Momish Googles: Pneumonia

After several days of a persistent cough, my husband took Piper to the doctor. I got the phone around lunch time that day. 

Pneumonia, he said. 

I only recall fragments of the conversation after that.

Gotta take her to the hospital right away… x-rays…don’t know how bad it is…they may have to keep her…

While I sat at my desk, waiting to hear back from him, I Googled: Pneumonia.

What exactly are we talking about here?

Result: A serious, contagious infection of the lungs. But I already knew that. I wanted to know what we are really talking about here.

So I Googled: Pneumonia in children

Result:  Pneumonia is the leading cause of death in children worldwide!  It kills roughly 1.8 million children under 5 every year.

Piper has pneumonia. Piper is under five. 

Can you say PANIC?!?!?!

I sat there and read and read and read and felt the panic increase with every disturbing detail, statistic, fact I read.  By the time I heard back from my husband that all was going to OK, I was close to being admitted to the hospital myself.

We are lucky. So lucky.

They told us she had pneumonia. They told us what to do. Go here. Get this. Do that.

And because we have this plastic card with her name on it, the only thing we heard all day was “No problem.”  We need x-rays. No problem sir, come right this way. We need a nebulizer. No problem maam, here you go. We need these medications immediately. No problem, you can pick them up in an hour.

We are lucky. So very lucky.

And today, the doctor said she is doing great. She can actually start her first day of school tomorrow!

My daughter is doing great and able to start school tomorrow because we have this little plastic card with her name on it. She is well again because my husband and I both have great jobs that offer great health insurance. She is well again because we both work for wonderful companies and employers who told us, “No problem. Take the time you need to care for your child.”

So tomorrow she will start her first day at her new school. 

But today, as I sat in the parent orientation, I just couldn’t help but feel so grateful. So grateful that my daughter will be one of the 20 new students starting pre-k this year and not one of the 1.8 million children under five that will die from pneumonia this year.

1.8 million.

I thought back to that first night, holding the little mask up to face, watching her chest struggle to catch air. Air that is free, all around us and in abundance. And yet she struggled to get it into her lungs, just as those 1.8 million parents struggled to get their children the proper care they needed, the proper medicine they needed. Even though it is all around us and in abundance. 

Then, after the medicine started to have its effect, I watched as her chest returned to a normal rhythm and her sweet eyes slowly closed in a restful, peaceful sleep.  And all I could think over and over in my head was 1.8  million. 1.8 million. 1.8 million.

1.8 million children under five.

I wrote out a ton of checks today at parent orientation. Tuition fee, food plan fee, gym clothes fee, after care fee, snack fee, field trip fee, registration fee.  But the most important one I wrote was to UNICEF.  Because that particular check might help one child get the medication he or she needs to get well. That check might help one mother watch her child’s eyes close in peaceful sleep, not death.

As special as my daughter is to me, I know she is no more entitled to medication, no more entitled to live than any of those 1.8 million children just because she has a plastic card with her name on it.

Help if you can.

Here is our poor little Pipes getting x-rays of her poor little pipes. And yet, she smiles!

We are all smiling today.

Comments

[Mama P]

RELIEF that she is able to start school!!! So relieved. And thank you for the UNICEF link.

[RuthWells]

Scary! So glad she's doing better. Yes, we who have health insurance and jobs and resouces are incredibly lucky -- I remind myself often.

[humorworks]

she's a gem;))