The bravest girl I know

Last night Ilana woke up with a fever and a serious pain in her right side. She was crying and it was really hard to calm her down. My good friend just had an appendectomy so the fear of that was fresh in my mind. As much as I hate taking the kids to the hospital (in Germany they admit you for days on end for things we wouldn't even consider) I decided it was a necessary precaution.

I called a friend to stay with Jack and drove Nana 45 minutes at 11:30pm to the Amberg hospital. We were quickly seen and the doctor determined that it wasn't her appendix. I was greatly relieved but they said it may be pneumonia and they needed to do blood tests and take an x-ray of her lungs.

Apparently if the pneumonia is really low in your lungs it can cause stomach aches. She was hurting in her arm and all down her side. Ilana was nervous about the doctor taking blood but I turned her head to look at me and began to tell her the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. I kept messing up the story on purpose so she had to concentrate on correcting me. She tensed up a little but was very good at refocusing on me and the story. She never cried or whimpered or said anything about the pain as they took her blood. Really, she was more curious about what they were doing and how blood is taken out. She is very curious when it comes to how the body functions. She wants detailed technical answers when she asks a question.

Then we went to get her lungs x-rayed. I knew she would be excited because it was one of her words in school. I told her that she was getting an x-ray, like she learned at school and her eyes lit up. Then she said, "How did you know that was one of my words?" I said, "Because you brought home your letter "x" book and read it to me. Hey, when you go back to school you can tell your teacher that you got an x-ray." She got really excited by this prospect and then a second later her smile fell. She said, "But then all the other kids will be jealous." So sweet, she is always thinking of how others will feel.

When is was her turn, she needed to go into the x-ray room without me. She didn't cower behind me or get upset to be separated. She took the technicians hand and off she went on her little adventure. A minute later she came out and reported that it was a lot of fun. Then she asked if we could send the picture of her lungs to Grandma Paba. I think she was a little disappointed that she didn't get to see the picture in the end. :)

After a very long night, we were assured that she had a mild case of Bronchitis and would be fine to go home. We made our way home by 3am. Ilana was the bravest little girl I have ever seen! Not a moment of complaint. Fearless in the face of many unfamiliar and scary surroundings. She is definitely going to get to pick out whatever toy she wants with no complaints from Mom later this week.