Now

A brief foray into the up-to-date is not that enjoyable, to be frank.  Several worries on my mind, and Zerlina has a dread skin disease.  Impetigo.  Yes, I know.  I too thought it had vanished years ago, sometime when there was one pair of children’s boots in the family and the youngsters had to take it in turn to go to school.  But z developed a painful blister which turned into a scab that was agonising to touch (at this point she kissed me, cried bitterly as a painful result and I’m now waiting to see if I caught anything) and now she’s on disgusting-tasting antibiotics for a week which will wipe out her immune system, just in time for her to start school.  Nice.

But Weeza and Phil, Z and the Sage are pulling together as always and it’ll work out.  We all have additional concerns of our own and honestly I’m best talking about the past for now.  It’ll get better, it usually does.

Weeza was working today and couldn’t leave z with the childminder as she’s contagious, so I slept at their house overnight and brought z home with me.  I stopped on the way to stock up on sweets, chocolate and that awfully healthy yoghurt drink that’s supposed to restock *good* bacteria.  Even the nurse suggested sweet treats to take away the flavour of the medicine.  Did I mention that it’s administered 4 times daily?  The sound of z’s bitter cry as I made her drink it still rings in my ears, and poor Weeza and Phil have to do it for most of next week.

Still, we did have some fun too.  I threw a tennis ball and she turns out to have a pretty good eye and quite often returned it – okay, that was sometimes because I hit the racquet, but she also swung it and hit well.  We picked runner beans and sweet peas for Weeza, we made cakes and we watched cBeebies, because television is sometimes the best thing when you’re played out.

Tonight, I mostly drank gin.

Tomorrow, back to the past.  

16 comments on “Now

  1. Z

    Because Sir B told me on Twitter he’d googled impetigo, I did too, for images. It’s not as bad as those pictures. Just one place under her lower lip. But cream only works if the area is no bigger than 1 centimetre, and this is at least twice that.

    Reply
  2. lom

    Do they still paint you purple when you have Impetigo? I remember when I was little, a girl in our street had it and her arms were covered in purple, I think it was called Jensen violet. I so wanted to catch it so that I could have purple arms too. I have always loved purple

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  3. wendz

    Easy on the gin, old thing.. 😉

    Only kidding – drink as much as you need. I remember when Nat had impetigo – dreadful thing. As was chicken pox. Vile.

    What can one say but bon courage to all of you – or, in Afrikaans – sterkte.

    Reply
  4. Z

    We never had anything like that. No, LOM, they don’t use gentian violet for it any longer, thank goodness, that all over her face would be awful.

    Rog, you are marvellous, you really are. You do cheer me up.

    It was the trauma of administering the medicine that drove me to drink and I’m afraid I had three gins. Well diluted, but still, not my usual habit. I’ll go easy tonight, a single gentle beer, I think!

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  5. georgie

    Nothing can rattle a person’s nerves more than a child crying in pain. Hope z feels better really soon. I looked up what impetigo is-euwwww it isn’t pretty and does look quite painful.

    Reply
  6. Z

    I phoned Weeza this morning and z is getting better and is reconciled to the need to take her medicine. She was really very brave about it, knew it had to be done, just cried bitterly, it was awful.

    None of the rest of us are showing any signs and Weeza has antibiotic ointment in case any of them do.

    Reply
  7. mig

    All the old bogies seem to be coming back to haunt us, nits and ringworm as well as impetigo. (I say nothing of ticks).
    It’s awful having to help children deal with them because you can’t honestly say it isn’t a miserable business and you can’t give them a stiff gin!
    Glad to hear z is getting better.

    Reply
  8. Z

    You’re right, neither of my older two ever had nits, but Ro did when he was at primary school and Zerlina got them at nursery school, even younger. Ringworm? Ew. That’s all we need.

    When I get on to Chester dog, I’ve got a tick story. I’ve probably already told it mind you, I’ll have to look. That may not stop me telling it again.

    Reply

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