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I am a pet person. I have to admit I love my kitties. They are just like family members.
My sister lost her dog today. They had her since she was a puppy and their kids were little. I'm not sure of her age, she was either 13 or 14, but her age doesn't really matter. Her name was Tasha and she loved her family. My sister, her husband and their two children belonged to Tasha in every way. She protected them and loved them dearly and I am very sorry for their loss. I am hurting over the loss and over what my sister and her family are going through. I wish I could ease their pain but I know there is no way to do it. The loss of a loved one, whether it is animal or human,
is something you ride through like surfing on a wave.
I will be praying for them as they learn to live their lives without her presence.
When G was 15 months old she came down with a flu. She got sick on a Wednesday and by Friday she was in the midst of it and really feeling bad. I took her to the doctor knowing that she needed antibiotics and not wanting to have to wait till Monday...or worse end up at the emergency room...to get her on the road to recovery. Sure enough her doctor said she looked pretty bad and her fever was up to about 101. They prescribed amoxicillan..(we all know that 'pink stuff')..and told me she should be fine. I figured with the antibiotics going in to her she should be feeling allot better by Saturday evening. Saturday came and she was still really sick. I began to get that 'mommy alert feeling' that something was up. My hubby and I had been arguing, (can't even remember what it was about now), and now he also didn't agree that she was getting worse, he thought I was over reacting. I understand how he could think that because I had no exact complaint as to why I felt she was worse other than a 'feeling'. I couldn't pin point it but my mom alarm was definitely chiming. I stayed with G in her room that night. Sunday morning came and she seemed a bit better...she still didn't want to eat though...and her temp was still up. Around 1pm on Sunday it seemed she just crashed, all she wanted was to stay in my arms. I knew I needed to take her in right away so off we went to the emergency room at NFRMC. I had no idea we would not be going home again for 8 days!
We got to the er at about 5pm. We sat in the er, my mom, G and me, until 9:30pm while everyone else was seen before us. G was mostly sleeping but her temp suddenly went from 102.3 up to 104.9. I could literally feel her body heating up in my arms. The charge nurse just gave her Tylenol at 8:30pm even though I had just given her some at 6:30. At 8:45 G threw up and I started to get scared. I knew she was rapidly getting worse. I went to the charge nurse and demanded they see her right then or I was going to call an ambulance to come and take us somewhere else. They took us back and after an exam and chest x-rays told me that she was really sick and would need to be admitted. They also told me that they were going to transport G to Shands because NFR doesn't have a pediatric unit. They called for an ambulance but we had to wait until Shands had a bed for her and the transport ambulance to arrive. Her temp was now pushing 106. I remember it was about 1am when we were finally in the ambulance going to Shands. I was in the back on the gurney with G on my lap. Her temp was now 106.1 and even the paramedics seemed nervous before we left about taking her with a temp so high. I was trying to watch out the small back door windows as we were driving to keep track of our route and where we were. I remember getting on I-75 and getting off onto Archer Road. There was a liquor store named ABC Liquors on that road and when the ambulance went by the sign it illuminated through the ambulance window and G said, "look mommy...it says ABC". The paramedic and I looked at each other in awe that my very sick little 15 month old was even alert enough to notice the letters. We pulled into Shands and we rolled right on through the er up to the pediatric floor. They rolled us into an empty room with a metal crib in it that looked more like a cage than a bed, and nothing like G's pretty pink crib at home with ballerina bears dancing all around it. We got off the gurney and the paramedics said good luck, the hopital attendent said someone would be right with us and there we stood, all alone, looking out the window at the lights below.
