3 Very Different Patients

Sam TRYING To Hold a Big Snake, a photo by Justin and Kelly Webb on Flickr.

I am happy to report that Caleb is back to good health...and he is happy to report that he is going back to school tomorrow. He is not much of a TV person anymore, so laying on the couch all day is just no fun for him. But, having said that, he is my easiest "patient". He doesn't complain much, he doesn't ask for anything, he rests and he eats/drinks whatever I tell him - he basically does anything in order to feel better again....and b/c of all of this, he usually recovers from an illness very quickly. He also rarely gets sick b/c he is obsessed with germs. I never have to tell him to wash his hands...it's habit for him. He comes by this naturally - - I am the same way and always have been.

Izzy has been sick as well....and what a different patient she is. She is high maintenance. I seriously think it took me 1.5 hours today to get ready b/c every time I went into the bathroom she needed something: orange juice, chap stick, water, her temperature checked, her doggie, her blanket arranged perfectly on her, to be carried to the bathroom, a different show, a new blanket, another pillow...and then back to water and repeat the list again. Seriously. And if her fever and constant requests weren't a good enough indicator, she also told me a million times that she was sick. sigh. And unlike Caleb, she is not afraid of germs...she would lick the stairway railing at a hospital if she could. No surprise that she is sick.

And then there is Sam - who so far only has a cough and sore throat. No fever. Yet. Sam is like me though...he won't admit that he's sick, and he goes as long as he possibly can to act normal and tell himself and everyone else that he feels good until he finally gives in and by then, it's too late. And even then, he has a hard time sitting still and doesn't really understand what "resting" means. When he is told he has a fever, he cries - not b/c he doesn't feel good, but b/c I think he feels defeated. He finally has to admit that he is sick. Having his tonsils/adenoids removed was supposed to help shorten the length of his respiratory illnesses, but they are still quite long. I think one of the reasons for this is his inability to sit still. I am guessing that tomorrow he will be my sickest patient (although Izzy does not seem to be improving at all), but it's hard to tell the difference btwn a healthy and a sick Sam. I seriously go by his temperature and smell. He is both a difficult and easy patient...

3 different kids, 3 very different patients. And 2 tired parents.