After Being Sick- When Back 2 School

[kilee]

So, dh and I are on opposite sides of the fence here. DS was coming down w/ what seemed like a cold late last week. By the time he got home from school on Friday- he was one sick boy. He's had a fever, a lot of chest congestion, aches, and some stomach disturbance. The school nurse calls when your child is absent and she told dh she thinks the influenza virus is going through the school. This was one of the sickest I've seen DS (13). Anyhow, today (day 5 of being really sick) was the first day he's shown some significant improvement. He's gone about 32 hrs now w/ no fever. He was about and moving around some more today, even played video games. Still has a lot of chest congestion and some stomach upset (won't go into TMI here).

Anyhow, ds has also missed a lot of school because of his broken leg at the beginning of the year. He only has a handful of days left to miss (and we go until June 14th) this year. I have to contact the school to see exactly how many.

Now, dh thinks ds should go to school tomorrow since the fever has broke. I think we should give ds 1 at least one more day. He still is napping every few hours. I think he really has no energy yet, he won't sleep well tonight still from the coughing. I just don't think he's ready. I think it might push too much and he'll have a set back.

What do you all think????

 

[ntburns22]

To me it sounds like he may need one more day. At DD's school if you are having stomach issues either end you must wait atleast 24 hours from the last occurance before you can return. I hope this helps. (((((((Hugs)))))))) It is so hard when the kids are sick.

 

[Grumpy's Wife]

Anytime my children had a high fever I always made them stay home one full day once the fever broke. I understand your husband wanting him not to miss any more school. If he was that sick for five days he must be pretty weak. I say stay home one more day, build up your strength for all the work you will be required to do once you go back. Good luck.

 

[monarchsfan16]

I've never had the flu (that we know of), but I've had some colds that had me in bed for days. If he's still napping every few hours he is NOT ready to go back. I've pushed myself to go back, and it backfires big time. I always ended up sicker within a few days, and that was *if* I could actually drag my butt through the school day, and it was miserable trying. I totally understand the attendance limits; they made my life very difficult several years of high school. But he needs another day at home

 

[Tigger&Belle]

It depends on what you mean by stomach issues. If he's throwing up or has the runs, I'd keep him home. If he just doesn't feel quite right, I'd send him, but have him call if he's not up for staying the whole day. At 13yo he's old enough to know if he's getting too tired. It's hard to go from being sick to being at school a whole day, so easing him in isn't such a bad idea. Or you can let him sleep in and then bring him in late. That might actually be a better idea since he could then get more sleep.

My 12yo 7th grader did get the flu this winter and was as sick as a dog. I had him tested and he did indeed have the flu and took Tamiflu and was improving by day 3, much better by day 4 (could have gone to school, but I had him rest, but I thought he was going to have a harder time that day) and back in school by day 5).

 

[goofy's friends]

My daughter had the flu and I've never seen her so sick!!! It was awful! Her dr. said at least 5 full days out of school and wasn't back to herself for almost 2 weeks. I would wait just one more day or even 1/2 a day would be a compromise---let him sleep in.

 

[JoiseyMom]

Here's another vote for keeping him home. My DS, 22, had this a few weeks ago, fever for 3 days, and just felt like crud for awhile. He is still coughing. DH came down with it Thursday, had a fever for 4 days, went back to work yesterday, and they sent him home. He did go in today, but he went in later than usual.

Again, keep him home.

 

[Blueeyes101817]

alot of the people at my college have been out a bunch of days with these--id keep him home

 

[MAKmom]

I would let him stay home. But if the missed days are going to be a big problem have him go in them come home sick if he does not feel well. As long as he arrives at school & goes to home room it does not count for a missed day.

DD is home sick too 102 fever & rash over her whole body. This is her 1st missed day this year.

 

[Talking Hands]

If he is vomiting or has the runs or is running a fever he should stay home. Please. I am sick with a something I picked up at school and this is a teachers nightmare. And since I am subbing for another teacher who is out long term I really can't stay home and get over it. (only 1 of 2 subs in the system who knows sign language reasonably fluently)

 

[Hannathy]

He is 13 right what does he want to do? He knows how he feels and how much trouble he will have making up the work. My DD always wanted to go back asap so as to not have more work to make up. If he has already been fever free for 32 hrs that clears him for school. I also agree what about a half day either AM or PM depending on when the classes that are harder to fall behind are. If he stays home does he have his books or homework so he can get started catching up that is another idea spend the day catching up his work.

 

[golfgal]

5 days is usually not enough time to get over the influenza. If he still doesn't have enough energy to stay awake all day at home, how is he going to be able to do that at school? A lot of kids got sent back to school too soon when the flu was going around here and a few of them ended up in the hospital with pneumonia. Keep him home another day or two.

 

[Barb D]

Is he in middle school or high school? And what subject can he least afford to miss?

If he's in middle school, keep him home.

If he's in high school and has his most important subject in the morning, I'd send him to school and tell him to call if he feels he needs to come home. If he has his most important subject after lunch, maybe keep him home in the morning and see if he feels up to going in later.

ETA if he's puking or has other "issues", keep him home no matter what.

 

[DVC Sadie]

If he is still sleeping off and on it usually indicates that more rest is needed to recover properly. Plus you don't want to have a relapse occur. So my vote(although you didn't ask ) would be to keep him home for an extra day or two.

 

[Tigger&Belle]

So, did he go to school? Inquiring mind want to know... and so do I!

 

[kilee]

He did not go to school. I see some improvement in him---BUT he has absolutely no energy and he still of course has the cold symptoms. It seems the worst is over. However, I still do think it will be another week before he's back to his old self. Today is the 6th day since he got really sick.

As for school work, the teacher's do not prepare it for you if you miss for being sick. Essentially, when you get back you make up only what was essential (and sometimes it's nothing to make up). I spoke w/ the nurse again today (to report ds out), and she said yesterday 35% of the student body was absent. That is a lot. We have 1 school for K-12, with about 1200 students for the whole school. It almost makes me think we need to use our 3 unused snow days (since we shouldn't need them anymore) and close the school for a few days. Something (she's still thinking influenza virus) is spreading like mad through there.

The attendance policy is shady. There is a firm high school attendance policy in place. The students in elementary grades have no attendance policy at our school. Then the middle school students are caught inbetween. It's not all the way spelled out, and nobody seems to know. They use the high school number of missed days (25 for the year), BUT nobody knows for sure if he'd actually be failed for going over that. He's at 21 right now. So, hopefully we can not even make this an issue. It just wasn't a good year between the broken leg and then he had a stomach virus really bad that kept him out for 4 days right before Christmas, then this.

I'm thinking tomorrow should be okay. For the last 3 hrs of the day he has lunch, gym (which is swimming and I'm sending a note for him to be excused from that), science, and the studyhall. So, I'm thinking worst case he can be picked up at the 1/2 day mark and only miss 1 real class.