2003-12-02
Lead poisoning
Veronica, the littlest girl in the afternoon kindergarten class, had a stomach ache over the weekend.
A headache joined it yesterday, so she stayed in and colored during recess.
Her face broke out into rashes during snack time.
Today her nose started bleeding profusely and wouldn't stop.
Her teacher Paola handled it with disposable gloves and the first aid kit.
Then I noticed that yesterday's rash had spread to Veronica's hands and was bumpy.
Once the bleeding had stopped, she went to sleep on some blankets over a burlap bag I had folded up on one of the pews (the church that helps support the school uses it sometimes for services and the six pews are pushed up in a row, so she couldn't have fallen off).
As it turns out she has lead poisoning and the government won't pay for healthcare unless it involves something broken.
As in, bones.
Ignore the breaking internal organs.
betholindo at 9:46 p.m.