My Fifth Day of Work . . .

. . . didn't happen!

Charlie is sick. :o(

He's been sick for awhile. At his two-month checkup, the doctor thought he may have had pneumonia because he was retracting and had a little fever. The next day, we were sent to Children's Hospital of Texas and waited about six hours to be told that there was nothing wrong with him. Not long after that, we evacuated for Ike and spent some time in Arkansas, where I again made a trip with Charlie to the doctor. I didn't like the sound of his breathing and he had developed a cough. The doctor in Arkansas said it was nothing serious, and prescribed a cough medicine.

One night this week, as I was giving Charlie his bath, I noticed that his retractions were getting worse, and were in the middle of his chest instead of under his ribs. He was working really, really hard to suck in some air. I was so alarmed that I started looking up information about asthma. Scott and I found a doctor in Houston, the doctor that saw Charlie just after he was born, and made an appointment right away.

Yesterday, Scott took Charlie in and this new doctor immediately diagnosed Charlie with RSV. He also told us that the medication perscribed by the doctor in Arkansas should be given to no child under the age of two and could have killed him! Now we are giving Charlie breathing treatments every four hours and antibiotics every six.

We have to take him to the doctor again tomorrow (most likely we'll have a follow-up chest x-ray) for reassessment. Though Charlie's case is pretty severe, it's not severe enough to require hospitalization, which is such a blessing.

So . . . I had a really fun day planned for my students. We were going to write a Puritan style sermon about a topic of their own choosing. We were going to write it in class and everything. We've been talking about it all week and the kids were sharing with me all kinds of topics they wanted to write about.

I didn't realize how responsible I'd feel for my class. After only four days, having to be absent today made me feel like I was abandoning them! But they've had a rough six weeks with both their regular teacher and long-term sub leaving before the term had ended, as well as the hurricane to deal with.

If I hadn't been so exhausted today (I got about three hours' sleep with Charlie last night), I'd have called every class period.

Scott and I have worked out our split schedule for next week. He had to go in today, because his grades were due by the end of the day. Next week, I'll stay home the first part of the week and he'll take Wed. and Thurs., and Charlie is released to go back to the babysitter's on Friday (provided all goes well).

Please say a prayer for Charlie! Those breathing treatments are all for the best, but they make him cough so much. It's pitiful. I hate seeing one of my kids sick. I just want to take it away from him and have my happy, bouncy, kicking and smiling little boy back. Poor guy.

So ends my first week of being a teacher while learning to balance family, work, and housecleaning, as well as trying to figure out organizational skills that are helpful to a teaching career! What a week!