I stood there with G in my arms for what seemed like and hour, but in reality was about 5 minutes. The floor nurse came in and took her vitals. Blood pressure was low and temp was really high still up at 106.3. The floor nurse was really sweet. She was an older black lady and she looked me square in the eyes and said, "Honey...we got to get this child's temp down now!". She stood there with me for an hour while we sponged G off . The doctors came in and explained she had bacterial pneumonia. Nurses came in and started her on two different antibiotic drips and gave her a tylenol suppository, all the while this wonderful kind lady stayed with me and helped me sponge down my child. After an hour and half G's temp was down to 103.9. It was now almost 4am so G and I tried to get some sleep in the iron box. She had a board on her arm to support the IV and a BP cuff on her leg along with the blood oxygen thingy taped tightly on her big toe. Still we snuggled up together and slept until almost 7am. This was when a new nurse came in to check her vitals. Apparently G's blood oxygen was too low so they put her on oxygen and her temp was going up again so they gave her another suppository and I started sponging her down again. This was our routine for the next 5 days. I never left G and she and I never left the peds floor. Hubby would come and stay all day with us to help and then go home at night to stay with the girls. The fever kept coming back. We would sponge her off and it would come back again and again. My hubby and I got to the point where we could tell the minute the fever was beginning to climb again and we would buzz the nurse to bring the tylenol and start sponging her down again. We would take her on walks carrying her around the peds floor but after about 5 minutes we could tell she was getting tired.
The room mates were a whole other story. When we first arrived we were alone but on the second day they moved in a young boy about 9 or 10. He had just had some sort of intestinal surgery. At the time I was annoyed because they kept their tv on till about midnight every night and kept the volume a little too loud. I didn't know then that they were to be the best room mates I would have. They were moved out on day 3 and a teen that had tried to commit suicide was brought in. She had an 'attendant' that had to stay with her at all times. She was very sad and depressed, I felt bad for her but was relieved when she left the next morning. My last room mate was the worst by far. She was a sweet little girl...about 3 years old and mom was there too. When they first came in I, of course, went over and introduced myself after they were settled. We talked a little and I thought that I finally had someone in there that would be okay....then the nightime came and this young mom must have had 15 of her friends up there. They were loud, they were cussing, talking and saying things I didn't want my child to hear and I was horrified. I complained when the nurses would come by and they would assure me they would say something but no one ever did. I sat on my side of the room with G in our iron box watching the clock...waiting for 9pm and visiting hours to end. I was honestly a little intimidated to say something to this group of people. Every once in a while one of the young men would peek around my curtain and look at G and me and that really scared me! 9pm came and left but the party continued. Finally at 9:45 I picked up G and her IV and I carried and rolled my child down the hall to the nurses station. I stood there in tears and asked them how they could allow that to go on? There are sick children here and I knew they heard all the loud talking and laughing. Half of the people from my room were standing in the hallway so I knew that the nurses could hear it all! Finally one of the nurses told the crowd that it was time to go and G and I got some sleep. The next day the head floor nurse came by to talk to me. Apparently allot of parents had complained by calling downstairs too. They aplogized to me and moved that room mate out that day. The rest of our stay was room mate free.
After the fifth day the fevers began to subside. G started feeling better and showed some interest in eating. G still was too weak to walk so we borrowed a cute little push car from the peds play center that she adored and we took her on a tour of Shands. The doc warned us not to have her gone too long but it felt so wonderful to her and me to finally be off that peds floor. We even walked outside a little and I believe that getting out helped us both. We went to the Wendys downstairs before we went back to her room and when we did get back G and I sat together in the big rocking chair in her room and she ate chicken nuggets. I was so happy she was eating!
Two days later we took our beautiful little girl home. She was 5 pounds lighter from her ordeal and still pretty weak. She could only walk about 50 feet until she pooped out. She still remained on antibiotics for 10 days afterwards.
The days we spent in Shands were eye opening for me. I know I never want to go through it again. It broke my heart to see all the children there that were alone. I would see them in their rooms all alone while I was walking with G. Some of them were around the same age as G, in big, cold, metal cribs all alone. They seemed so sad. I also know that despite the lack of bedside manners of the staff this was still where I would take my child if they needed emergency care or hospitalization. They have the brain power and technology...they just tend to lack compassion. The pictures above were taken on the day we were getting released...
I know it was long....thanks for letting me share it with you.
