Is this a test?

Jason and I feel extremely blessed that Charlie is such a healthy little monster.  He's been in daycare for almost a year, and other than a consistently runny nose, one ear infection and two stomach bugs, he's been healthy.  In fact, up until this week he'd only been on antibiotics one time in his life, for the ear infection -- and yes, I did say up until this week.

Coincidentally, this week I also had my second business trip since Charlie joined the family -- a whirlwind trip to Wake Forest, NC to delve into the fascinating mysteries of VoIP and SIP Trunking.... zzzzzzz.....

Regular readers might recall that Charlie's first stomach bug actually occurred during my trip to Pine Forest, NC in January...and struck Jason and me, as well as Charlie.  Then, the next stomach bug occurred during Jason's trip to Daytona -- thankfully skipping us that time.

Call me crazy, but there is a definite pattern here.  Either Charlie has learned very young how to successfully fake serious illness, he is so overwhelmed by the sorrow of his parents' trips that his immune system shuts down, or God is testing us -- for what exactly, I don't know.

Anyway, back to this week.  As I climbed into the car at 4:15 Monday afternoon to go pick up Charlie from school, my phone rang.  It was Tracy, the owner of his daycare.  She assured me that this wasn't an emergency, but Charlie's right cheek was swollen.  In fact, Miss Nikita had seen him on the playground and immediately ordered him to take whatever was in his mouth out.  Upon his blank stare, she actually peered into his mouth and was shocked to discover there was nothing there.

I told Tracy that I was on my way and immediately dialed the pediatrician.  I was set to leave for Wake Forest in 16 hours and would be darned if I was going to head out without a diagnosis -- or at least a treatment plan.

Unsurprisingly, Sweetgrass did not have any openings in their remaining 45 minutes of the day, but I was transferred to the nurses line to leave a message, and told that I would receive a call back within 3 hours.  Hello?  This was an emergency.  Sure, Charlie was perfectly unaware of his swollen cheek until he discovered that it would bring him attention and candy...but my baby was swollen.  I needed a doctor!

Forty minutes later, Charlie and I were relaxing with Donna in her living room basking in her nursely knowledge and loving concern, respectively, when my phone rang again.  It was the pediatrician's office.  I told her that Charlie's cheek was absolutely huge, but that otherwise he seemed fine.  Then she asked where we lived -- success! 

I hopped off the couch, snatched up Charlie and explained that we were a mere five minutes away.  As the clock ticked to 4:56, she told me that if I could be there in five minutes a doctor would see us.  Yippee!

We actually squealed into the parking lot around 5:04 due to a less than cooperative Otis (he wanted to come along) and a ridiculously law-abiding Kia Spectra. 

After the standard formalities Mrs. Dr. Rogers (not a typo -- Dr & Dr Rogers (a married couple) both practice at Sweetgrass and refer to each other as Mr. Dr. Rogers and Mrs. Dr. Rogers -- cute!) arrived for the examination.  She was convincingly charmed by Charlie being Charlie and set to examining his cheek.

Initially Dr Rogers believed that it was just his body's response to a bite he had received Sunday morning, but she still planned to recommend an antibiotic in case it was an infection -- nothing serious of course, just Strep or Staff.  EXCUSE ME!  A possible staff infection?  I watch Discovery Health -- those can be deadly.  Overtreatment, here we come.

Then after she really got a better feel of the bump, it's solidness concerned her, confirming the need for antibiotics (no problem) and she asked that I call her before leaving for NC the next morning, just to let her know how he was doing.  I love Sweetgrass.  Where else will the doctor stay after hours to see you, take the time to reassure you and  play with your son, and insist on an update the next morning. 

So there you have it.  We are six doses into our round of antibiotics -- strawberry flavored, by the way, since Daddy is the one that picked them up.  Our cheek is back down to normal size, and as far as we can tell, other than enjoying on-demand kisses and the jelly beans that accompany each dosage, Charlie appears to be unaware of his possible deadly infection.

It crossed my mind that perhaps God was testing me to determine my dedication to my job -- Tuesday's trip was actually listed as "MANDATORY" on my calendar...to the point that when we thought it was going to conflict with Talladega, I was told I would have to fly to the alternate training in St Louis.  But then I remembered that I have zero dedication to my job -- I'm unendingly grateful for the perfect work-life balance it provides and I give it my best effort when I'm working, but dedicated? No.  Not so much.

So maybe God isn't testing me, but showing me that He is in control even in "worst-case-scenario" situations, and that He will get us through them?  Perish the thought, but maybe He's preparing me for a more demanding job in the future?  Maybe He's just opening my eyes to the fact that Charlie has a fully capable and hugely loving father who can also single-handedly keep the world spinning on its axis when necessary? 

Who knows?  But today I'm grateful for cell phones, our loving nurse for a neighbor, Sweetgrass Pediatrics, jelly beans, a healthy two year old and his wonderful Daddy.

Yikes!

Our poor little chipmunk...

I think he'll survive, though...

Discussing possible treatment options with Daddy...