When I was young, I was not a very sick child in general. My brother was just as healthy as I was too. However, there comes a time when something a bit out of the ordinary happens. Nothing traumatic or major, but different.
Big sister, little brother
There is a large age difference between the both of us and when my brother was younger, I was the babysitter by default. In the summer, when he was out of school and my mom still had to work, I was the one taking care of him.
Missing school?
One week, he got somewhat sick. I cannot remember what he had, but he had a bad fever. He was 10 (or so). My mom stayed with him for Monday and Tuesday, but she said she could not miss a third day of work so she asked if I could take a day off school, to care for him. I did.
To-do list
My mom had given me various tasks to do, to take care of my brother: check his temperature every hour, give him a lukewarm bath every 4 hours, give him meds and other things I don’t remember.
High fever
Since he was hit with that fever, he was really cooperative. I guess he didn’t feel like arguing, or fighting back. All day, I took care of him but the fever would not break for too long at the time. The fever kept hovering over 100F, and at one point, the thermometer even read 105F. Yes he was sick.
Delusion
One thing I had never experienced in my life before, was delusion. With such a high fever, I think that is what he displayed. He would talk to me about superheroes on his wall and on the ceiling. He speech was not really coherent (and it made me laugh, honestly). As I brought him for his bath, I remember that he kept looking and pointing at the ceiling, talking about (or at) something I didn’t see.
Can’t even go to the doctor
I kept phoning my mom every now and then, either to keep her up to date, or to ask for help as I had never cared for a sick child and didn’t know what to do. Since I didn’t have a mean of transportation (taking the bus to the doctor’s office was less than convenient, and having no money to take a taxi), I didn’t go to the doctor with him, but really, what would he have done?
It’s all good
In the end, the fever broke down later, in the evening, and he was fine the next day to go to school. I still have no idea what he had or what caused that high fever. But it was kind of an odd experience for me to see. (and we kept teasing him for a while about those superheroes he saw on the ceiling!)
What about you? Did you ever have to miss school to care for someone in the family? Did you ever experience something just out of the ordinary in someone who is sick? Let’s not focus on tragic illness, but i am sure there are some funny or odd situations to tell.
1 thought on “Remember when…? – Fever”
Speaking of brothers and sisters made me think about this…
When my brother (2-1/2 years older than me) was 15 he got a motorcycle. He wasn’t supposed to drive it on the street yet because he didn’t have a license yet but that didn’t stop him. One day he decided to pick up his girlfriend after school. In his 15 year old wisdom, he decided to take a shortcut which involved jumping a very wide concrete drainage ditch Evil Knievel style!
He didn’t make it 🙁
Thankfully he was wearing his helmet but he did break his back. He was in the hospital a while & when he came home he had to wear a back brace anytime he was out of bed.
Many times during his recovery he would use that against me. If he wanted something to eat he’d tell me to go fix it & bring it to him. If I said no, he’d threaten to get up without his back brace & it would be all my fault if he ended up paralyzed! Of course I’d get whatever he wanted right away.
I took good care of him and made sure he never got up without his brace. He recovered completely.