Not the Chicken Pops
So, since last Sunday SP has been taking amoxicillin for a strep infection involving her tonsils. This morning she seemed to have very red cheeks when I dropped her off at daycare, but, since it was fairly chilly outside and we'd missed our bus and had to wait ten minutes for another one, I didn't think much of it. I arrived at work late, at about 8:15, just as my office phone began to ring in what struck me as a particularly urgent manner: DH on his mobile, informing me that he was on his way to collect SP from daycare because she had red spots all over her.
Ummm .... she does? Oh, crap.
The daycare, sensibly, has a policy against kids with red spots all over their bodies, so while DH was retrieving our red-spotted child, I rang her paediatrician's office and left a message; they rang back an hour or so later and, on hearing about the spots, offered us an appointment at 2:00. I then rang DH at home to tell him about the appointment and stress the importance of, if the spots should turn out not to be contagious, getting the doctor to write a note to this effect.
Meanwhile, in my two e-mail-free morning hours, when I am supposed to focus on tasks requiring uninterrupted concentration, I had helped one of my staff move all her computer equipment for the second time in several days (for reasons related to the dysfunction and unavailability of network drops and power outlets), had another long discussion with another of my staff about an editor who's in total denial during which we didn't solve the problem but after which we felt better, participated in a variety of financial transactions related to acquiring some potable coffee from outside the building and several discussions about the possible sources of red spots,* and, yes, broken down and checked my e-mail.
My boss, it turned out, was staying home with a bad cold. There was supposed to be a presentation today for one of my production staff, but since it looked as though neither I nor my boss would be around at the prescribed time, there was some scrambling and negotiating with big bosses to reschedule. And more discussions about the dysfunctional editor, and more computer-techie stuff,** and even a little bit of work.
After the appointment, DH phoned me on his now-dying mobile to report that the spots are an allergic reaction to the amoxicillin and yes, he remembered to get a note. Whew!
I left 45 minutes early to meet DH and SP and take charge of the latter so that the former could go to his previously scheduled doctor's appointment, and here we are at home now. When they arrived at the designated meeting place, SP greeted me with a huge grin and said, "It's not Chicken Pops, Mommy!" XD
* "I may have to disappear shortly," I said to A, the circulation manager; "SP's got spots."
"Oh!" said A. "Chicken pox? We'll have to get her together with [son]."
** I am seriously considering packing in the editing gig and going back to school to become an IT guy. Except that DH says the IT guys at his company work three shifts, and presumably the new people always get the worst schedules. OTOH, his thanks-for-staying-around-for-five-years gift? A video iPod. (I got a polo shirt.) So there might be compensations.
Ummm .... she does? Oh, crap.
The daycare, sensibly, has a policy against kids with red spots all over their bodies, so while DH was retrieving our red-spotted child, I rang her paediatrician's office and left a message; they rang back an hour or so later and, on hearing about the spots, offered us an appointment at 2:00. I then rang DH at home to tell him about the appointment and stress the importance of, if the spots should turn out not to be contagious, getting the doctor to write a note to this effect.
Meanwhile, in my two e-mail-free morning hours, when I am supposed to focus on tasks requiring uninterrupted concentration, I had helped one of my staff move all her computer equipment for the second time in several days (for reasons related to the dysfunction and unavailability of network drops and power outlets), had another long discussion with another of my staff about an editor who's in total denial during which we didn't solve the problem but after which we felt better, participated in a variety of financial transactions related to acquiring some potable coffee from outside the building and several discussions about the possible sources of red spots,* and, yes, broken down and checked my e-mail.
My boss, it turned out, was staying home with a bad cold. There was supposed to be a presentation today for one of my production staff, but since it looked as though neither I nor my boss would be around at the prescribed time, there was some scrambling and negotiating with big bosses to reschedule. And more discussions about the dysfunctional editor, and more computer-techie stuff,** and even a little bit of work.
After the appointment, DH phoned me on his now-dying mobile to report that the spots are an allergic reaction to the amoxicillin and yes, he remembered to get a note. Whew!
I left 45 minutes early to meet DH and SP and take charge of the latter so that the former could go to his previously scheduled doctor's appointment, and here we are at home now. When they arrived at the designated meeting place, SP greeted me with a huge grin and said, "It's not Chicken Pops, Mommy!" XD
* "I may have to disappear shortly," I said to A, the circulation manager; "SP's got spots."
"Oh!" said A. "Chicken pox? We'll have to get her together with [son]."
** I am seriously considering packing in the editing gig and going back to school to become an IT guy. Except that DH says the IT guys at his company work three shifts, and presumably the new people always get the worst schedules. OTOH, his thanks-for-staying-around-for-five-years gift? A video iPod. (I got a polo shirt.) So there might be compensations.