Why is it that when a kid...or a husband...get sick they get to cuddle up, have everything brought to them and be coddled over until they are better...but that when I get sick everyone sort of just goes on about doing what they would normally be doing? They will all tell me to go rest, to lie down but then they go on about their business and they don't realize that I have stuff that HAS to get done!! When the kids get sick they don't have to remind me to feed the cats, or tell me to answer the phone, or remind me there are dishes starting to pile up in the sink. Miraculously these things and more still get done. So I have been trying to rest all day but every time G needs something, everyone else is too wrapped up in what they are doing to listen to her so she comes to me, (she knows Mommy will listen). Then when I get up to take care of the things that need to be done someone inevitably says to me, "what are you doing...I thought you were supposed to be resting?" ...and I want to slap them...because the one that says it to me is usually playing a video game or watching a TV show. So I explain...yes I am supposed to be resting but G needs help to go potty, or the cats have no water, or the phone was ringing and no one else was going to answer it!!!
How am I supposed to kick this thing if I can't get any rest??
Last night was terrible. I must have coughed ten thousand times. A spot in my back is hurting and my ribs ache with every breath. This morning I called the doctor just to see if they could call me in something for my cough. I was so mad at the receptionist when she told me I had to schedule an appointment and be seen by the doctor. All I want is some cough medicine so I can sleep!! Against my wishes I scheduled an appointment for 4:30 this afternoon. I was still mad when I walked into the doctors office. I was just sure this was their conniving way to get rich off of my insurance company. So I went in and the doctor checked me over. After he listened to my lungs he tells me he would like to get a quick x-ray..."Oh sure", I think, "get all the loot you can off of my little flu virus!" After the x-ray the doc comes back and tells me I have walking pneumonia..."What!" I don't feel that bad. I'm just tired and fluish...and coughing nonstop..achy all over....hmmmmm, okay...so I've been pretty sick. He then tells me to go home and lie down, (this was when I laughed so hard I peed my pants and went into a major coughing fit). He then explains to me that I really do need to rest and do I need a note for work. I told him no, it wouldn't do any good...my boss is only 3 and she couldn't read the note. He smiles and looks at me sort of funny..was he amused or was that pity I wonder? He sends me out with a prescription for antibiotics and some cough medicine which he assures me will help my cough or at least make me so happy I won't care that I'm coughing anymore!
So how about that? I was wrong! The doctors office was just looking out for my best interest...(still not sure I believe that myself...)!
Now I am going to try to rest in between taking care of G, and picking up my 15 year old, J, from her football game tonight. And of course this is the week hubby is 'on call' so he is out chasing leads and catching criminals....this leaves me on my own for most of the night. Worst of all I can't take my happy juice/cough medicine until at least 11:30 or midnight because I have to pick up J after the game!! Ohhhhh...I am so tired.
Here goes... don't think I'm nuts.....
Dr. Ross, Dr. Greene, Dr. Carter, Dr. Benton, Carol Hathaway, Abby Lockhardt...the list goes on and on. They are the doctors and nurses of ER. This show has been a constant thing in my life for 14 years!! When I look back to how much my life has changed in all that time I am amazed that the one thing that has stayed constant is a TV show!! Bear with me please...I am not a 'tv aholic' lunatic but I am really going to miss this show! I don't like that it is ending. I don't watch any daytime soaps but after 14 years I would be all for them to just keep it going and move it to daytime! The hallways of County General in Chicago have been an escape for me. I have seen every show more than once and I have watched it from the premier episode in season 1. I guess I will have to purchase all 15 seasons as they all become available because I know they won't air the reruns on TNT forever!
Does anyone else out there love this show?? I have laughed and cried, shouted and thrown things while watching this series. I have been so outraged at the storylines that I have threatened to never watch again..(yea right)..and I have been so moved I have sat and cried my eyes out. Thursday nights will never be the same again after the final episode airs in May. So tonight..this Thursday night...marks the beginning of the end of an ER era for me. Let the countdown begin....
