From head-lice to Asthma.

So this school thing is certainly full of surprises, and sometimes not always the fun type.  We were only a few days into the first week of school when a head-lice alert via email came in, of course it was frustratingly vague, no idea which grade or if many grades were affected, was it just one child or a whole infestation of these tiny white itchy buggers, pretty instantly the rest of us were scratching our heads in dread and confusion.  While I remember having lice during school, I actually don't know what I am looking for, and Otto's love of the sandpit certainly didn't help the situation.  It was very interesting to Otto who proudly proclaimed to everyone that he was "mice free" the next day, thanks to Hugo's aversion to the letter L.

The second medical issue was by far the most scary and troublesome of the two.  Otto went to bed without issue and exhibiting no symptoms of being sick on Monday night but awoke only a few hours later struggling and gasping to breathe which started a night I don't wish to repeat any time soon.  Torn between waking up Hugo and heading to an emergency room or staying at home and waiting for the on call doctor I chose to stay and wait, thinking that a child with difficulty breathing would be considered a priority.  I was assured many times that the doctor was on his way only to finally have him arrive 4 hours after the first phone call, thankfully the doctor wasted no time administering the drugs that was needed and while his breathing didn't become normal it did become a little easier over the next hour.

The next day was filled with appointments to try and see if we can understand how a healthy child with no history of respiratory illness can, in the space of 4 hours go from peaceful sleep to respiratory distress.  It seems as though the only answer is that he is developing asthma, not the kind that gives you day to day symptoms, but the type that attacks out of nowhere and is serious straight away.  Great.  Going forward we have a small plan, but best of all I have a plan as his mother for when this next happens to me in the middle of the night and I am on my own struggling to decide what is best for us all, it was such a lonely and distressing position to be in and I am so thankful that it ended well.

Otto was more than happy to have a day resting at home, he loves going to school but each day mentions how much he misses us and playing with his toys.

Thankfully by the next day he was well enough to go to school, I did wonder if I should send him but Otto was more than keen to go, and he was pretty much back to normal.  Hugo and I hit up the pool and I swum to clear my head, so many 'what if's', 'could have been's' and 'thank God's' in my head with each tumble turn.

I can't tell you how grateful I was for the friends that understood I was on my own dealing with a scary situation, I got so many lovely emails, texts, emergency chocolate and flowers.  It made me so unbelievably touched to realise the lovely community we make as women and mothers, so many of these wonderful people had been in situations like this themselves, or simply understand how sometimes we just need someone to know we are there for them.

In a totally cheesy way it reminds me a bit of this ad that has been doing the rounds on facebook, typical of a big company these days to plug in on a persons emotions in the hope that they will also cash in, but the message is still a valid one.

Thankfully the rest of the week has gone more smoothly, Hugo and I have managed to catch whatever it was that set Otto off, and I am trying not to think that a week of training for the Mooloolaba Triathlon was most certainly NOT in the schedule, but next week is a new week.  Although, if that was week 1 &2 of school term, I am a little concerned about week 3!