Friday, July 11, 2008

Betsy and Rachel's Infirmary

Since we arrived at Knockpatrick we have had the task of watching many children in the nursery. During the week of camp, though, ages 3 and up went to the children's program and we were left with only 5 kids under the age of 2. Of those 5 kids though, 5 were sick. How we are still alive, I don't know.
Caleb has a cold.
Danae has a virus.
Shania has a throat problem.
Roseanne needed medicine for...something.
and Ashley went from "just a cold" to "just throwing up."

A few days later (after we had banned Ashley from the nursery because she was throwing up) we realized she had a much bigger problem. There were peculiar red bumps all over her face and arms and she was scratching endlessly.
"Um...I think she has the chicken pox." I said.
We went around trying to find someone more in charge than us to tell about this new predicament, and finally I found someone who could go find Ashley's mom. Also, we told Phyllis Jones who is the wife of the head of the organization that we are working with.
Simone, Ashley's mom, came into the nursery.
"Is Ashley alright?" she asked.
I quickly explained about my diagnoses. Simone shook her head.
"No, it's just bug bites. It's just bug bites."
"But she's been really sick for a long time now - those are also symptoms of the chicken pox."
"It's just bug bites," she assured me.
Then Mrs. Jones came in. She looked at Ashley.
"It might just be bug bites," she said.
I explained my theory again.
"What did the doctor say when you took her because she was throwing up?" Mrs. Jones asked Simone.
Simone said that she hadn't taken her to the doctor yet.
"Well, we are going right now," Mrs. Jones said. "It might be the chicken pox, or it might just be bug bites, but she's been too sick. It's better to be safe than sorry."
So we packed Ashley up and sent her out with her mom and Mrs. Jones. Then we immediately disinfected the entire nursery, knowing that if Ashley did have the chicken pox, it was too late to keep the other babies from being exposed.

Later that evening, Simone came back. Ashley has the chicken pox.

So, we started off with "Welcome to Betsy and Rachel's Kitchen, what may we serve you today?" and moved to "Welcome to Betsy and Rachel's Day-Care, who can we watch for you today?" and now we have arrived at "Welcome to Betsy and Rachel's Infirmary, what can we diagnose for you today?"

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

That was a great post - I am sure that since both of you are the daughters of doctors, one of you of two doctors (Rachel), all that medical training has rubbed off on you!

Anonymous said...

wow - you two totally know what you are doing. those kids are in good hands