I know, I know, it’s been FAR too long since I posted. I’d like to say it’s because my life has been passing by quietly and uneventfully. We all know in the house of chaos that would be a bold-faced lie.
In the last couple of months I’ve retuned to Vegas with 4 girlfriends (more commonly known as the lint licking cootie queens), watched #1 take her first communion, played tournament softball until I couldn’t stand up straight for three days, stained more wood than I’d like to revisit, and #1 has “earned” the right to drive a motor vehicle while chaperoned. But those are all events for future posts. Today’s post is going to center around our most recent chaos.
I’m well aware that Christmas is 7 months away (holy crap – only 7 months away!), but I’d like to get my wish list out there early. I’m throwing it out there into cyber space in the hopes that my Lord will click on my blog link and react sooner than later (He surfs the web, right?).
(ahem) All I want for Christmas is healthy kids. There, I said it. I know it seems shallow and materialistic, but I’m not sure how much longer my bank account can keep up with my broken, defective kids!
Tuesday: #3 wakes up with a temperature of 102 and a light cough
Wednesday: #3 continues to run a fever and our annual Tulip Festival is set to kick off on Thursday. This kid has GOT to get better. We have far too much to do in the upcoming 3 days to be weighted down with a sick one. Besides, who will her partner Dutch Dance with? Who will ride the floats in her place? I break down and take her to the doctor. Her rapid strep test comes back negative. I’m instructed to keep put her on a rotation of ibuprofen and tylenol to keep her fever down (I nearly knocked a nurse on her butt when she told me that this could be done, like I’d never heard about it, like this was my first child, like #3 made it to 9 with a mentally underdeveloped mother who doesn’t spend a MAJORITY of her time and paycheck at the medical facility they should have named after her. Seriously?!). They’d call me back in a few days if the cultured strep test showed anything different.
Thursday: No change, no time to slow down and notice if anything did change – it’s Tulip Festival and I’ve 2 other children that need to be in a myriad of other locations throughout the day.
Friday: Still feverish, cough may be getting worse, seems awfully sluggish, still running around town like a lunatic.
Saturday: more of the same. God bless Kandi & Darwin for letting #3 crash at their house where she can see the parades from the comfort of their couch where she spends a good majority of time. Dragging my child out and about and exposing her to several people while she’s near death does NOT make me a bad mom (okay, maybe it does!).
Sunday: STILL feverish, I’m not certain this is ever going to end. I’m starting to become concerned that this lethargic little girl is the new normal.
Monday: Back to the doctor. This time we get a round of antibiotics. The viral infection should have worked it’s way out, 7 days with a fever = bacterial infection
Tuesday: no change
Wednesday: starting to feel better (now coughing like a 70 year old smoker), but developing a rash on chest and butt – back to the doctor. It’s at this time we (and by we I mean NOT me) undergo a battery of blood tests and chest x-rays. We are told that it is NOT strep, it is NOT mono, it is NOT walking pneumonia. The antibiotics seem to be making her better and her fever has subsided. We’re going to stay on this track and see if we can get her back in school (WAHOO!). #2 announces that her red eye (which I had been too busy to notice) was matted shut this morning. I high-tail it over to the eye doctor’s office only to have missed them by 10 minutes. I snatch up the first appointment for tomorrow morning.
Thursday: #2 gets diagnosed with “non-contagious infection of the eye” aka Conjuntivitus (pink eye – totally contagious), but sending her back to school none-the-less. #3 is back at school. She returned home only to require a 2 hour nap. #1, in an effort to not be forgotten falls at softball practice and tweeks her wrist – nothing a little ice pack can’t fix
Friday: #3 is still sluggish and coughing, but definitely better. # 2’s eye is less pussy. #1 is still icing that wrist.
Saturday: #2 goes shopping with her Godparents only too spike a fever (you know it!)
Sunday: more fever, coughing getting more irritating
Monday: #2 is still feverish, so back to the doctor (different day, different kid). We forego all the test and proceed directly to the antibiotics.
Tuesday: #2 is spending one last day at home. #3 goes to bed only to wake up with hives. That’s right! The fun never ends here!!
Wednesday: #2 is back in school. #1 is trying to flex the kink out of her wrist. And mom spent the day getting #3’s medical charts updated with this new-found drug allergy.
We’re still itching and coughing, flexing and icing, but we’re all back in the game (for now).
SO, (testing, testing, is this thing on?) God, if your listening I would like you to ensure the health of my piglets for the remainder of the year. One more trip to the doctor’s office and I feel like I should hand them my paycheck and ask for a plaque next to the fountain. Amen.