G had a nightmare last night at 3:32am. I heard her crying out and went into her room to snuggle up next to her. She didn't fall back to sleep until 6:30. Between 3:30 and 6:30 we dozed, snuggled and whispered to each other. I crawled back into my own bed at 6:30 only to get back up at 7:10 to watch my girls get on the school bus. After hubby went to work I snuggled up yet again until 9:20. I knew G would probably sleep in since she was up for 3 hours in the night but I also know I don't sleep well after 9 in the morning so I got up. Last night my voice decided to go bye bye just before bedtime. I was curious to see how G was going to feel about me not talking above a whisper. She was so cute this morning when she woke up. I went in to see her and when she heard me whispering she took my face in her hands with her face only inches from mine and whispered back to me, "Why are you whispering?". I told her mommy's throat was sore and my voice was tired. So all day today until the girls got home from school G and I whispered to each other. Everytime she had something to say to me she would stop what she was doing and walk over to me and whisper it to me. How sweet I thought...I told her that she didn't need to whisper, that only mommy's voice was sore but she told me that she was going to whisper too. My house was so quiet all day! The tv was lower than usual and when the phone rang it was like an ear shattering noise breaking the silence!So I am missing church again tonight, but I won't forget to pray for all the kids and the families from the tragic bus crash yesterday in Marion County. Please remember them in your prayers too. I am outraged that the semi driver didn't even see them! They were at a complete stop with the lights and signs out too!! One of the kids on the bus reported that they saw the semi headed towards them and knew that he wasn't going to stop. She said she thought they were all going to die...how terrifying for her..for all of them!! Then to top it off the Marion County School Board notified the parents with an AUTOMATED phone message..AUTOMATED!!! How could they do that! There were only 21 parents to call...how could they be so impersonal about it? They also told the parents not to go to the scene of the accident. I know it can cause distractions but those are their children! They would not have been able to keep me away. I know some may think thats foolish but to sit and wait when my child is hurt and/or scared and needs me...I just could not do it....I also know they want you home to be able to get the call to let you know what hospital your child is taken to but this day and age most of us have cell phones and call forwarding...I would have gone to the crash site...I would have needed to...
I think I over did it. Yesterday I was feeling a little better and G was feeling ALLOT better. We went to dance class and dinner with some friends after class. This morning I woke up at 5am like normal but had a really bad sore throat and that icky feeling from a couple of days ago was back. I popped three ibuprofen and laid back down for an hour. When I got back up I still felt yucky..."but I am done being sick", I thought. I had plans today and by gosh I am not going to be placed back in lockdown this soon! I stayed home till 3pm then decided there were some things I just HAD to get done. I went and bought a new battery for my "mom van", (sorry for stealing your term Suzy but I just LOVE it!!). For the last two weeks it has been sluggish and I didn't want to be stranded so off I went. $84.00 and an hour later one errand is done!! Now I just need to get gas, pay a bill and do a weeks worth of grocery shopping for a household of five! Now the van is running happily and I am off to my local Super Walmart..(I prefer Publix but have to drive 40 minutes to get to one from here and that's not gonna happen today!!) I meander my way through Walmart praying I don't see anyone I know because I am feeling so bad and know I look even worse. I am getting everything on my list and trying to go down every aisle so I will see anything we need that I may have neglected to put on the list. My buggy is getting heavy and I begin to dread checking out, (I am one of those shoppers that organizes the items when I put them on the belt so they will be bagged appropriately). Finally I enter the check out lane to face the perky smiling cashier. She glances at my full buggy and says, "Wow..hold on one minute while I go and get another cart for you". Okay...that was nice of her, she must know I am going to take awhile unloading all of this stuff. All I want at this point is some more ibuprofen. My throat feels like it is almost completely shut and swallowing has become an event I need to brace myself for because the pain is ridiculous. My head is spinning and I have all kinds of junk in my throat. So in the line at Walmart I decide I am still sick.....bummer. I am switching back and forth now between unloading one buggy and reloading the second one. All I can think in my head is, "please hurry...I want to go home". But Miss Perky is talkative and smiley..can't she see how much I don't want to chat right now? And why am I smiling and acting like everything is great? Finally my buggy is empty and I am caught up in loading the other one while Miss Chatty weighs the bananas. Okay, all I have left is to give her my coupons, pay and go. Slight, temporary elation sets in when I see I saved almost $8 with all my coupons!! Now back out to the van and I remember I now need to load it all into the van now to go home. Thats not so bad because the van is just the right height and loading the bags and boxes is easy. On the way home I call ahead and tell everyone I am sick and I am not unloading anything. When I pull in there are my sweet girls. They unload the whole thing and even helped to put it all away. Are these the same two that argued with each other through the shower from hell yesterday?
