This week has been a day-to-day observance of the worst cold I've ever seen on Grace. Her cough, reminiscent of a barking seal, has kept most of us up through 3 or 4 nights now. At times she seems unable to stop coughing for even a minute. Bedtime has arrived, so we will coat her with Vicks and dose her with cough remedy and hope for a restful night.
With all the panic over H1N1 this year, every time she coughs we get nasty looks from the people around us, and daycare has been shooting us dirty looks all week. For 3 years she's had chronic colds through the winter, and yet this year it may as well be the plague.
My children are being taught that hand sanitizer and needles will make them healthy, while at home we are trying to teach them that healthy bodies come from the inside. What a novelty.
I find myself ranting in my head to strangers about health and wellness, (thank you to Drs. Whittaker for planting those seeds), and trying to start a crusade to save everyone from the evils of the flu shot. Then I hear the nagging voice in the back of my mind that talks about getting an asthma puffer for Grace's chronic respiratory illnesses and others recommending some kind of anti-viral medication to heal her.
It's so hard to know what is actually the right thing to do. Nobody seems to have a happy medium, and I live my life trying to balance all sides and find a compromise I can live with. So far, not working so much in this case. I guess I need to decide if we're going to live a natural, healthy lifestyle, and start eating and caring for ourselves accordingly, or go back to the idea of modern medecine being the cure for all ills, and continue to live our lazy, not-so-healthy lives.
If anyone out there has the answers..I'd love to hear them!
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