our daughter, b, has been sick lately. she's had a fever that has been hovering around 1oo°f and has a progressive cough. when we sat down for breakfast, she looked at me with the most sincere face and asked, "daddy, are you going to get rid of me?"

"what? why?"

"because i'm sick."

"no, i am not going to get rid of you."

"why not? i'm sick."

"but you are going to get better. i would never get rid of you."

"ok daddy."

so, after that conversation, rin told me that she set up an appointment for b to see the doctor. so i get to the doctor's office and he tells me that i might be rsv. "great," i think to myself. not only do we have a two year old at home, but a five month old as well. he wants me to go get her tested at the hospital. the last time she went to the hospital, she had tonsilitis, and she remembers well what happened to her. needless to say, she did not want to go.

so we get to the hospital and we have to go to the lab to get tested. first, they were going to try a nasal wash. even the sound of it is wrong. that doesn't work, so they wind up taking a glorified q-tip and tell me the have to swab the back of her nasal passage. "yeah, right..." i think to myself. i have to hold her down too. so i lay across her body with my chest and grab her arms. one nurse holds her head while another nurse starts swabbing. i thought i heard b scream before, but my eardrums were pierced.

i told her that i will get her a slurpee to keep her mind off the discomfort. we got the results back too. she doesn't have rsv. the doctor now says that it is probably a virus that will run its course. today, she is feeling a lot better, but now, rin has it. . .