More Sick Days

Do you ever wonder what parents did back in the old days when their kiddos had a fever? I'm wondering this now because Mia has had a fever of near 104 for about 24 hours now. I'm sure it went down during her sleep last night, but each time I checked her, she was just burning up. And earlier, it was closer to 105.

This morning, I've mostly watched her eyes go from hazy and sleepy, to sad and frustrated. I don't know what's wrong; other than a fever, she appears fit as a fiddle. If I didn't have fever-reducing medicine, this could be really bad.

Kids seem so hearty and strong, running crazy all day and looking the picture of health...until some random bug hits and you realize just how fragile they are. How fragile we all are, really.

So, back in pre-medicine days, what did people use to get through times like these? What herbs or other remedies would they have looked to when their kids were in awful shape, and they were desperate for something to help them?

I usually don't panic in sick situations. I have some sort of default in my mind that always assumes everything will be OK. And I wonder if, a few hundred years ago, that wouldn't have been the case. Because now when I look in Mia's eyes, and see their drifting focus, I can't imagine not having simple medicine her for her. I would definitely be panicking.