The Best-Laid Plans of Mice and Men

So much for my spending the day in my toasty bed. My plan had been  to stay in my nice, warm, cozy bed all day and let nature work its magic on me while I drank orange juice and ate oatmeal. My mom had a different idea. My Uncle Steve, who is my pediatrician of record, practices in a little town about forty miles from where I live. If my dad is home, he treats me for anything routine, but Dad is out of town until tomorrow night, and my mom did not want my illness to progress unimpeded by anything but chicken soup for an additional thirty-six hours, We made the forty-mile trek up the 101 and up the hill a bit to get to my Uncle Steve's office.

I am often at a disadvantage because I have so many relatives and people who are just like family who are doctors.  If you don't see how this can be a disadvantage, come live in my place for just a month. You'll see that you receive more medical care than you ever wanted.  I've heard some kids whose fathers are doctors say that they are like the proverbial peddler whose children walk the streets barefoot. Perhaps I would say the same thing if it were just up to my dad --  don't know -- but with having a doctor everywhere I turn, it's impossible to slide a runny nose past them, much less a croupy cough.

Today I was at an advantage. Uncle Steve's waiting room was full, but I was ushered in the back door. My Uncle immediately examined me in his own private office. He gave the medications to my mother because he had them on hand in the form of free samples. My mom says she hates when he does that, because we can afford to pay for our medications, while some of his other patients may struggle more financially, but it's a tremendous benefit not to have to drop prescriptions off at the pharmacy, then wait in line to pick them up again. I received an antibiotic injection as well as a steroid injection while I was there. Injections are among my least favorite things on the planet. I like them more than major earthquakes or flash floods, but only slightly more. Still, I appreciated the nepotism involved in my being seen in my Uncle's private office ahead of other patients who had arrived before I had, so I took the shots without complaining.

My Uncle was incredibly pleased with my weight, which is still at 86. I'm eating even when I don't feel like eating, so I hope not to lose any weight with this illness.  Tomorrow i really will get to react in my ultra-comfortable bed. My mom will wait on me and bring me food all day like she's a short order cook/ waitress.. My dad will reappear tomorrow night. Only God knows what he might add to my treatment regime. I'll still be glad to see him, though. He'll play his guitar and sing for me if I have trouble sleeping. I could have used him here last night.

So I'm in my bed, bundled against the prognosticated freeze once again.Thank God for comforters and electric blankets, and for professors who don't insist that sick students drag themselves to class.