This week I would like to tell a story about what started as a potentially good day that went south. In every situation, good or bad, there are lessons to learn and I learnt a few this past weekend...
All last week, I planned to end the week well. It has been a bit of a tough last few weeks and I felt like I had not had some good quality time with my daughters. On Monday I declared that Friday would be Girls’ Day Out. We would have no school, we would head out of the house by 11.30am and spend the day at their favourite mall, do some shopping, eat and head back home with full hearts.
Little did I know how the day would unfold…
By about 6am, my daughter Ruby was awake (this is very unusual as she is normally up about 7.30am). She came to my room and let me know that she was coughing. I didn’t think much of it, probably also because my mind was only tuned to the great day that lay ahead of us. By 9am her complaints had increased but still I thought it couldn’t be that serious. At this point, I should mention that I am not one to rush to hospital or take medication until I establish that the illness is really serious. I was heading out of the house briefly at 9am and as I returned I decided to pass by the pharmacy and get her some cough medicine so she could have some comfort that she was on treatment.
I got home and just as I was about to give her the medicine, the little girl threw up. I was in shock. Cough certainly does not cause someone to throw up. She seemed more comfortable after and she said she was better. I thought maybe it could have been mild food poisoning and now after throwing up she would be ok. I did wonder though where she could have got it from as she had not eaten out of home the previous few days.
I believe I mentioned already that I do not take sickness seriously until things look really bad. I decided that we could still go ahead with our day’s plans and off we went. As soon as we entered the mall, Ruby almost threw up but by God’s grace she didn’t but I saw her try to. At that point I knew we could not go ahead with the day’s plans. Remember we had been speaking of the day’s plot all week and here we were leaving barely 5 minutes after reaching. Ruby could understand that she was unwell but her little sister was heartbroken. We headed back home immediately with heavy hearts.
Back home she seemed to settle a bit and still I did not think too much to take her to see a doctor (I have learnt my lesson though since this event). By 7pm she had thrown up twice more and at this point she seemed so weak because she had basically taken out all her day’s meals. This is when we decided that we had to go to the clinic. At the doctor’s we found out she had a bacterial infection. She got her first cannula inserted and I could hardly watch that I had to excuse myself and leave her with her dad as the procedure was done. I honestly didn’t think they would be able to go through with it but they did and she was brave.
That’s how our Friday went. On Saturday, she was better but still so unwell and taking lots of medication. Sunday she was a lot better and by Monday she was back to her usual self. At one point on Saturday morning she was so miserable after throwing up that I held her and prayed over her. A desperate and bold prayer because my heart just broke to see her so miserable. At that point, I was really so fed up of the way this infection had troubled her so much but God answered that prayer. I am glad she is so much better and we look forward to our Girl’s Day Out (maybe this Friday again God willing).
My takeaways from this experience:
- If you feel unwell, go see a doctor. If your child is unwell, take them to see a doctor. Don’t wait.
- God hears the prayers of faith even when your faith is as small as a mustard seed.
- When things don’t go as planned, don’t sulk too long. Better days lie ahead.
Blessings.
