Just a virus

It’s Monday. Really feels Mondayish. Some little bug is attacking me from the inside out and making me crankier than usual. (If indeed that’s possible).

It’s attacking Maggie, too, I fear; or something is.

Maggie was on antibiotics for two weeks to address a fairly constant case of tracheitis that rears its head every so often. The drugs worked like a charm and she was better. As soon as the course finished, though, the symptoms came back and the doctor restarted her antibiotics last Thursday. This time they don’t seem to be doing anything. I have a call in to the pulmonologist. It could be that she needs a different drug or that she’s coming down with a virus and antibiotics will not work. Oh joy.

When the boys were little and got sick we would take them to the doctor after several days of illness often only to hear “Don’t worry, it’s just a virus.” Those word were a relief for my healthy boys, but it’s different for Maggie. Now I dread hearing those words.

Just a virus. Just a virus. HIV is just a virus too.


Maggie’s care is non stop when she’s well. When she’s sick, it’s far more difficult, and often a little frightening. A cold for you or me is different for her. She gets so sick so fast. She can end up in the hospital as fast as you can snap your fingers. Then you get into the hospital and get even sicker from the exposure to all the germs and bacteria floating around there.

Last night she was frantic and inconsolable. I was not sure why but as a precaution I changed her trach tube. We are supposed to change it every week and it had only been three days, but I just had a feeling. That helped a lot. The inside of the tube was … well let’s just say it needed changing. That means Maggie was getting less air than usual because of the schmutz in the tube. That’s likely what was making her frantic. I know it would do that to me. After that she fell asleep lying on the couch with Dad. She woke up when the night nurse arrived and seemed back to normal and had a pretty good night.

The question, of course, is why was it so bad so fast. Just a virus?

This morning she was rather subdued, which is definitely not normal for her. But she seemed ok. I sent her to school but the nurse has already called once because now she has a low grade fever. So here we go, maybe.

Maggie is fragile. Winter scares me.