I’m not the guy who worries. I’m the glass half-full guy who says that everything will be fine. Mister "it’s probably nothing."
When confronted with something potentially scary, I become this guy:
"Carey, did you hear that noise coming from the kitchen?"
"It’s nothing. Let’s go back to bed."
"Carey, there are people walking around in our kitchen!"
"It’s just mice. Let’s go back to bed."
"Carey! Those are heavy footsteps and they’re whispering to each other!"
"Talking unicorns. Pretty common this time of year. Come on, let’s go back to bed. It’s late."
It’s amazing I even let Susanne take Charlie to the hospital where he was diagnosed with diabetes. It’s probably nothing. Every 22-month old pees himself from head to toe every single night until his crib becomes a pool of urine. Totally normal. And every 22-month-old drinks 2 gallons of milk in one sitting (straight from the cow’s udders). Just a growing boy.
Most of the time I really do feel as if everything will be OK and I rarely show any visible sign of worry. But this has me a little freaked.
As of 11 am this morning 100 kids were sent home from school with high fevers and there is standing room only in the nurse’s office. 100 kids! One of those kids is my daughter. The pediatrician says that they have stopped swabbing for swine flu because it’s all they’re seeing and the prognosis has become a no-brainer. I’ve since read some pretty horrific things about various swine flu cases.
Playing the typically nonchalant role of me, a co-worker/friend reassured me that everything would be fine, noticing that I was a bit frazzled with the happenings at school.
"I worry mostly about Charlie," I told him.
He knows Charlie has diabetes. He brought up an interesting question, asking if Charlie’s immune system was compromised.
Actually, I don’t know. His immune system has shown a history of forgetfulness and confusion (i.e. attacking the cells in his pancreas), but does that necessarily mean it is weak? The glass half-full guy would say his immune system is the ultimate destroyer. The glass half-full guy would say that swine flu has no chance against Charlie’s immune system.
Hey, maybe it’s not even swine flu at all.
Maybe it’s just talking unicorns.
I've always believed that diabetics' immune systems were slightly compromised. Hence why we are more susceptible to severe flus, skin infections, yeast infections, etc that don't respond as easily to antibiotics or treatment. But that doesn't mean we aren't capable of withstanding a cold or even swine flu. I'm sure it's the talking unicorns anyway!