The boys' last day of school before their long awaited Christmas Break was December 19th. Because their teachers are sane, they had a day of fun planned, including a field trip for the K-2 grade to the movie theater in Lyman. That morning, Dash seemed a little off, but when I asked him how he felt, he quickly said that he was fine and that he could make it through one more day anyway. So, I sent him to school and spent the morning visiting at a friend's house where I left my phone in the car. I noticed I had missed a couple of calls and messages and lo and behold, one was from the school nurse and the other was from...Colt's teacher. Both were referencing the same story.
Apparently, after arriving at the movie theater, the students were each given a bag of popcorn and a soda pop. Sometime within the first half of the movie, Colt had poked his finger in the mouth of his soda where it became stuck. He later explained that he was trying to determine how much drink he had left. Seems like a logical method. Sweet little Colty didn't want to tell anyone his finger was stuck in his pop can, so he kept it in there for the remainder of the movie (an estimated 45 minutes) and periodically tried to pull it out on his own which caused it to swell. Can you picture it? After the movie was over, he had to walk up to his teacher dangling a pop can off his hand and ask her to help pull it off. A few minutes and a couple of teachers later, Colt's finger was free, but a little mangled. The nurse's first impression was that he needed stitches, but since they couldn't get a hold of me, they wrapped it and iced it and decided it wasn't as bad as it first looked.
It was a little after the fact, but I did talk to the school nurse about Colt and we both decided he was fine to stay at school, so I was surprised to see the school's number pop up on my phone again a couple of hours later. This time, the call was about Dash who was sitting in the nurse's office with a high temperature and low oxygen levels. I headed down to the school and gathered up both boys (enough is enough). After observing Dash for a bit, I decided to take the nurse's advice and take Dash into the Care Center. Diagnosis: Influenza. Side effect: Guilt ridden mother who had chosen not to get the family the flu vaccine. The aftermath: Dash kicked us off with sickness Friday afternoon, Colt fell ill Saturday night, Sis woke up with a fever on Sunday morning, I starting feeling ill Monday and Sport made it all the way to Thursday (Christmas morning) before he came down with it. For most of us, the fever and fatigue lasted 4-5 days so for a good share of the holiday break the house was strewn with the bodies of the ill, draped across beds and couches. Brandan managed to avoid the flu (he attributes it to superior physical and mental toughness, I believe it may have to do with the fact that he had been almost completely absent from home for the week or so leading up to our fall), and Sport, who caught it last (and thoroughly enjoyed helping himself to uncontested Christmas goodies), kicked it the fastest. So by the second week of our Christmas Vacation we were all on the mend and able to appreciate the remaining holiday season.
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