Last weekend when we were at camp, Adlani felt hot to me but of course I had forgotten to bring the medical bag with us for our first weekend at camp. It was Sunday night at 8:45 and Sturbridge was just rolling up the sidewalks (Holland rolls theirs up much earlier and the only game in town is Holland Market which is mostly good for beer and subs). I couldn’t get to Stop & Shop before they closed at 9, and Cumberland Farms (“We never close!”) doesn’t carry Children’s Tylenol or Motrin. I finally found a QuikMart that was open 24 hours (“But we’re only selling beer until 11…” – good to know), so I figured we’d make the 3 a.m. trek if we needed to. He was asleep and didn’t seem uncomfortable.
When we got home the next day his temp was about 102.5. He was a little tired and his nose was running, and because of the fever and body aches I assumed he had the flu. By the next morning he was 90% recovered so I asked the pediatrician’s office if we could come in for a flu test, to see if he had to stay out of school for a week – the current rule. They said to come right in, but when the doctor finally came in he said that it didn’t matter whether he tested positive for the flu because he had to stay out of school for a week regardless.
FEVER+1 OTHER SYMPTOM=7 DAYS AT HOME
Ok…not a big deal. He’s the easiest kid to have at home, believe it or not. Later that day I got the call from Aliya’s school nurse. Aliya had a scratchy throat and needed to go home. When I arrived at school the nurse told me that we were on Day Zero and she could come back on Day Seven. I literally went home and cried. The more I thought about it, and the more I listened to my 2 healthy kids fight over who had the most Kix in their bowl and which TV show to watch, the more I wondered why Aliya was banished for a week. She was missing a vital component of the formula – the fever.
I emailed the school nurse to check, and she referred me to the Board of Health. The nurse from the Board of Health left me a message that no fever means no banishment, and she also called the school nurse to let her know. Meanwhile, Adlani’s school nurse found out that Aliya was home for a week without a fever and called to tell me that she didn’t need to be. So she’s going back Monday and I’m wondering who’s going to compensate me for 4 days of pain and suffering.
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