Now here I sit...three ibuprofen later and not really feeling all that much better. Let's see what tomorrow brings....
I must be insane. How could I possibly think that I would get a chance to relax for 20 minutes by asking my 16 year old and 15 year old to give the 3 year old a bath? Clearly I had a temporary lapse of sanity.
First thing they, (meaning the two teens), did was to convince the three year old to take a shower instead of a bath. There is a built in seat and the shower giver needs not even get wet and it's quicker thus they will accomplish the task sooner. Then the yelling begins...am I resting yet?? The yelling is due to the three year old not wanting the 16 year old to be the one to wash her...she wants my 15 year old to do it. My 15 year old has just gotten out of her own shower and doesn't want to get her already wet hair any wetter, I explained to her this made no sense, she won't get wet at all but only got the 'you don't understand me at all look'. Now while the shower is warming my 15 year old is arguing with G because G put an extra 'square' of toilet paper in the potty after she wiped so she could watch it go down when she flushed...(come on..it was only 1 square of toilet paper!). I tell my 15 year old that she should not argue about something so trivial..I mean it's not like she put a matchbox car in the potty to watch it flush!! So my 16 year old quickly washes G while the two teens continue to bicker back and forth in the bathroom...I am well within hearing distance and I can feel my stress level rising. There is screaming coming from the shower now as G belts out that the no tears shampoo is in her eyes...(ugh, how hard can it be with a hand held shower head and a wash cloth to keep the soap out of her eyes??? I do it every time and have shown them how at least a hundred times!! ) Stress level is about half way up the blow my stack meter...It is now 4 minutes since the shower began and I hear the water go off. My 16 year old is dictating orders that my 15 year old is ignoring. The orders must have had something to do with 'catch the preschooler and dry her off' because I now see a wet naked 3 year old running by my desk out into the family room. The 16 year old is quickly in chase muttering something about, " I told you to dry her off!!" Finally the child is corralled and dried off and pj's are on...All the while the two teens never stopped bickering.
G is now happily playing...the teens are back to what is important to them..one is eating and the other is watching tv, I think...and I do not feel rested or relaxed at all!
The moral of the story?? I don't know...I do know that this happens about once every two weeks in my household. For about two weeks I will remember how I am feeling right now and I will choose to do more things myself than to delegate things that need to be done to other family members. Then I have another lapse in sanity as I had tonight and I will think to myself, "Why don't I ask the girls to do this for me??"
But don't worry, I'm sure you will read all about it... in a post...in about two weeks...
I think we are finally beginning to kick this virus. My pediatrician let me borrow a nebulizer and I gave G a breathing treatment about 30 minutes before her bedtime last night. She slept all through the night in her own bed! I heard her cough a little bit here and there but nothing like she had been. She has been feeling much better today too. I am also on the recovering end and am feeling better. G and I got out of the house today for the first time since Monday, (not counting my venture to the pharmacy). I went today to listen to the second round of auditions for the karaoke contest I am competing in...and then we went to take my two teens to a friends birthday party. On the way home it was just G and me in the van and she says,"Oh mommy, I'm just so tired" and I said "I know honey...mommy is too". I haven't decided if we are going to church tomorrow or not. I don't think I can commit to a decision until I open my eyes in the morning and see how I feel. The last thing I want to do is tire us out too much too soon. With that note of not tiring out too much I will cut this short tonight. I'm going to soak in a tub after G goes to bed and then watch the tv snuggled up with my hubby until I fall asleep. Peaceful night wishes to you all.....
