We received distressing news yesterday and no, it doesn't have anything to do with my underwear. The CHOC oncologist is recommending to all his oncology patients to not start school until Spring (April) 2010. The reason that they've implemented this strict new visiting policy (Only parents and legal guardians, no outside visitors or siblings allowed), is that they are gearing up to receive an influx of swine flu patients. CHOC believes based on the amount of swine flu cases they are seeing, which is increasing, that once school starts again, that they are going to be flooded with swine flu patients. They are planning on keeping this new policy in place until April 2010, when they think they'll have some kind swine flu anti-virus.

Now the hard part. What to do? If we tell her she can't go to school, which starts on Aug. 10th, she is going to be so heartbroken. I can not put into words how excited Lauren is about starting kindergarten. While she loved her preschool, Olive Branch, and all the wonderful people there, she said she was ready for kindergarten. She was excited about the prospect of doing more learning rather than playing (because she has a hard time keeping up physically with the other kids). How do we tell Lauren that she can't start kindergarten because of her illness?

Since she was born all I ever wanted her to have was a perfect childhood. No sadness, no pain, no disappointments, is that too much to ask for? They've always told us we can't keep her in a bubble, but do we want to risk all that she has gone through the last year just to lose her to the swine flu? We've already seen twice how vulnerable she is tothe much weaker parainfluenza (flu-like bug), which she is still testing positive for three weeks later. This also mean Marissa can't start pre-school in October, and she is as excited as Lauren is about starting school. Of course, the regular flu kills hundreds of thousand a year, and that will always be a big risk even after the swine flu goes away (if it ever goes away). She needs to live a life, or what's the point? What to do, what to do, what to do….?