By BERN MORLEY.
I remember the very first time my daughter had gotten sick. We were driving somewhere non-descript at the time and she would have been no more than 12 months old. In hindsight, she had nothing more than a virus but at the time, as she started to projectile vomit throughout the car, I immediately went into worst case scenario mode and envisioned her lying on a hospital bed with Dr House and his entourage peering down at her, declaring she had, wait for it, Lupus. I clearly watched WAY too much TV back then.
Just as an FYI, you should know that this post is sponsored by Terry White Chemists. But all opinions expressed by the author are 100% authentic and written in her own words.
Swerving into the nearest shopping centre and carrying her into the pharmacy as if I’d just rescued her from a burning building, people parted for us like the red sea. As I started to incoherently machine gun my daughter’s story to the kindly pharmacist, I noticed his worried look. When I got home and noticed the vomit patch over my boob however, I realised this was probably the reason for his concern. I digress. Thing was, within 5 minutes, after running through the symptoms, discussing options and basically being put at ease, I realised that it was all going to be okay. He suggested I take her to the doctor to be 100% sure, loaded me up with some infant panadol and we were good to go.
That of course wasn’t the first or last time I had to visit the chemist or deal with this kind of situation. I soon learnt that I’d be back there over and over and over again for various needs, advice or let’s face it, just the jellybeans. Most kids seem to contract everything at least once before they turn 16. Ringworm, Hookworm, Gastro, Scabies, cut knees, sore teeth, you name it, I’ve seen it and have lobbed on up to our ever friendly pharmacist to receive some of his/her undivided attention and advice.
Although to be fair, the chemist isn’t the only place I receive my support when I need help. Who did I call when my daughter had her first runny nose or found that weird rash on my son’s elbow? I rang my Mum. I’m sure in the early days I could almost hear her eyes roll when I rang up with stupid questions like “Why is my baby’s poo no longer mustard coloured?” She was the person I would call for everything because I knew I’d been a troublesome baby, unable to eat most things due to allergies. She just UNDERSTOOD and I miss her to this day as a result.