Kiran didn’t actually have a fever today.  Thank goodness.  However, he was still worn out from having a fever the previous four days, and I had a lot of disinfecting to do, so we laid low at home until his doctor’s follow-up appointment this afternoon.

Here are some things I learned today:

On day five of my child’s illness, when I haven’t gotten out of the house since sometime on day one, I am going to find myself sobbing on the bathroom floor.  Kiran had just had a bath, and it was all finally too much.  All the worry/stress/exhaustion/what-ifs/overwhelm – it had to manifest itself somehow.  Today, it came out in tears, lying on the bathroom floor next to a squeaky clean Kiran.

One of the (likely many) reasons I struggle with being stuck at home, I realized as we were driving to the doctor’s office this afternoon, is I don’t listen to my radio station.  Kiran and I find ourselves in the car a lot.  And in the car, I listen to a Christian radio station that grounds me.  Like I said to Eric tonight, it helps me keep my head above water.  I don’t think to put it on when we are at home, and I need to.  It would help.

A true medical fever is 100.4 and above.  I don’t know how I got this far along in my journey as Kiran’s mom without knowing that.  He crept up just a little bit this afternoon but never even hit 100, so he technically did not have a fever today.  He could go to school with a temp of 100 (Of course, I’d only send him if he was otherwise acting like himself).  The more you know.

We picked a fantastic pediatrician.  We like the other doctor in the same medical office; we like him a lot.  But he is not her.  I was reminded today, with the two appointments so close together and easily comparable, why we have the best pediatrician in the world.  Seriously.

And finally – truly – this one is so simple, but I forget it so often.  Taking a walk outside in the sunshine is some of the best medicine around.  I won’t say it cured my current brain state – which has not been good in the midst of the past few days with illness and botched schedules and managing schoolwork and being pulled in a million directions while not getting enough sleep – but it helped.  A lot.

And now that the dryer just buzzed and the last blanket (mine) is washed of the sick germs, it is time to get some of that sleep.  That’s bound to help too.