It amazes me how we forget so easily about what matters most to us. We really only have a short time here on our little planet earth in the middle of nowhere. I try so hard to live my life without forgetting to 'see' what is going on around me. I don't know why I put so much stress on myself to get the laundry done and make sure the house is clean. Why does it matter that we eat lunch at noon everyday and have dinner at 6pm? I find myself getting so caught up in details and 'to do' items that I forget to notice these people around me. Life becomes a chore and a routine. I don't want that...I want life to be fun and happy and spontanious. I want to laugh and not be thinking in the back of my mind that I really should be folding those clothes or cleaning my closet. If I was gone tomorrow would it matter more that my closet was clean or that I spent an hour drawing pictures with my three year old? Today I chose the pictures...we drew flowers and clouds and rain and grass. I watched while she proudly wrote her name,(correctly) three times in a row!! Then we curled up on the couch under a blanket and laughed while we watched 'Maggie and the Ferocious Beast!' Thats how I want my family to remember me. I want them to remember me as someone that enjoyed our time together; if they can add on, "and our house was always clean" then thats great but whats important is that they remember me...and the time I spend with them.
I guess it took me spending the week in 'lockdown' to realize that the world doesn't crumble if appointments are missed and laundry still sits undone. Our existence goes on regardless of how we spend our time but the quality of our existence depends solely on how our time is spent. Don't forget the ones that are important to you. Take the time to stop and listen. Squat down and look your child in his or her eyes and let them have 3 or 4 minutes of your time to tell you about a game they played or a picture they drew even if it means you'll be 3 or 4 minutes late. Who knows...maybe thats Gods plan to keep you from a disastrous accident or mishap somewhere down the road...
Lets all try to remember what matters.
Health update: G seems to be feeling better during the day but is still coughing allot at night...she slept in our bed again last night and when I placed my hand on her ribcage while she was sleeping I could feel her lungs rattle when she took a breath. Keep her in your prayers...I still feel pretty yucky too but she is my main concern.
Well...let me start with the 'pharmacy ordeal' from yesterday. I called my daughters' pediatricians office a little before noon to ask them to please call in a prescription for some cough medicine because G cannot stop coughing. She had been up and down all night. They directed me to a voicemail and assured me it would be checked at lunchtime. I left a very polite message. I told them we needed some prescription cough syrup because the Delsym was not cutting it and my poor little girl was not able to get any sleep at night. I asked them to please call me at home and gave them the number. I then made the mistake, even though I knew I was in lockdown and most likely would not go anywhere, I explained if they tried me at home and could not reach me try my cell and gave then that number too. I reminded them to try me at home first and reiterated that I do not have my cell on when I am home. The day drags on, it does that when you are in lockdown, with no call. I call back around 2:45pm...they have been really busy, the receptionist explains. I say I only want a prescription called in, and she says she will talk to the nurse that does that when she gets out of the exam room she is in. I wait...no call. It is now 4:50pm...I call back. The receptionists says they will definetly call soon and not to worry because they don't close till 6pm. Again I wait......by 6:10 I am fuming.
On a whim I decide to check my cell phone...WHAT??!! A MESSAGE?? Sure enough there is a message from the doctors office left at 5:51pm!! The nurse says she is going to call in a prescription...she just needs to know what pharmacy but instead of leaving me a number to call her back and let her know what pharmacy. SHE LOOKS UP MY ADDRESS IN THE CHART AND GUESSES AS TO WHICH ONE I USE!!!! AND THE ONE SHE PICKS TO CALL IT IN TO CLOSES AT 6PM!!!! SO she called this pharmacy about 5 minutes before they closed and gave them my daughters prescription order. I call back the doctors office and of course was routed to the after hours nurse on call. Can you guess which nurse it was?? She calls me and ...well here is how the conversation went...Nurse: Oh I already took care of this..I called in a prescription for Tussin12 suspension.Me: You called it in to a pharmacy that is 20 miles from me and closed 15 minutes ago. I need you to call it in to MY pharmacy