Until I got a call from the school nurse, telling us that unless Jason got a TDaP booster shot, she would send home an exclusionary note saying Jason can't come back to school until he gets the shot. My first thought was "TDap? What TDap booster shot?" So then I had to look it up, and sure enough, he needs the shot.
I felt like a terrible legal guardian. It was discouraging. I tried so hard to read carefully through all of his beginning of the year documents in an effort to appear like I had the slightest clue about how to parent a middle school child. I signed all the papers and sent in all the fees, but I guess I didn't read closely enough. Now I was one of those parents who can't even vaccinate their kids on time. The nurse had called a week earlier and left a message telling me to call her back. I called, and left a message, but hadn't heard from her and frankly, forgot all about it.
And then we went into panic mode. Instead of our picturesque drive up the canyon, I made a few frantic calls to our insurance and doctor's offices (the former doesn't cover the shot and the latter were all closed for the evening). Luckily, Walgreens said they would take him, so off we went.
Then came a 45-minute wait and a full $65 charge. Jason was nervous about his shot, and it was actually kind of cute. To distract ourselves, we made detailed plans for a time machine that will fast forward Jason to a vaccine-free future. Then, we made his Top 5 Favorite and Least Favorite things. Brace yourself, because this may be the best thing you've read on the Internet all day.
Jason's Top 5
1. brown food (meat, chocolate)
2. perfect circles
3. explosions
4. Nike shoes
5. intelligent people
Jason's Bottom 5
1. shots
2. green food
3. people who can't do accents correctly
4. writing assignments
5. his Utah Studies class
one from our latest excursion to the library
In the end, it wasn't all bad. The nurse administered the shot in 5 seconds flat, and it was amazing. Didn't even give Jason time to freak out about it. Spending our family night in a Walgreens waiting area (next to the most visibly diseased man I've ever seen) wasn't the original plan, but oh well. Hopefully it will be one of those things we look back and laugh at? "Remember the time we were terrible legal guardians and didn't get Jason that overpriced but crucial shot until literally the last second? Chuckle chuckle chuckle." Or something?
Here's to hoping! And here's to keeping our ward of the state healthy from whatever the heck TDap stands for. Here's to families who don't care when plans get rearranged (Sam, did you ever get dinner last night?), and here's to good nurses and 24-hour pharmacies. And in the end, here's to the consolation mini Icees Jason convinced us to get last night. Almost anything is worth it for a consolation Icee, people.
