Fifth Disease

Our little guy has Fifth Disease, which sounds horrible (DISEASE!), but is not at all.  He’s a little young to have contracted it (we think he picked it up on the flight back from Berlin; we’re blaming the family who sat in front of us).  But it’s very common, not painful, and has incredibly rare side effects.

Dave noticed it first on Tuesday night.  His left check had a big red splotch on it, sort of like when you’ve slept on a body part and then woken up and that part is still red.  The problem was he hadn’t been sleeping on that body part.  This spot is often described that it looks like the cheek has been slapped, but I can’t even stand the thought of that, so I prefer to use the slept on description.

This splotch has come and gone for a couple of days and then Thursday night, he had a very fine and not very discolored rash on his belly.  We called the doctor’s office after reading through a zillion web sites and all agree that this is Fifth’s disease.  No fever, no pain or itching, just noticeable splotches.  That’s the good news. 

The “bad” news is that it’s contagious.  It’s probable that the rest of the kids could pick up fifth disease.  For them, it’s not an issue.  The only concern is if a pregnant woman is exposed to it.  Then, it’s actually more serious.  None of the mom’s in our classroom are pg, but Miss D thinks there is a pg employee, but we’re not sure she’s been exposed to Conor. 

Speaking of Hives

I shouldn’t be surprised, but I’ve developed some hives of my own.  However, these are completely stress related.  (OK, Mom.  Mom!  MOM!!  It’s ok!!!  I’m ok!!!)  ßA little preemptive parental calming down!  I tend to get hive-ish whenever I get stressed and starting back to fulltime school/work as a Mom and worrying about tenure is a bit stressful.  The really weird part of this set of hives is that they are not on my fingers, hands and arms where they normally appear.  They are in my cleavage and on my neck.  I’m guessing that the extra blood supply to the boobs has moved the usual hive location.  It’s not big whoop-de-do except when I’m talking to a colleague and the spot gets itchy. 

At least that twitch in my eye which started the first week I went back to school has stopped. 

So Diplomatic

I was recently reminded of a story revealing how incredibly diplomatic our friend the bride from Berlin is.  Apparently, she was with a group of folks, one of whom had a boogie hanging out of his nose.  While my one good friend who recounted the story and described herself as chicken-frell for not pointing out the boogie to the man, the bride discretely and without calling attention to anything asked him if he would like a tissue.  He refused “no, I don’t need a tissue.”  “Yes, you do,” she replied, “for your nose.”  All at low voice, all at a discrete nothing out of the ordinary tone of voice, all at a Let me help you sort of way.  We all took this as a lesson to get out of those awkward positions.

“Would you like a tissue?  For your nose?”

“Would you like a napkin? For your mouth?”

Less pragmatic, but quite funny:

“Would like a needle and thread?  For your blouse?”

“Would like a zipper?  For your pants?” 

10:10:29 AM