Photo by Alex Proimos via Flickr, under Creative Commons License

This week I was reminded once again of one of the tougher sides of parenting. It seems that just because a son is grown up and out in the world on their own, it doesn’t mean that you lose the instinct to nurture them when they fall ill. And this week we had two sons feeling quite miserable.

Fortunately, there were wonderful humans in the medical field who helped us out.

The one in Utah was definitely out of this mama’s reach, but he needed medication from our former home pharmacy, and I couldn’t easily get it. I called the pharmacy to discuss options, and they offered to mail the meds to our son without my even having to go in to get them (we just paid shipping). As a side note, while he’s not a medical professional, I also am thankful to our son’s boss who sent him home from work early so he could rest.

Our other ill son went to the college health clinic, and he was referred to intermediary care. He was only 90 minutes from home so I drove over to take him to a clinic where they informed us that they suspected mono.

(Notes: If you want to see what kind of sore throat he was dealing with, check out this site, but be warned, the image is pretty gross. Also, just so you know, Hudi okayed my telling his story, but he wants me to make it very clear that he did not get this from kissing someone with mono. 🙂 )

The clinic sent him back to the dorm with a script for some pain-relievers and a warning to rest and avoid sports, which could damage his spleen.

I had to leave him there, knowing he was exhausted, could barely eat, and was in a ton of pain. About broke my heart. But once again medical professional stepped in. His primary care physician’s office counseled me over the phone, working things out so we could assess his situation from afar, but being on call if anything went amiss.

This morning I received a call from the college nurse, who had called him a few times, but he didn’t answer (he was probably sleeping). So she called me to follow up and make sure he was doing better. How amazing is that?

So that’s my thankful note for today. I am VERY thankful for medical professionals who show some tender loving care to my ducklings while they are far from my nest.