Frequent Flyer

They show up often. Two or three times a week with various symptoms when there is a pending test. I almost have an intrinsic knowledge of the school’s class schedule based on their prompt fly-ins. Today it was a language arts test. “My stomach started to hurt after lunch just as I was walking in the classroom door,” Marie announced as she walked into my office slightly doubled over and rubbing her stomach. Yep, 12:45, Mrs. Wilson’s Language Arts class I thought to myself checking the wall clock.

Stomach aches are a tricky symptom. They are like soft tissue pain, you cannot really identify exactly the root cause or how bad the pain is (or if it even exists). These frequent flyers are good. Marie was a gold member.

Marie rested for a few minutes and was up and around chatting with some of the other wards strewn around on the cots. I decided to send this little bird back to class and sure enough another wave of stomach aches doubled her over as she asked “Can I lay here till the bell rings?” “Well OK, but try to lie still,” I told her as I checked the clock to confirm the test was pretty much over anyway. Yes, she was good, as I resigned myself and turned my attention back to my paper work.