Quarantine

The kids and I spent all last week in Quarantine. Not because we were actually sick, or because we were afraid of being sick, but because other people were afraid of us! Over the weekend Robbie played with our little neighbor girl. When we met her mother told me she had a cold sore in her mouth so she might not talk as much as usual but that she was otherwise ok. I wasn't worried in the least, and her daughter played just like normal with us. But at midnight that night I got a text from her mother telling me that she was so sorry to inform me that she had just returned from the hospital and her daughter had Hand,Foot, Mouth Disease. She was humiliated and begging my forgiveness for exposing my children as well as offering to bring them some preventative chinese herbal medicine. I re-assured her that I was not a bit worried or angry and that I had no interest in feeding my children the bitter herbs. That didn't stop her from arriving the next day bearing gifts to make up for what she perceived to be a terrible inconvenience. I think I was finally able to convince her in person that our friendship was not harmed.

I wondered at her reaction but later the next day when I arrived at my Chinese teachers house, I told her about the incident. She was alarmed and told me she also was very afraid of this disease. She told me that the common belief is that it is related to Mad Cow Disease and could be very dangerous. She had just been talking to her mother and in her home village the local hospital ward was full of children suffering from this condition, receiving IV's and herbal treatments. She asked what we do for it in America and I said we don't do anything as it was a really harmless virus that passes on it's own. She was shocked! She was very afraid of her small son catching it and would have rushed him to the hospital if she suspected it. A later phone conversation with another Chinese friend confirmed my suspicion that this was a very common reaction to this condition. I was beginning to second guess my own nonchalant attitude and when I returned home I went to my books to double check my memory of the harmlessness of the virus. My book (Your Child's Health, by Barton D. Schmitt) states, "Because the spread of the infection is extremely difficult to prevent and the condition is harmless, the children do not need to be isolated....Although most children are contagious from 2 days before to 2 days after the rash avoidance of other children is unnecessary."

But, by this point I had a feeling Robbie's preschool wouldn't agree. So Monday morning I called and reported his exposure to the other child and said I would keep him at home. His preschool director got on the phone and I think she almost had a seizure from the mental stress of the situation. She panicked at the name of the virus, and started rattling off how she would have to speak to the school doctor, and notify the other parents, and notify the local hospital. Then she really panicked when she started asking if we had played with any other preschool children over the weekend and how many people we had exposed to the virus. She wanted to know what the doctor had said when he examined Robbie. I calmly tried to re-assure her that Robbie had no symptoms of any sickness, had not seen any other children from the preschool, and was completely healthy. She couldn't understand why i hadn't seen a doctor. She called me back 2 more times before she seemed convinced that Robbie was indeed healthy, no children had been exposed, and going to the doctor was unnecessary due to his complete and total lack of symptoms. However, she required that Robbie stay home for 7 days to prevent any other children from being exposed.

So, Robbie got to spend a lovely week playing at home, going to the beach or the park, and enjoying his quarantine. We couldn't be around any other children, so it was a quiet week, but it was a nice break leading up to our crazy weekend of out-of-town company. I may never understand the Chinese medical system. They panic over the non-essentials, and give absolutely no attention to the things we would consider important. But, this time we just had to laugh and accept our week of quarantine as a gift of rest and time together from our Heavenly Father.