Panic Sets in Over Swine Flu at School

It's asthma season for us here in our household. On Monday, right on schedule, my daughter started her barking asthma cough. It happens every October as the seasons change (it happens every spring too). There's never a fever or anything - just that barking cough that lasts 3-4 weeks.

Since she didn't have a fever, she went to school on Monday. The barking cough made her teachers nervous (H1N1, swine flu panic) so even though she didn't have a fever, and this has happened every year for the last several years, and the nurse knows this and remembered it herself, she was sent home. I was told by the nurse (whispered to so nobody else at the school heard) that she's fighting an uphill battle, to give her a little bit of time at home to make sure a fever doesn't develop and then to bring her back to school and she'll back me up. The fact that she had NO FEVER didn't mean anything in the panic.

So 48 hours later, I took her to her pediatrician to get a note clearing her for school. Like every year at this time, and just like I thought, it was her asthma. I didn't need to visit the doc in the lab coat for me to know that but I wanted 100% assurance when I took her back into school so they couldn't try to send her home again. She'd missed enough pre-algebra! I got my note and took her back to school. They had to allow her back in and the teachers will just have to deal with their panicky nerves over her asthma cough.