By By Connie Nowlin Managing editor
Seems that this weather, as lovely as it is, has got the whole county hacking, coughing and sneezing. Don't know if it is the weather, a bug going around or what.
But last week, the little guy was sick, I mean really sick. The let's go to the hospital on Friday night because the fever won't go down sick.
And that was the way it was the rest of the week. We would go to the doctor's office, and they would test for everything they could think of. The next day, we would be back, fever still raging, and the results would all be negative. Finally, on day four, yet another test found the culprit, sinusitis. Usually that is reserved for adults, or at least children older than the little guy. But now it is under control and antibiotics are doing the trick.
But during those four days I was one worried sick mama, and I wondered time after time how the parents of critically ill children cope.
It was all I could do not to come totally unhinged when the nurse would come for yet another blood sample, or something equally difficult and painful. I knew the tests were to try and help my child, but all I wanted was to bundle up my baby and take him home. I knew they were trying to make him well, but all he knew was it was hurting him and I was letting these people do that.
Meanwhile, his daddy, who was just as worried as I was, kept working, keeping occupied, keeping busy, and walked the floor at night, carrying the little guy while he whined and cried and fussed. And every day, when he was updated on the tests and the treatments and my worries, he cried right along with me.
But our little guy is on the mend now. The parents of children with chronic illnesses are still just as worried, still walking the floor, trying to comfort sick little ones, still trying to trade off work and hospital duties. They are still worn out with all of this.
They still know that their precious little one could be taken from them much too soon.
Think about them, pray for them, and count your blessings that you are not one of them. If you are one of those parents, know that thoughts and prayers are going out for you. You are stronger than the rest of us can imagine. You are heroes.
Connie Nowlin is managing editor of the Atmore Advance and may be reached at 368-2123 or email at connie.nowlin@atmoreadvance.com