Mashed Potatoes Or If the fever doesn't fry her brain the TV will

Although my daughter was a 32 week preemie and spent 4 weeks in the hospital, she's actually been a remarkably healthy little girl ever since. In her 6 years she's had only 1 ear infection, she got a rotovirus when she was about 2, and she's had several bouts of strep. However, she's only once had a fever with strep and most of the time had very few symptoms. Other than that, she's had colds and a few fevers, but everything was mild and short-lived. So much so that her idea of being sick is feeling fine, but getting to stay home with mommy or daddy. But right now she's sick. I think it's safe to say she's got the flu. Her strep test on Thursday was negative, and I was relieved given her tendency to get it, but now I'd welcome something that could get knocked out with an antibiotic. She is now going on 5 days with a fever and sore throat and 3 days with fevers above 103. I know fevers that high are not too unusual for kids, but they are for my daughter. In fact, she's never had a fever this high or for this long before. She's hardly eaten in the past few days. Even when she's feeling better thanks to the children's mo.trin, she's still uninterested in food. However, she just asked for some mashed potatoes, so right now there's a large pot of potatoes boiling away in the kitchen.

I just finished the potatoes--turns out I made enough for a Thanksgiving dinner! There are certainly worse things to have too much of.

The kid's been so miserable and tired that she's basically done nothing but watch tv for the last 3 1/2 days. Of course, this part of being sick she loves, since we usually limit her tv watching to a dvd or two, depending on length, on the weekends.

I thought for sure she'd be back to school by tomorrow, but now it looks like I'm going to have to take at least one more day off from work to stay home with her (at noon today my husband flew off to attend a conference until Thursday, so right now it's just me). I haven't gotten a flu shot yet (though I know it's no guarantee anyway), so I'm praying that I don't catch this thing. Not only do I not want to get sick, but I'm a little paranoid about this pregnancy so I'd like to not have something else to worry about.

On the bright side.

Oh wait, I was just interrupted by brightness of a different sort than I'd intended to write about. Bright red. As in a nose bleed. As if the fever, sore throat and congestion weren't enough, she just had a doozy of a nosebleed. I was typing and she calls out, "mommy there's red stuff in my mashed potatoes". I got up casually assuming the cause was her loose tooth. What a surprise I got when I saw the bottom half of her face covered in blood.

So, where was I? Oh yes, the bright side. Despite feeling awful, my daughter has actually been quite sweet and well-behaved throughout this illness. Don't get me wrong, there's been some whining and nagging ("come sit with Meeeeee!"), but for the most part she's been quite a little dear. All pleases and thank yous, even in the middle of the night. Earlier today she even made this.