneumonia.  Pneumonia!  Here’s a tip for you: if you are ever feeling a little low on the mother guilt factor, try sending your child to school with pneumonia.  Mother guilt deficit erased immediately. 

I was speaking with my elderly neighbour about Mark’s chest x-rays, and she cheerfully replied, “Just be glad you live when you do, because kids used to die from pneumonia ALL THE TIME!”  Believe me, I am thankful every single day, for numerous reasons, that I live in the modern age, so I found that reminder unnecessary, although somewhat cheering.  I am a big believer in home remedies and natural remedies and vitamins and foods that heal, but I also love the miracle that is modern medicine. 

Speaking of modern medicine, Mark is already happy and on the road to good health, and he insisted on going to school today.  “I’m FINE, Mom, please stop asking” he sighed as I bustled around him, worrying and fretting and reassuring myself about his temperature.  I took him to school, not without phoning AND talking to his teacher in person, asking her to phone me if he even looked slightly listless.  Then I spent the morning checking my cell phone and rechecking my cell phone and phoning my husband to make sure the phone was still working.  It kind of reminded me of dating in the nineties.  “Is he going to call?  When is he going to call?  I have to go to the bathroom – what if he calls?  Did he call?”  What is dating like now?  Between texting, cell phones, email and Facebook, people are virtually connected all the time.  There are just so many ways to wonder if someone is going to call.

In the end, when I went to pick him up at lunch, Mark bounded out the door with no coat and no backpack, saying that he was going to go back after lunch and it was really too warm for a coat.  So it appears things are getting back to normal.  I’m looking forward to getting some normal sleep, although tonight is a school council meeting and that is never conducive to a good night’s sleep, unfortunately.

To calm my nerves this morning, I went to the garden centre, which is a place I should never be allowed to set foot in without supervision.  I now have a number of frost hardy plants sitting on my deck, just waiting to be planted.  Then I baked a giant pan of brownies, courtesy of Swistle, which are to be taken to the meeting tonight, and which turned out so well that I have been telling every random person I meet about them.  “Hey!  My kid has pneumonia!  But let me tell you about these brownies.”  I’m planning on adding them to my cooking blog, which right now has a terrific recipe for cinnamon bread, if you are looking for a great snack for kids. 

Now I’m off to my meeting where I am going to officially become the chair for the school council!  The chair!  Bossiness in action, let me tell you. 

Comments

  1. Oh boy. So sorry to hear pneumonia, but it sounds like he’s bouncing back quickly. Glad he had a good day.

    Meanwhile, good luck with the new Chair gig. You whip ’em into shape girl!

  2. I’m jealous. Not that Mark had pneumonia, but that he’s already better. I had pneumonia in 2000 & it stuck around for ages. It was the summer of a Million Coughs. Your boy must be made of sterner stuff.

    “There are just so many ways to wonder if someone is going to call.” This statement makes me even more grateful to be married — dating now a days must be even more fraught w/ anxiety then it was in the 90s.

  3. Poor kid to get pneumonia. We are lucky to live in today’s world where there is medicine for almost everything.

    I’m now craving brownies.

  4. Oh man, the brownies. I want a pan of them RIGHT NOW.

  5. Oh, you want mother of the year stories involving pneumonia? Remember when I shipped Eve off to her friend’s house for the weekend and skipped gaily off to World Trivia Night with Turtlehead and Smothermother? Then had to go over on Saturday with antibiotics and hush-up money? It was awesome. Go antibiotics.

  6. Glad to hear is on the mend. Cinnamon bread? That sounds delicious.

    LisaDay

  7. Kimberly says

    Pneumonia sucks but plants are good…especially the ones that can fend off frost. Frost is such a kill joy. So is pneumonia

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