Lion and Magic Boy

I did a Really Bad Thing in the Land of Preschool Mommies today — I dosed my kid with a little cold medicine to dry up his nose this morning, and sent him off to school, knowing that he would at least be able to make the morning and would simply crash when he got home. After all, I had work to do! And, uh, Mommy Stuff! (Okay. I took a nap. So cross off 20 minutes from the bazillion hours of sleep deficit I am running.)

But karma sometimes catches up with you instantly. As soon as I saw Eric’s face on the bus, I knew I was in for an interesting afternoon. Usually ravenous when he gets home from school, or just about any hour of the day really (yes, at bedtime he often helpfully suggests things like pancakes), he turned down all offers of food. Even things he likes. And then I really knew I was in for it when my suggestion of a nap upstairs was met with mute relief.

Even so, the nap was not to be. After all, he had just had one on the bus. Thirty frustrated minutes later, we descended and I made him some lunch, of which he may have eaten three bites. Instead, he lay prostrate on the couch and gave me the look that says: “FIX IT!!”

Later we ran some errands, my brilliant idea being that he might get sleepy in the car. He did. About four minutes from the house. Then the eyes flicked open when the road surface changed, he saw our house, and his nap was over.

When I took his coat off, I noticed how cold his hands were. Icy. And his feet. It’s cold out, sure, in the 20′s, but the car was warm and his coat is warm too. His hands and feet shouldn’t have been that cold.

We got in and I held him, things having devolved to that, and in fact I held him for the next 4.5 hours. I began to think about the hands and the feet. His heart? He is not circulating well, I surmised. He was sleepy, very sleepy, lethargic almost. Something was really wrong. This wasn’t just a cold.

I emailed Michael, who is an RN. He knows about these things. He sent back instant information, about warming Eric’s hands and feet with a towel from the dryer, getting lots of fluids in him to pump up blood volume, etc., and that Eric could just crash quickly and then it would be a trip to the ER.

I did all those things, plus changed Eric’s pants to something softer, got him a blanket he likes (he really objected to The Cat Blanket for some reason), and he went right into a weird sleep. With me holding him. (How wonderful it is to have someone hold you like that.)

He awoke a couple of times and drank more, and went right to sleep upstairs when it was time for bed. He’s there now.

He’ll be okay. I told him he needs to stay here, that this isn’t the time. He’ll stay. He really likes it here, I can tell. Anyone can tell this about Eric. But I know his body isn’t as strong as his heart is, not his physical heart but his inside heart. The one we carry forever, the one that sometimes gets broken. One day his body will fail him, one day when he’s really ready. But not now. Not today.

[tags] preschool, down syndrome, illness, sick, cold hands and feet [/tags]