My mom is on a strict chemo schedule. Three days of chemo every 3 weeks, for twelve weeks. As long as she sticks to that schedule, she has a decent chance of remission. If she doesn't, she's got about 6 months. The main thing that can interfere with her chemo schedule is infection. If she gets any kind of infection, even a simple cold, they postpone the chemo. So naturally I now view my children as walking petri dishes full of plague.
My mom wants to have Thanksgiving dinner. Since she flat-out refused my suggestion that she live in a bubble instead, I have invited her to my house, but only IF my germ-basket children are 100% healthy. Thanksgiving is one week from today, and I am paranoid like you wouldn't believe. Is Danny fussy because he's teething or sick? Did he sleep in because of a growth spurt or a cold? Today he woke up and wouldn't drink his milk. He'd suck the straw but then cry. Suck suck scream, suck suck scream. So naturally, I thought "ear infection" and called the doctor. I bundled both boys up, drove them out to the clinic, held Danny down so the doctor could look into his head through every direct orifice, and got a verdict of healthy. "But Dr, he won't drink the milk! He sucks a couple times then cries, like an ear infection.
He could kill his grandmother!" Still, I was sent home with hollow assurances and about a foot of Spiderman stickers.
We got in the house, I took off their coats and shoes, I gave them back their milk cups, and again, suck suck scream. I was at a loss. The kid drinks his milk out of that cup every morning; what could be different? So out of desperation, I added a spoonful of Nestle Quick powder to it. Suck suck smile.
I just rushed to the clinic, as a matter of
life and death, because my spoiled kid decided this morning that he no longer likes plain milk. Fucking yay.
