The upside of having a van is that you can let your child sleep in the parking lot of the hospital while you wait 8 hours for a doctor to see her. All right, it wasn’t even 8 hours, but that’s what they warned us it would be and that’s what I was steeling myself for.
It was Morgane’s third night of fever. The advil worked during the day, but she had trouble sleeping at night. We decided it was time to see a doctor. We got to the hospital at midnight and Ghis and Morgane went to sleep in the van while I watched a movie about Quebec explorers in Antarctica. Then I looked at old photos, ate a few snacks from the vending machines and finally stretched out and dozed a bit on the waiting room chairs.
The doctor saw her at about 4am. She said she has hand, foot and mouth disease (not the same one that animals get). It’s a virus and a common one for kids under age 10. What it means is that Morgane’s throat is really sore and her fever may last awhile longer.
Today she was mellow, but mostly off the Advil. Tonight she had chicken soup and is watching retro cartoons on TV, curled up on the couch with Ginger, Anne-Marie’s dog. “Uppy-Puppy,” she says when Ginger gets off the couch. Anne-Marie has been our host for the past week and a bit. We are very grateful – even though she is in the middle of renovations, she has fit us into her basement and on top of that, she has great front-loading washing machines!
In the meantime, Ghis has been spending his days getting a few things on the van looked at. Today he got the propane system cleaned up – the fridge, stove and heat run off of propane.
Everything seems long lately. It’s hard to get things done when you’re not in your own space and own stuff. But hopefully that will be over soon.
This may be our next woofing location: www.marklandresort.com
It’s in Cape Breton. It seems so far away right now, but we could be there soon.