Delia is still sick

[pegkerr]

Her fever got up to 105 yesterday. Today it was over 102.

Fortunately, we found a friend who could drive Fiona to camp today for us, so we didn't have to take this sick little girl out on a four hour there and back car trip.

There is no doubt that this is getting really, really old. For one thing, it cancels our plan to go to my sister's tonight for the dinner to say goodby to my parents, who are about to leave town again.

She's watched movies and played computer games, but these amusements are beginning to pall. Just now she was crying because she's so bored and unhappy about being trapped at home. If you have any suggestions for cheering a little girl who has been sick with a fever over 102 for three days, send 'em along.

Comments

[cakmpls.livejournal.com]

I haven't read all the details in previous posts--do you know what she has? Is it contagious? If it isn't, does she feel too awful to go to your sister's? Would she feel any worse there than at home?

If she is contagious, would she like to just go for a car ride? Maybe somewhere with scenery (along a river? through a nature center?)? Out to get a DQ? Out to a bookstore, where one parent stays with her in the car and the other goes in and buys her a book she wants?

[kiwiria.livejournal.com]

I forget how old Delia is, but assuming she's old enough to be a confident reader, how about setting up a project for her? If you have an old tape recorder have her read one of her favourite books onto tape, so she (and Fiona) can listen to it on long car trips or when they're sick.

I like cakmpls suggestions as well.

Hope you figure something out, and that Delia feels better soon!

[magentamn.livejournal.com]

I can't remember if you mentioned this in previous posts or not. When I was little, I had high fevers several times. My mother would give me alcohol rubs to bring down the fever. The sharp smell of rubbing alcohol still brings back the feel of my mother's hands on my back. Physical stroking like that is supposed to be good for the immune system. Of course, it's VERY labor intensive for you.

If her bed is low enough to put a card table over it, a jigsaw puzzle becomes a possibility. If you don't have any jigsaw puzzles, there is a garage sale going on until 4 pm at the Nokomis Library (to fund Saturday hours) and I saw lots of jigsaw puzzles when I was there a little while ago. For that matter, a table or table-like surface makes all kinds of things possible, like origami, card games, solitaire with real cards instead of pixels, scrabble, and drawing.

[aome.livejournal.com]

I've heard that alcohol rubs have since been declared a dangerous way to handle fever.

My mother used lukewarm baths, which of course felt ice cold to me, but it helped.

[folk.livejournal.com]

I remember that I always found making things with LEGO a useful tonic when I was sick at home. That and the wet flannel (washcloth) treatment from my mum are something I'll always take back from my childhood. Thinking about it, last summer when I was feverish before my gallbladder-hoovering, my mum was wiping my face down with a wet cloth then as well.

[aome.livejournal.com]

I like the idea of drawing (maybe a new coloring book or one of those watercolor books?), simple origami, LEGO (or other construction materials) and jigsaw puzzles. How well does Delia read on her own? My mom would often get me a new book as a treat if I was sick. Also like the idea of books on tape/CD, which can probably also be found at the library. Does she talk on the phone to her little friends or to her grandparents at all? Maybe a phone call to someone special might help pass some time and cheer her a little.

How about a manicure? Some little treat like that? Or she could paint your toes.

[prunesnprisms.livejournal.com]

Puzzles, maybe? Card games?

I hope she feels better soon, poor kiddo.

[jemyl.livejournal.com]

When I was sick, my mom used to play chinese checkers with me or dominoes. I seem to remembe that is also when I learned to play gin rummy. If she is too young for that, there is always old maid ( use a regular deck or two decks and just use the joker as the old maid) Cards get matched by color and number for the regular deck and exact matches for two decks.)
I also had, and actually bought some about four years ago so that I have them for my grandkids, some little wooden diamond and triangle shaped tiles with which I made all kinds of designs. I am sure you have some typing paper on hand. Take a pencil or a black marker and draw a big old squiggle with lots of interlocking and overlapping and then give it to Delia with a box of crayons and let her color in the boxes created to make a stained glass window -- kind of like the expensive ones you see in stores. You can also start with an identifiable(sic) shape such as a butterfly and then make the criss crosses or squiggle designs in the middle to create lots of panes as in stained glass. You could even make one pattern and throw it through your FAX copier a couple of times so that she can try doing a couple of different designs or colors. The trick is to make the "panes" age appropriate in size so that she doesn't get frustrated and yet make them interlocking enough that she doesn't get bored. She could also do one of her own covering a whole sheet of paper and then make it into a paper airplane.

If you have dolls and stuffed animals about, she could be given one or two and then could make up a story about them for you. You could record her story on tape, if you have a tape recorder, transcribe it on your computer to a book, but leave large spaces open so that she can illustrate it with her own drawings or with pictures you two set up of the "subjects" of the story and then take with the digital camera and add to the story. You can later velobind it into her very own first book as an author!
If you crochet and have a big hook and some old yarn, now would be a good time for her to learn to chain stitch and she can make a yarn garland for a holiday decoration ---- tree if you celebrate Christmas. If you know how and have some beads, yarn and a couple of feathers, she could make a dream catcher by wrapping a cut out round plastic tub lid. Also, a few sticks from outside and some yarn and she can learn to wrap some God's eyes which she could then hang from a large one to make a mobile or place on a short chain stitch rope to make a necklace. I don't know how craftwise you are, but those are a couple of ideas to keep her busy and what I found that was being done in the hospital when Bill was there for his stroke. Good luck and both you and Delia are in my prayers. I hope she gets well very soon. Hugs to you both.

[jemyl.livejournal.com]

P.S. If she could get interested -- the summer Olympics are on NBC channels. Don't know if she likes sports like swimming or gymnastics or such.

[rivka.livejournal.com]

Some sort of rhythmic and not-too-demanding craft, like stringing beads, might be soothing. With a fever that high, she's probably not up for anything that takes sequential planning or much creativity.

Maybe a tea party? Especially if she's having trouble eating, a tea party with food cut into little tiny bite-sized pieces might be enticing.

Sometimes a pretend game can help channel the pathetic-ness of being sick and make it more bearable. For example, the poor little tragic sick orphaned street child who is then rescued by a princess and given good care. You don't need to play the game intensively as a parent, you can just provide a little plot development when you come through the room as you normally would.

[rivka.livejournal.com]

Oh, and I second the idea about going for a drive. Even going out to the backyard to sit in the shade can be a very welcome change of pace.

[kayre]

Change where she IS occasionally, even if it means rearranging furniture? For my kid, being allowed to sleep in my bed during the day helped, or the guest room, or just being set up in a different chair, or different room for a while.

[dawn-came-dim.livejournal.com]

Poor kidlet.

Does Delia enjoy camping? If so, you could arrange her bed as a mock tent, draping sheets above it, either from picture hooks on the walls or other large pieces of furniture. A suggestion of a tent canopy would be enough to fuel her fiery imagination, and wouldn't trap additional heat in her bed. If Fiona wanted to help, she could look about for particularly pretty leaves or flowers or nut husks, too. That always made my sister feel better as a kid.

For me it was just reading -- lots of it -- and changes of location. Bed for a while, a couch in the living room, a chair in the sunroom, my mom's bed. The change usually came with food, too -- even just a little moving had me inclined to eat a few bites of something, when my stomach wqas otherwise uninterested.

Many hopes and wishes for you and yours.