Have you endured the challenges of caring for a sick child?

How about more than one child?

How sick were they?

Watching sickness pass from child to child within our family builds an almost demi-God like ability to be both hard and tender simultaneously. Their frail bodies shiver and their cheeks flush; they can barely walk or eat or do anything besides whisper and stare. It is truly heart-wrenching to watch, especially when helplessness strikes the parent.

I write this at 10:30 pm on Sunday, May 31st, as the twins and Primrose are asleep upstairs while Mama drives our three-year-old, Marlena, to the emergency room for a fever. For two days she has been dizzy, weak, achy, shaky, and tired with a sore throat, belly ache, and fever. And tonight, after she woke up even hotter and shakier than before, Savanna made the call to hit the ER.

Thankfully, we live on the road system only thirty minutes from a top-notch medical facility.

Yesterday, during the opening day ceremony for the Homer Little League baseball season, Marlena stood on the field shivering beside her tee-ball coach, Yours Truly, and her big sister. She had to leave the field before our team was announced due to her inability to stand.

Tonight, her little brother and sister are showing signs of fever and sickness. Her older sister was sick a week ago and their mother has been sick for almost two weeks. It is rolling through the family like a sixteen wheeler.

While I try to remain calm and logical when sickness strikes the family, sometimes it can be almost impossible. Almost. Hydration, rest, quiet, fresh air, easy movement, healthy snacks, and love are my medicine. When that doesn’t work, I turn to herbs, essential oils, and homeopathic tablets. When that doesn’t work, only as a last resort, I turn to the heavy hitters-Tylenol and Ibuprofen. What’s your technique?

I thank God that none of our kids have been diagnosed with a long-term disease or virus, and I feel for all of the families who have endured such a trial. I try not to worry about such a thing, but occasionally it creeps into the mind and I give it a few moments of mental preparation before letting it slip away into the dismal abyss.

To lose a child may not be every parent’s worst nightmare, there are a lot of shitty parents out there, but it’s my worst nightmare. And it is definitely Savanna’s. I don’t know if we are tough enough, spiritual enough, level-headed enough to move forward with joy after such a tragedy, and I sure as hell don’t want to find out.

To those of you have endured the death of a child, I am deeply sorry.

Please send some healing prayers to our family during this time.