that is 3 miles from me and closes at 10pm.Nurse: Oh...well I will need to call it in tomorrow morning because we can't have two prescriptions for the same meds called in to two different pharmacies.Me: I don't care...I need it called in to Walgreens tonight. My daughter has been coughing ALL day and I called you all this morning before lunchtime to ask to have this done. You guessed at the pharmacy location when all you had to do was look in her chart and you would have seen a million other times scripts had been called into Walgreens...only Walgreens. Better yet you could have called me at home like I asked instead of worrying about getting it done in a hurry. But if you don't want to do this now thats ok...I have Dr. *****'s home number and I am sure she will call it in for me. Nurse: No maam that won't be nessecary..I will call it in to Walgreens and I will just have to remember to call it in to ---(the other drug store)--first thing in the morning. Me: Thank you very much.It is now about 6:25. I wait about 30 minutes and call Walgreens to verify the meds were called in. They were there...but the pharmacist was just getting ready to call me because for some reason the insurance is not wanting to cover the prescription cost???!!!! Well I know my insurance is Ok..just used it yesterday.."Oh wait', the pharmacist says..."It appears you had this filled earlier today at another drug store and the insurance company won't authorize the payment twice in a row"...I had no words...I could not believe that within the 9 minutes before they closed this other drug store that I had only been to once in my life two years ago kept all my info and ran the prescription through that fast when they knew they were closing!! Deep breath....I ask the pharmacist, "what is the actual cost of the meds?" She says she has it in the generic form and it's $77.00, (my copay for generic is $20.00)...My pharmacist, bless her, hears my distress and she says here is what we will do. I will partially fill it and you can pay full price for what I give you tonight and then when the other drug store reverses its authorization for payment you can come in and pick up the rest of the prescription and they will reimburse me back down to the $20.00.
Well that was nice of her...so at 8pm last night I went and picked up 1/2 the prescription and will go back today..or maybe tomorrow and get the rest.G did get some sleep last night...she still coughed for about an hour after she fell asleep but then settled down and slept well through the rest of the night. I, on the other hand, now have my wish granted as I awoke at 3am feeling very yucky and a little feverish...Now here I sit all stuffy with a sore throat....bring on the Advil and get ready for 'Lockdown Day 5' !!Karen
I am in the sick zone. This is when all the things you thought HAD to be done don't get done because someone is sick and life goes on 'hold'. G is miserable. She is coughing like crazy. We missed dance class on Monday, a playdate yesterday and today we will miss church. My husband, bless his heart, was voluntarily booted to the couch on Monday night so that G could sleep in our bed. Thats a rarity in our home as we believe everyone needs to sleep in their own space but sickness, really scary dreams and bad storms override the rule. Last night she slept in her own bed and I listened to her cough all night as she slept. I wish they would either make a cough medicine that works or just admit they can't do it and stop trying to fool us all! Everyone I know says Delsym is the best over the counter you can buy but I really don't think any of them help. My husband drinks double the dose,(dangerous, I know!!!), then passes out from all the meds and swears it works because he takes enough of it. I am a stickler about dosing meds just right and a 1/2 teaspoon of Delsym every twelve hours doesn't seem to do a thing. I won't even use the multi symptom meds they make for colds these days. I have seen too many cases of parents over medicating when using them and even though I know I'm careful I just don't like them in the house. So here I am with G huddled beside me watching Playhouse Disney while I type. This is day three on Augmentin and I was hoping she would have been alot better by today. Maybe I will call her pediatrician and see what they say. She spent 7 days in the hospital with pneumonia when she was 15 months old and I don't ever want to end up there again! Another mom I know is in the hospital now with her son fighting a nasty virus...(we're praying for you both Dee)...so I know whats going around isn't anything to mess with. As a mom there is nothing I would rather be able to do than remove illness from my child. Until I figure out how to do that I will be here, in the sick zone... on lockdown...watching the world go on around us.
