Healthy Enough To Get Sick

For the first fifteen months of Matt's life, he was not allowed to get sick. The reason for this was with his weakened heart, even a cold could kill him. To this day, he is not allowed to get the flu and has received his flu shots since he was a tiny baby. While the flu will always be potentially deadly for him, at birth even the sniffles were.

We adapted our lives to ensure that Matt did not get sick. No one feeling even poorly was allowed to visit. Chris' mother even postpone a planned visit when she woke the day she was to fly and realized that she had a cold. As frustrating as it was for her to delay visiting her grandbaby, she understood that the risk was too high for her to even come into the house.

Instead of the daycare we had planned to enroll Matt in, Chris left his job and become a stay-at-home parent. Daycare was completely out of the question. We had considered hiring a nanny but ultimately decided that having one of us stay with Matt was the best choice.

Chris and Matt did get out of the house. On clear days, Chris would take Matt out in the stroller. As Matt got bigger and was able to hold himself up, Chris would take Matt to the park and push him on the baby swing - one of Matt's favorite activities. Chris did not have Matt interact with the other kids at the park. Just could not risk him getting sick.

A number of our friends have children around Matt's age. While they let us know of the times they were meeting at a local park or having a play date at someone's house, one of the kids or babies always seemed to be sick, so we would not join them. While Chris and I missed seeing our friends and Chris chaffed a bit in his new life of almost isolation, Matt, not knowing another life, enjoyed his days with Chris and evenings and weekends with me.

One of the few places Chris and Matt would visit regularly where Chris could have a bit of adult interaction was a local cafe. The wait staff knew Matt's situation, so they'd make sure that he and Chris were not seated near anyone. To this day, it is one of their favorite places to dine and they are treated almost like family by the whole staff.

At Matt's fifteen month check up with his cardiologist, she was happy to report that he was healthy enough and strong enough to be able to survive getting a cold. In fact, since he was a bit delayed in building his immune system since we have kept him from any disease that she would be okay with him getting a cold every month - which is exactly what he did for the next few years!!

We had been given a get out of jail free card. Matt was able to go to birthday parties, visit friends, go to the park and play with other kids and get sick. Who would have thought that the news that he could get sick would have been so wonderful.

The news also meant that he would be able to attend an early childhood development center - which is what he did at eighteen months old - starting at two days a week and building up to five days a week. He did miss days because he was sick - he sure seemed determined to follow doctor's order by getting a cold at least once every month - but he was well often enough to start to learn exciting new things, like sign language, the routine of a classroom, and the joys of classmates.

Mind you, I was also equally excited when years later, he had his first month without a cold!! And now his immune system is strong enough that he goes months between colds. It has been a long and interesting journey to reach this point of health!