Today, we had a really great day. Mae had clinic, meaning we drove to Children’s and spent the day meeting with therapists, dietitians, pulmonology, ENT and GI doctors. We stay in one room and they come to us. It took about four and a half hours, including a blood draw.

We are almost thru this cold & flu season without a hospitalization, but some of our friends haven’t been as lucky. I got word today that one of our trach friends was admitted to the PICU in respiratory distress. Unfortunately, I hear this news almost everyday in this trach world.

Everyday, I worry about who we’ve been in contact with, who our nurses have been in contact with and who the kid sitting across from us at therapy has been in contact with. I worry if all the hand washing and sanitizing is enough. I worry if Mae coughs one too many times. I worry that one wrong move could send us to the hospital for an extended stay. I’m sure I’m not alone in my worries.

Please, please, don’t leave your house if you are sick. That person you walk past at the store or talk to at work could be parent of a medically fragile child, who worries that any contact with someone who has the common cold or flu, could get us checked into the hospital.

This is what I worry about today and everyday.