Sick scale

Even the sleep-in I got on Sunday morning didn’t shake my headache and tiredness. I was so off, I told Son cows go ‘mah’! “Moo” my mom-in-law corrected as we sat reading a Spot book to Son, “cows go moo”. I should have guessed I was getting a little sick. The nose blowing and sneezing began shortly after the mah incident and today I have a sore throat. But I’m at the bottom of the sick scale.

Son's one up. He has been coughing for days. It’s a phlegmmy cough that wakes him up at night. The pediatrician says it is a virus and will go on its own and a mid-wife at the baby clinic says it is an attention cough. Latter discounted, I think we need another opinion.

Our friend, Guy is far ahead on the sick scale. He contracted foot and mouth disease from his 8 month old daughter. Anyone older than 3 isn’t supposed to get it but Guy’s never shy to challenge the system. He now has blisters on his feet, hands and mouth and his tongue only just fits in his mouth. I saw it. I took him Season 1 of Lost; it’s the only thing that will make him forget his suffering.

Finally, the dying monkey. He was outside by the pool this morning, cowering on the step when Robbie found him. I defied the standard ‘don’t feed monkeys’ rule and took him a banana, which he feebly but appreciatively scooped clumps out of then proceeded to hang himself over the pool rail. I was sure we’d have a dead monkey on our hands before noon so I called the SPCA who put me onto the Monkey Helpline. Steve and Carol were wonderful and, after picking Monkey up by his tail and examining him for wounds, they concluded he had either sustained a blow to the head or been shot with a pellet gun, which would be known once he was x-rayed later. I called later to check on his progress and was told he was hanging in there and that he hadn’t yet had his x-ray. I’ll phone tomorrow but I sure do hope he makes it through the night.

It might be a rough night for all of us on the sick scale but at least our odds are better than Monkey's and we'll be healthy again in no time with stronger immune systems and stories to tell our grand kids. That last one just sounded like a nice way to end the blog.