SOUND OFF!

Since this blog kind of serves as my journal, just for two or three other people to read, I might as well get something off my chest. The two or three of you who read this...this does NOT apply to you. YOU are the ones who get it right, I know who you are, and I thank you. Seriously, THANK YOU for caring, for knowing, for understanding. For "getting" the complexity of it all.

As the parents of a sick-more-than-not and can't-fend-for-himself child, going places - anywhere, really - is a nightmare. But during cold/flu season, I might as well just commit to taking xanax on a regular basis from October-April. Going to the store, shopping, etc. is one thing - you rather expect that there will be inconsiderate ill people running around sneezing, coughing, snotting, and puking their germs onto anyone within arm's reach. You guard yourself with sanitizer, a mask (yes, I said a mask), gloves and extra supplies in the car to protect you in an emergency. You pray that kids are smart enough at school to "cover their coughs" and make it to the bathroom when the stomach flu hits. You pray that at church, the people behind you that you just shared the peace with washed their hands after they wiped their noses.

And then, at work, people look like death warmed over them. "What's wrong, you ok?" you inquire. "I was up all night vomiting" or "I have strep" or some other CRAP. They say "I can't afford to miss work." REALLY? Because I can't afford to miss work either when I get what you have, then give it to my CHILD WITH NO IMMUNE SYSTEM and have to pay for a week's worth of hospital bills for him.

But when people invite you over, and you go because you truly care about them, and they have sick people in their house, that's when I get REALLY crabby (as if I'm not already). Last night we attended a birthday party of a little girl whom we love and adore. We wouldn't have missed it. But of the other kids who were there, one was hacking with "some kind of cold or bug he's had for weeks" and the birthday girl herself wasn't feeling good and her mom kept feeling her forehead for signs of a temperature.

REALLY?!

We can't be those people. I wish, I wish, I wish people understood that our son HAS NO IMMUNE SYSTEM. He CANNOT HEAL. He WILL CATCH IT. It will make him have a LENGTHY HOSPITAL STAY.

Sigh. I sure wish a ghost of Christmas future would knock on my door and show me that someday I won't have to feel this way. I wish he'd show me a future where my son was healthy, and I could breathe easier knowing that every decision we made really wasn't life or death.

Until then, I guess we just keep on keeping on.