Every mother’s worst nightmare
Living through a child’s dire health condition
May 2021 was the last month of school and our family was gearing up to spend yet another COVID-19 pandemic summer. One more staycation summer, uneventful and quiet. This until the fateful day when my pre-teen daughter pulled me aside to whisper that she saw blood in her stool.
Is she coming of age? I wasn’t sure. I took it lightly and went through the customary mother-daughter conversation about a woman’s monthly cycle. She took it in stride.
Case closed.
More than a week later, she casually mentioned the blood was still flowing. My ears perked. What? It had been over 10 days. This needed closer examination.
A visual stool check revealed a hellish red nightmare. Instantly I did what everyone does — I Googled it. The web lords had scary advice painted all over.
I told her dad; he took it calmly. For all we know, it could be a simple stomach infection, parasites, or some form of food poisoning. He advised that we let it heal naturally. After all, our body is intelligent and has an intrinsic power to self-heal.
Okay. Maybe I was overreacting, plus the internet is full of doomsday verdicts. Let’s wait.
