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I lived in Germany for five years when I was a child and never once went to a German doctor. We lived there because my step-father was in the military and so whenever I was sick, I’d go to the military hospital for a check-up. After an exciting yet exhausting month in Europe, we are winding down our long vacation and packing our bags full of souvenirs for the journey home. Over the past week, we’ve been going and going and going…… there are people to visit, lots of food to eat, sights to see, shops to spend money at. I could go on. But I think you get my point. So, it would come as no surprise to me that one of us would get sick. Walking around all day long and staying up until midnight, only to awaken every couple of hours to unfamiliar noises in the hotel. I was expecting it to hit me as soon as we got home. We’re all pretty worn out!

A couple of nights ago, my daughter gets a slight fever and I brush it off as teething. I was crossing my fingers under the feather comforter that that’s all it was, but I knew better. She’s been cranky also and I thought that the whole teething thing explains it all. Wrong. Next day, she has a higher fever and a strange, bark-like cough going on. Ah, vacation. What would a vacation be like without a bunch of drama?

We decided to take her to the doctor to make sure it wasn’t strep throat or something else that would only get worse right before we leave. Who wants the added stress of taking care of a sick toddler on sixteen hour journey home? The German doctor experience was an interesting one. She has aviral infection in the nose, throat and ears. Also a little infection in the voice box. Explains why she sounds like she’s been smoking for the past eighty years. It’s not looking like it’s a bacterial infection…. just a virus. Doc’s recommendation:

Give her sage tea with honey frequently. Huh? Lots of liquids. Nose drops to clear the nasal passageway so that she can breathe better. Watch her fever and give her ibuprofen to lower it if it gets too high.

All of this is being translated to me by my husband. The doctor speaks little English and my German isn’t going to get us very far. I keep asking if they are going to give her antibiotics- that being what I’m used to in America. I hear infection in the ear and instantly relate that to a round of antibiotics. My husband repeated the instructions to me and sage tea really stuck out. Have you ever had a doctor in America recommend tea for medication? Me, never. I think it’s cool, but I’m still really hesitant. I hate taking any kind of medication unless I feel like I’m dying, but when my kids are sick, especially when they are too young to really tell you how they feel, I get all crazy with worry. There’s no internet connection where we are staying, so no googling of symptoms for me either.

Her fever broke early this morning, but came back full force by her afternoon nap. She still coughs like a sick, smoking dog. She’s had a couple of glasses of sage tea with lots of honey, lots of juice and some good German knodel soup. Cross your fingers for us and hope that she gets better for the long trip home! Any other advice that you can share on getting a sick baby home in one piece?

And, I mentioned earlier that there’s no internet connection where we are staying, right? There’s wireless everywhere, but it’s all locked. So, after walking around again for a couple of hours, searching hopelessly for a place to do some work, I found Cafe Central in the Mainz Bahnhof. They were kind enough to let me use their wireless! Thanks!! Posting may be a bit slim for the coming five days.

Posted by livemom on Thursday, July 24th, 2008 at 1:26 pm You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.