Can't Heal 'Em All

Sometimes I feel so lost when I can't fix an illness.  I see the patient obviously feeling bad, maybe even vomiting, and don't know what I can do to help them.  So I have to sit and hope that they get better quickly.

Nope, I'm not talking about my role as a doctor.  I'm talking about my job as a husband and father.

In the last week illness has struck my family.  My daughter caught strep throat last week and still doesn't seem over it.  She had to switch from amoxicillin to Augmentin.  Last night my wife started feeling weak and tired and had stomach cramping and nausea.  This morning my son wasn't feeling good and I ended up having to pick him up early from school.  So right now I'm the only one out of the four of us that isn't sick.

My knowledge as a veterinarian doesn't easily translate to human illness.  I can figure out how to at least treat the symptoms of a sick pet, but I'm relatively clueless about how to treat my own family.  I know that these are all minor illnesses, viral or bacterial and either easily treated or they just have to tough through it.  But I hate seeing my wife and kids like this and not know how to help them.  They're really pitiful right now and I've been spending the day trying to take care of them as best as I can.

My one worry is that I'll be the next one to get sick.  Next week I'm the only doctor through Thursday as the others are gone to a continuing education meeting.  So if I get sick and can't come in, we're a bit up the creek without a relief vet.  So I'll be taking extra vitamins and praying that my immune system can fight it all off.