Both my grandchildren are ill. Not just ill. Very ill. With very odd things. In this world of antibacterial soaps, lotions, Purell, Lysol, etc, how can germs still exist and cause such trouble?
First, Granddaughter #1, who is 4.5 years old, somehow, somewhere, caught a terrible horrible staph infection that you only hear about on TV. She has spent three days in the hospital, mainlining powerful antibiotics. Will the germs finally give up and die? Or have they become so resistant to these drugs that they will continue to cause havoc on this little girl's body? I will not allow that to happen! Be gone, Germs! Grandmother has spoken!
Granddaughter #2, just two months old, has developed, or pehaps has always had, what seems to be an allergy to cow protein her mother is ingesting. In other words, she cannot seem to digest the protein from cow's milk products that her mother is eating. The doctor told my daughter that her baby is "allergic" to her breastmilk. Really? How often does that happen? Rarely! Let's get the wording correct instead of scaring my daughter or making her feel incompetent or guilty.
Shame on that doctor, in this day and age of "advanced medicine!" So, to correct this medical issue and to get this little baby's digestion system and bowels working properly, my daughter has to give up any product with cow's milk if she wants to nurse her baby again, and it takes about two weeks for this protein to be eliminated from her body. And trying to eliminate any further ingestion of cow's milk protein is similar to trying to figure out where wheat is hiding if you have celiac's disease. Hmmm. Milk is hiding in chocolate, pudding, scrambled eggs (if you add milk to the eggs), cheese, ice cream, yogurt, sour cream, instant potatoes, soups, some salad dressings, etc. Meanwhile, her baby has to stop nursing and try other milk products. My daughter was sobbing. This is a vital link between mother and child.
To my daughters, I give you strength to deal with the stress and scariness of having children who are very sick. You are both strong, independent females and can deal with these issues. You have husbands who support you, who are kind, gentle, supportive men who will help you through this.
It is like living life backwards. Life does repeat itself, when your own children deal with the same issues you remember worrying about when they were babies and young children. I thought I was through worrying about children when my own girls grew into adults and got married. But now I have a new set of worries to add to worrying about my own girls. Now I also worry about their girls, their daughters. I can offer support and some advice. I can offer my continuing love. I can offer a shoulder to cry on when they need it. I can offer resources for information and research. I can share my stories from when they were little and I felt the same worry and fears. I can tell them how I slept on the floor by their cribs and beds, sometimes at the hospital with the youngest daughter. I can tell them how the rest of the world would disappear and there was only my child and me. I wish I could make it all better. I wish I could protect my daughter's from worry, pain, fear, stress, unhappiness, sadness. I cannot do that.
Life moves forward.
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