AIBU to worry about sending ds skiing with heavy cold?

[waterfallrainbow]

My dear ex is driving me crazy again. Rang him to say that ds has a heavy cold and I am worried about putting him on a plane, let alone sending him skiing. 'I skied with pneumonia' he pipes up brusquely, 'And I'm certainly not claiming on the insurance.' This from the man who has a permanent bronchial condition. (He once told me that it was caused by Satan eating his brain and that he had caught it from me, but we'll leave that discussion for another time...)

My (main) worry is that my son will get more ill on the plane. Don't blocked sinuses make your ear drums burst with the pressure? He's travelling on Friday night and it's Thursday morning. What to do? They have been looking forward to this trip for months.

My secondary worry is that my ex will take my son skiing far too far. Last time they went they bumped into acquaintances of mine who particularly took me aside to tell me that they had skied a very long way indeed. They also completely forgot to eat. Hanging on to the fact that stepmother is also going and is moderately sensible, plus ds is fairly used to his father's eccentricities and knows how to look after himself. He is 12.

Send him with lots of mini marsbars, haribos etc to eat on the ski slopes. Make sure he has sweets to suck on the plane, cold&Flu tablets, and tell him to drink coke at the ski cafes to give him energy. Make sure he has a fleece snood that he can pull up over his face if it's chilly on chair lifts etc. Make sure he always carries his inhaler if he has one and takes any antihistamines if he needs them. My asthmatic daughter is away skiing at the moment and is having a great time but she does know she needs to look after herself (she also has other conditions).

Skiing miles everyday from first lift to last sounds like a great week of father-son bonding. No matter what your opinion of your ex, he's still your son's dad.

Otrivine or similar for his nose and he'll be fine.

Flying with a congested nose is shit. I did it when pregnant, when you can't take otrivine. And I honestly thought my head was going to explode with the pressure, it was awful.

(It was also a fucking boiling hot week in august in Majorca and DP caught the cold on the way out and gave it to me - ffs, colds are NOT appropriate in the summer!!)

You really are reaching aren't you?! No, they are not going to stop him flying with congested sinuses.

I think you'd be totally unreasonable to stop your son going on holiday because he has a cold! I can't think why you'd even consider doing so.

As for ski-ing too far. Its nonsense. As long as your son is able to tackle the runs then everything will be fine. I see tiny little kids bombing down the slopes absolutely loving it. Just tell him to put a couple of Mars bars in his pockets before setting off.

I vaguely remember being denied the right to fly once at an airport because I had sinus problems

I can't imagine why you would have been denied the right to fly... who denied you? If it was something serious enough for this course of action to be taken you'd remember what it was for?

It's a cold - not bronchitis or a chest infection or the flu - a cold. He'll be fine in a couple of days!

I can't imagine why you would have been denied the right to fly... who denied you? If it was something serious enough for this course of action to be taken you'd remember what it was for?

You'd have more than 'vague' memories of such an event as well!!!

Well it was in France - they are quite precious about such things. But a small amount of googling suggests that flying with ear probs can cause permanent hearing danage, so I don't think they were being entirely unreasonable!

He doesn't have ear problems though.

At 12 he's old enough to take a decongestant. He'll be fine.

He'd have to visit the GP's and be declared unfit to travel before insurance would pay out .
if you have genuine concerns re his health it would be wise to get the gp's opinion .

Who Denied you the right to fly for war problems? How did you get home?

Sounds like your son will have a fantastic time but sounds like you really hate his father :( it must be tough

Well I wouldn't let him travel on a plane if he had an ear infection or a sinus infection, Both of those are really painful and need antibiotics but for a normal cold it should be OK.

Having said that, the last time my sister flew with a cold, she had "blocked" ears where she could not hear well for about a week after she landed. they were just starting to recover when she had to fly home!! . As an adult this is fine but I would think a 12 year old might be worried if this happened to them, particularly if the parent with them is cavalier about any "health problems" - which it seems is the case here.

Make sure your Ds has decongestants and brief his father (or step-mother if she is more receptive and you have that sort of relationship) about dosages etc

Only as a last resort if a doctor says it is unsafe to fly, obvs. There are an awful lot of people on this post with opinions that are considerably stronger than their knowledge, and an unnecessary level of rudeness. Flying when you are ill is a bad idea because you pick up a whole load of extra germs from the sealed cabin, and the pressure on your ears can create lasting damage. A doctor will say you are unfit to fly if you are found to have bronchitis and a travel insurance will pay for you to stay on the ground until you are better. I know this because I once got bronchitis in Slovakia and I was flown home by my travel insurance three days late. I am deeply bored with having to nurse a sick child when his father deposits him back from whatever irresponsible trip he has taken him on, it happens literally every other month, but I can't remember whether blocked sinuses was a problem when you fly or not.

But is it a heavy cold or bronchitis? You said heavy cold

Well it was in France - they are quite precious about such things

Doesn't sound right to me - the French aren't precious about stuff like that. Why on earth would airport staff even know you had a sinus infection?