Friday, December 12, 2003
The virus continues
On the fourth day of the epidemic 188 students were out and the teacher absences began to climb. We heard that the elementary schools now were experiencing illness at a noticeable size.
To make the day even better, the phone system failed, so parents could not call in. The tech guys ripped out the main panel and jury rigged the system so all the phones get the ring, so all day all the phones were chiming away. By the end of the day I was feeling listless and knew I had caught the virus. I drug myself around and heard a few parent complaints. As I walked by the guidance secretary, she told me the database was down.
I was expected at a dinner to hear the Commissioner of Education for New Jersey, but I hardly had the strength to get right home instead. My nose blocked up and I kept using saline spray to help it. Donna gave me some red decongestant syrup and ran out to get some Coricidin, the only brand I can take because it doesn't raise your blood pressure. You can see why mine might be high, can't you?
Donna called me while I was still maneuvering around the traffic the best that I could and said she was getting Chinese food. I told her what I wanted and when I got home and changed she was returned. I had no appetite but ate anyway.
Through the night I kept waking because I couldn't breathe through my nose. I know Donna was up as a result of this, but she was patient because she had put me through the same thing a week earlier. finally at 5:00 a. m. I gave up laid on the sofa downstairs. The toilet was running and I couldn't find why it began to do that all of a sudden. Every couple of minutes it would make a lot of noise refilling itself.
I realized that I was not going to school today. As Donna was getting ready to go, I could feel my stomach go from passive to angry. As soon as I discovered why the toilet was running, a little tube that had to be trimmed off, I had to "hug the bowl". There was las night's Chinese food!
It's funny but I wanted to get sick today. I wanted to be sick so I didn't have to go to my mother-in-law's pre-Christmas dinner. I had gained ten pounds this week eating out during the late night meetings, so I wanted to lose that weight. It seems I am getting everything I wanted.
What will happen at school today? I can imagine, but like your fist when you pull it out of a bucket of water, everything has a way of leveling out and getting through.
To make the day even better, the phone system failed, so parents could not call in. The tech guys ripped out the main panel and jury rigged the system so all the phones get the ring, so all day all the phones were chiming away. By the end of the day I was feeling listless and knew I had caught the virus. I drug myself around and heard a few parent complaints. As I walked by the guidance secretary, she told me the database was down.
I was expected at a dinner to hear the Commissioner of Education for New Jersey, but I hardly had the strength to get right home instead. My nose blocked up and I kept using saline spray to help it. Donna gave me some red decongestant syrup and ran out to get some Coricidin, the only brand I can take because it doesn't raise your blood pressure. You can see why mine might be high, can't you?
Donna called me while I was still maneuvering around the traffic the best that I could and said she was getting Chinese food. I told her what I wanted and when I got home and changed she was returned. I had no appetite but ate anyway.
Through the night I kept waking because I couldn't breathe through my nose. I know Donna was up as a result of this, but she was patient because she had put me through the same thing a week earlier. finally at 5:00 a. m. I gave up laid on the sofa downstairs. The toilet was running and I couldn't find why it began to do that all of a sudden. Every couple of minutes it would make a lot of noise refilling itself.
I realized that I was not going to school today. As Donna was getting ready to go, I could feel my stomach go from passive to angry. As soon as I discovered why the toilet was running, a little tube that had to be trimmed off, I had to "hug the bowl". There was las night's Chinese food!
It's funny but I wanted to get sick today. I wanted to be sick so I didn't have to go to my mother-in-law's pre-Christmas dinner. I had gained ten pounds this week eating out during the late night meetings, so I wanted to lose that weight. It seems I am getting everything I wanted.
What will happen at school today? I can imagine, but like your fist when you pull it out of a bucket of water, everything has a way of leveling out and getting through.
Wednesday, December 10, 2003
The virus epidemic
It came suddenly on the Monday in December. We had a big snow the weekend before and everyone was out shoveling, I guess. The reports came from the attendance secretary and a guidance counselor that there were quite a few out sick. In fact, there were 180 out at first, then 12 more left sick. It seemed to be a virus so I hoped the next day would be better. It wasn't. The nurse saw 58 students and sent 20 home. There were already 150 out. The third day became critical because teachers could not do much with a third of their classes out sick. If it continued then we were in for a problem.
The third day there were 174 out sick with another 17 leaving after puking and coughing all over everyone and everything. I didn't even want to go in the nurse's office. She saw 71 students that day. We began to sanitize everything that kids touched. It seemed to hit teens, not adults or small children because the faculty and the elementary schools were OK. I arranged for the cafeteria ladies to have a disinfectant to clean down the tables after each lunch period. I told the custodians to sanitize all the water fountains, desks, and public phones and doorknobs. They got out the bleach and water and began to work.
My prediction was that the kids still sick were coming to school infecting the healthy kids. Parents had to leave work to pick up their sick child anyway, why couldn't they keep them home, I wondered. That's modern "parenthood", which is no parenting at all. Well, if it doesn't get better tomorrow we will be sending a health alert home to the parents to keep their sick child home. Unfortunately, the kids run the house anyway, so nothing will change.
The third day there were 174 out sick with another 17 leaving after puking and coughing all over everyone and everything. I didn't even want to go in the nurse's office. She saw 71 students that day. We began to sanitize everything that kids touched. It seemed to hit teens, not adults or small children because the faculty and the elementary schools were OK. I arranged for the cafeteria ladies to have a disinfectant to clean down the tables after each lunch period. I told the custodians to sanitize all the water fountains, desks, and public phones and doorknobs. They got out the bleach and water and began to work.
My prediction was that the kids still sick were coming to school infecting the healthy kids. Parents had to leave work to pick up their sick child anyway, why couldn't they keep them home, I wondered. That's modern "parenthood", which is no parenting at all. Well, if it doesn't get better tomorrow we will be sending a health alert home to the parents to keep their sick child home. Unfortunately, the kids run the house anyway, so nothing will change.
