Chronicles of Chaos
The Best Book on Sick Kids
When I was little and had a blow out with my mom, the next day I often found a green hardcover book on her nightstand.
I managed to read the word, “child” in the title and soon realized that she consulted this book to learn the mysteries or answers to our given predicament.
I have yet to find the book with all the answers to raising children, but I have found the best book (for me) about sick kids: Smart Medicine for a Healthier Child.
It’s so hard when the kids get really sick–it always happens in the middle of the night, calling the pediatrician feels over the top–still, Amelia or Wyatt or Oliver are not well and I need a trusted someone to tell me something.
On this particular family vacation (because what’s a family vacation without illness), Wyatt can not stop coughing. It’s not a scary deep cough, just a consistent every few minutes cough that seems unalterable by sitting upright or aiming the jet stream of our most powerful (a/k/a room soaking) humidifier, the esteemed Air-O-Swiss, directly at his face.
While Wyatt struggles to sleep, I use Smart Medicine to rule out, in my non-medical but intuitively (I think) capable mind, scary things like croup. I then proceed to read carefully through the treatment section in search of a magic silence the cough bullet.
Due to past experience with sick kids on trips, I have a medicine bag of sorts–very dated but potentially effective. I crack a few zinc lozenges in half because Wyatt’s lying down as if to sleep and I want to avoid choking (though the book does include a choking chapter), give them to Wyatt while I brew some chamomile tea which I flood with honey then reduce with ice cubes and put in a sippy cup by his bed.
Next I mix essential oils in olive oil and rub his chest–something he wouldn’t stand in any state other than his complete exhaustion. By this time it’s almost midnight.
I evaluate the room–elevated with pillows, humidifier full steam, tea and oils in place–while Wyatt sputters a few more coughs.
I know I’ll be up again in an hour tending to him, but at least I’m not worried anymore.
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