Chickenpox War

So, as I had written in my post before, Matt has had chickenpox. He woke up Sunday morning, with them, and they haven't been too bad. They've even been scabbing up really fast. Obviously I've still needed to keep him home from school, and in the meantime, unless my Mom has come over or Chris has been home, I've been missing work. Not a big deal in itself except we just had spring break last week and I collect unemployment during school breaks. This week I've had no compensation for missing work. But its one of those things that must be done.

Yesterday I went over his entire body to check to make sure no new spots have cropped up and that all the spots that are there have crusted over. I noticed all the spots are healing and decided that I'd send him to school today. And instead of letting him get off the bus, I finished my run and brought him to school myself. I brought him in the nurses' office to be checked out before going to his class, and she took one look at his face and told me point blank..."these aren't crusted over". WTF?!??!?! Do they need to look a special way? He had 2 on his face and they were bigger, where the majority on his body were smaller. They were still red, but obviously had scabs on them! They weren't oozing anything remotely disgusting and were completely dry. So then I asked her what they need to look like and she tells me they need to look like the ones on his neck, which are only about 1/5 the size of the ones on his face!

Then I brought up the letter. When I called the school on Monday to let them know Matt wasn't coming in because he had chickenpox, a nurse had called me back an hour later to tell me that he needed a letter from the Dr. letting them know he had chickenpox. I had already called the Dr. office that morning and talked to a nurse, and she told me there was no need to see him, but that it sounded like chickenpox and to keep him home till they healed. But now the school was telling me I needed a letter to give to them. I guess some Dr. offices don't need to see a child to write a letter diagnosing something but the kids pediatrician does.(which makes sense to me) So I needed to make an appt. and bring Matt in, just for them to look at the spots and tell me what I already knew. Oh, and fork over the $30 co-pay for the letter!

So, back to the nurses' office at the school. I told her that I had needed to bring Matt in and pay the co-pay just for the letter. And I wanted to know exactly why the school needed the letter in the first place. And by this point I was furious, and had started to cry (I hate that!) The nurse got down really close to my face and started talking real slow telling me that chickenpox was a communitable (sp?) disease and they needed the letter because of that. Then continues to tell me that Matt can't stay at school because the ones on his face aren't healed and that there's a child in the school with leukemia that could die if he gets it. While I understand that obviously the school needs to err on the side of caution because of the sick child, she didn't need to talk to me like I was a fricken child! And I told her that I felt she was talking down to me, in which she told me she just wanted to explain. I told her I didn't need an explanation, that I did indeed understand. But, I was confused what the spots were supposed to look like since the ones on his face looked crusted over to me!

I was pissed, people! How dare she talk down to me that way? I felt totally inadequate as a mother and then she made me feel stupid on top of it! This is only Matt's second year in this school and I can tell its going to be a long 4 years for me...dealing with her. She is constantly calling me because of Matt. About a month ago, she called me up to tell me that Matt had a stomachache and then she let him take a nap! Last year while the regular sore throat stuff was going around, she called me three times in one week! I had already brought him to the Dr and he didn't have strep, he didn't have a fever, yet she continued to call me! Now I understand that its better to be on the safe side, and no offense to my own child, but the kid knows how to manipulate adults. If he wants to be home for some reason, he knows all he has to do is go to the nurses' office and they'll call me to pick him up.

I don't know whats been wrong with me lately. I've been crying at the drop of a hat, and don't think I'm pms'ing. I feel like I'm not a worthy person, and a far from good enough mother. And btw, I did end up leaving Matthew at school. The nurse covered the two on his face with two huge bandaids! Don't know if she let him stay because I was putting up a big stink or if she knew I was right.

When I got home this morning, I called the Dr. office. They explained to me what the spots are supposed to look like and told me that , yes, they had needed to see Matthew to give a written diagnosis. So HA, NURSE LADY..... I WAS RIGHT AND YOU WERE WRONG!

In the meantime, the nurses probably think I'm the mother from hell. But dammit, I'm so sick of all the shit with them.