Goose what?

Last night I noticed a rash on Emma. Stink. She has had a sore throat for a couple days following a headache at school on Tuesday, but I hadn't given it too much attention because said child tends to "cry wolf." So, before bed I gave her a good once over to check where the rash was and what it looked like so I could verify my suspicion and self-diagnose her. Upon examination, she had bumps on her legs, and without a second thought I said, "Oh, that's not part of the rash, those are just goose bumps." I then told her that she'd be headed to the doctor in the morning, instead of school, and tucked her in.

This morning went as expected: got Annika off to school with instructions to tell the bus driver not to wait, and also made the required phone call to the school office to let them know 1st grade would be shy one Emma R. Made our trip to the doctor's office where the nurse agreed that my diagnosis was correct...but of course, we don't get paid the big bucks...in came the doc. A quick look-see at the symptoms and doc did a swab to verify that all of us were right (and having it on record, if one of the other kids comes down with it, no trip in...just a phone call for a prescription - sweet!). Our doctor was back in the room about 2 minutes later. He explained that a rapid strep test takes seven minutes. My Em has always been an over-achiever...positive results in 1 minute. I snickered and said, "It's kind of like when you see two lines after one minute of a three minute test? You know it's really positive!" Doc has seen me in the office with all four of our kids...I think that comment made him a little nervous about what I was saying... ANYWAY, since I'm not announcing anything, I'll continue...

Off we went with our prescription and a "don't be in contact with other people for 24 hours after starting the antibiotic" instruction. Ahem, okay. As a courtesy, I thought I'd give the school office a quick call to let them in on what's up with Em, just in case they see other kids in the office with similar symptoms, or parents are wondering what's going around. After giving a brief update to one of the secretaries, she said,

"Well, apparently someone told Mrs. VDB that Emma had goose pox?"

"Ah, yes, that would have to be Annika. You know...at breakfast this morning I overheard them talking about why Emma was going to the doctor. She said she had goose pox, and I had to explain that she had goose BUMPS on her legs, but that wasn't why she was going to the doctor. They must have never heard the term goose bumps before." (And the other half, pox, can be explained because Bill asked at dinner if I was sure it wasn't chicken pox. But I didn't think I needed to go into our dinner convo with the secretary...)

"Yeah, we weren't sure what goose pox were?!?! The teachers are getting a kick out of that one!" (snicker, snicker, snicker)

So, a hearty "you're welcome" to the teachers and staff at LCS today. Glad we could make you laugh :) And now you'll think of my Anni the next time you are chilly and get "goose pox." :)