Still at Home

I'm here to report that there's nothing to report. Finn and Declan both are home from school today. What the?

First, as you know, Finn has been home all week because of The Final Straw with his former teacher. What happened was that on Sunday, Eamonn and Finn both ate some chicken that had been in the refrigerator too long. Only neither of them was sick yet by the time the boys went to school Monday morning. Over the course of the morning at school, Finn began complaining to his teacher that his stomach hurt. Soon he was crying and saying he needed to throw up. Apparently the teacher didn't think that a child who has vomited more times in 3 1/2 years than most people will in a lifetime could actually know that he needed to throw up. So the teacher refused to let Finn go to the bathroom or go to the nurse's office saying, "I don't believe you." Finn kept crying and saying he needed to be sick and eventually he threw up all over his table. I can't imagine--sitting there with that feeling that you're about to throw up and not being allowed to leave the room. This was the first time that I felt totally irrational about Finn's situation and felt like going over to the school and confronting the teacher and just screaming at him. But I didn't.

As I was driving home from Utah, I got a call from the school that someone needed to pick Finn up. Fortunately Eamonn was still close to home and went to get Finn. After I got home I was talking to Finn about getting sick at school and asking why he didn't go to the bathroom and the whole story came out. That was when Eamonn and I agreed that Finn wouldn't go back to school until the situation was resolved.

Finn spent the rest of the day in a great deal of discomfort--a lot of stomach cramping and vomiting. He couldn't even keep small sips of liquid down. And then Eamonn's vomiting kicked in. There is a bug going around school, but we're pretty convinced that it was a mild case of food poisoning because Eamonn and Finn ate the chicken and Declan didn't. And Eamonn is one of those people who never gets sick. The last time he was sick was in 2001 when he had shingles. Seriously. Declan has shown no signs of being sick and now, I haven't either, even after being in very close proximity to the offending bodily fluids.

So Tuesday was spent recuperating. Finn really didn't eat much that day--mostly crackers and a baked potato.

Yesterday Finn's eating was pretty much business as usual. It was his birthday and because he wasn't starting in his new room until Thursday, he was still home. He ate mostly normal food and requested McDonald's for his birthday lunch. I drove through the first snow of the year to take him and all seemed well.

In the late afternoon, we went over to school and met with Finn's new teacher. We briefed her on Finn's background and she went over the schedule with him. He spends time in her room four days a week and he seemed comfortable in there.

We came home and ate Finn's birthday dinner--his favorite tortellini--and "chocolate pie" which he had requested as his birthday cake.

Everything was fine at bedtime. The boys asked to sleep together in Finn's bed, which they usually only do on weekends, but we said it was OK because it was Finn's birthday.

At 2am, Finn woke up screaming and vomiting. I have to confess, I haven't seen vomit like that since the chemo days. I forgot how much that kid can project. It took us two hours to get everyone cleaned up, settled down and back to sleep. The dirty laundry generated is still in progress.

So Finn is home for obvious reasons. Declan is home because he's exhausted and has huge circles under his eyes.

I'm counting down the minutes until we all take naps.