If only an apple a day kept the doctor away...

Thanks for all your kind comments yesterday, you caring Planetarians. It seems the Blue (and Red, Yellow and Purple!) Books evoke strong responses in people! That post also stirred up some memories for me which I want to share, just to give some context to my last post. Just keeping on the health theme, if only the old maxim were true 'that an apple a day keeps the doctor away'. Joshie eats so many apples, he should never be sick. Alas, that hasn't proven to be the case.

Mind you, we've had a *relatively* good run lately (I've learnt it's always relative on Planet Baby - absolutes are rare occurrences!). Not like the horror run we had two winters ago. Reading this now makes me smile. Living through it did not! See if it makes you wince.

On 3 August 2008, I wrote the following comment on Sacha Molitorisz's brilliant (but sadly defunct - wander on over for a read of the archived posts) blog Who's your daddy?

In the past fortnight, our family has had:

       * tonsillitis;  

       * hand, foot and mouth disease;

       * croup;

       * two glue ears;

       * two blocked grommets;

       * mild hearing loss;

       * regrown adenoids and enormous tonsils all requiring surgery soon;

       * a night of 40°C fever;

       * a very bad cold with a streaming nose that pooled all over the sheets;

       * conjunctivitis (twice);

       * a swollen gland puffing up half my face in excruciating pain;

       * a bad cold (me);

       * and a bad cold (my husband).

All of this was accompanied by: 

* one child's usual night waking for a breastfeed every two hours and crying in between (given illness, we were unable to attend the Tresillian five day residential stay, for which we had been on the waiting list for months) to try to break the night feeding habit);

* my other child's loud snoring due to a blocked nose and enlarged tonsils; and

*my husband's loud snoring (the possibility of sleep apnoea is being investigated).

When I'm having a bad day, I remember that hideous time and feel a little better!

It meant seeing our kind, patient and reassuring GP 8 times in 14 days. Just picture that, waiting with a sick infant, a sick toddler and a sick Certain Mother in the waiting room until we could be squeezed in. Often, the wait was up to an hour. While surrounded by other anxious parents and fractious toddlers. At witching time, no less! Hmm, just *picturing* it now is giving me the heebies!

Just as well our kind GP fitted in sick children no matter how full her day was and bulk-billed for the pixies. Another angel of mercy to help me. 

All of this meant even more sleep deprivation - a post topic for another day. I can hear the collective sigh of Planetarian parents out there now ☺. And the worry, the endless worry, not to mention the continual wiping (and suctioning with Fess Little Noses) of snotty noses (I love it when the pixies learn how to blow their own noses. Who would have thought that something so simple could take years to master?). Let alone queuing at the pharmacy to get the prescriptions filled while jiggling around a fractious, unwell infant on my hip whilst making sure my unwell toddler didn't run out the door into oncoming traffic! Ah, the things we parents do.

So, in answer to Simone's query on my last post, having been through all that (and more) since we arrived on Planet Baby, I now (finally!) am learning to relax a little more about the pixies' health. And I count my blessings that we have private health insurance and brilliant medical support.

Oh, and in answer to all your empathetic comments, our dear family friend, whom I've known my entire life, bravely succumbed to cancer last night. From start to finish, it was all over in 6 months. From having no idea whatsoever that anything was wrong to being riddled with it. 

I'm in shock and feeling bereft. Long-buried childhood memories are flooding back. I need to sleep. I hope to speak to his daughter (one of my closest friends) tomorrow. And then his wife, my godmother. After receiving *that phonecall*, I'll now have to have *those conversations*. I hope I can find some comforting words. And now to bed - eek! So much for my bloggy rehab...