This morning was quiet...too quiet. I woke up as usual at 5am to wake my teens for school and crawled back in bed until 7. At 7am I watch the girls get on the bus and then my 3 year old is usually starting to stir but my house was silent. The mommy in me of course goes into panic mode and I tiptoe into her room where she is soundly sleeping, even snoring. I close her door so she can get her rest which she needs from our busy weekend and from battling her cold. I see my husband off to work, make the beds, feed the cat and check my emails...still quiet...so I start playing solitaire on the computer. I look up and an hour and a half has gone by, it's 9:15!! I jump up and run to G's room just as she shouts out "Mommy, something is in my ear!!" What!! Something is IN her EAR!!! I run in and I see that she has brownish yucky discharge coming out of her ear. It has run down her face, gotten in her hair and on her pillow. So after I clean her up, strip the bed and get her a drink I call the pediatrician and of course she says to bring her in...but the first appointment isn't till 2pm. When we get to the doctors office I had to wait for 92 minutes to see the doctor!!! Now I love our doctor and I know she was busy because I could hear all of the commotion and I know she spends time with each patient so I don't mind the usual expected 30 minute wait but 92 MINUTES???? Okay so she finally comes in and we discover that G has a massive ear infection. She said the ear was so bad that she couldn't tell if the ear drum had ruptured or not...(ruptured??!! ...it sounds terrible but according to the doctor it "repairs itself and 'usually' leaves no permanent hearing loss or damage"..those are the words she used to 'soothe' me). We get prescriptions for eardrops and penicillin and head to the pharmacy...$83.00 later, (and that is just the copay!!) , I am on the way home,(and broke), and G throws up all over the van, her carseat and herself. I pull over run around and get her out of the seat. I calm her down and clean her up and put fresh clothes on her. Once I get her back into the slightly damp carseat she passes out sound asleep on the rest of the drive home.
Now she is sitting on my bed watching TV and I actually got brave enough to give her a dose of the penicillin...and yaaayy she did not throw it up!!
I don't like it when my kids are sick. I guess I am too much of a worrier. I especially don't like high fevers and throwing up!! It seems like it would just be allot easier if it was me that was sick instead...
Karen
Well, here I am Sunday night as promised. My weekend was busy as expected. We had a great time at the birthday party. Afterwards we went to Backyard Bar B Que in Newberry and sang karaoke...we even got the kids in on it!! It's nice to have a place to go do that and not be in such a 'bar' setting. Yes they serve alcohol but it is a family restaurant and there wasn't all that cigarette smoke to deal with!!
On the down side my 3 year old isn't feeling too well. She is feeling just yucky enough to be a little cranky but not so bad that I'm thinking she needs to see the doctor. Her nose is stuffy, then she starts to feel feverish but it never registers over 99 degrees. Her poor nose is bothering her more than anything else. She is supposed to go to dance class tomorrow but we will have to see how she is feeling. She won't be happy if she misses dance class!
Church was great today! It's always great but it was extra great today, we had a group called 'Pureheart' as our musical guests today and they were awesome!!
So Saturday was fun and today was fun too but I am feeling all kinds of blah inside. Why do we do that? Why do we feel all gloomy and yucky when we can't find anything specific to be gloomy and yucky about? I guess it all comes back to my first post and my feelings of sometimes losing myself in everything going on. But I am exhausted now and my creative juices are all dried up. So I am going to sign off with this....I will make a real effort to revive myself and my inner spirit and come back tomorrow to post with something new and exciting.
Karen
Last night I went to my 15 year olds football game to watch her do the halftime show, she is a 'flag girl'. I thought they were awesome!! She was smiling and had on some rockin' blue makeup and she was all sparkley and so very pretty... but then all the girls came off the field and their coach LIT INTO THEM. So I stood about 5 feet away as their coach chewed them out naming off who did what wrong and how the entire routine was horrible!! I was just about to run over and tell coach to stop being so hard on them and then I realized this is part of being a team player. This is how they all learn that life isn't always wonderful and that they are responsible for how they perform as a team. So I sat by and listened. When coach was done my daughter looked at me through her sparkely blue eyelashes with shame on her face. She walked over to me and said, "We sucked" (oh how I hate that word..), and I said that I thought they were great, (and I really did so I wasn't fibbing to her), then I told her that her coach saw all the mistakes that we as untrained observers can't see. Then I told her that the other schools flag team dropped the flag TWICE and that made her smile as she said, "Oh I am so glad it wasn't us". Later when the game was over she told me that her coach pulled her and one other teammate aside and told them they were the two best performers that night. So she learned two lessons... 1) She is responsible for the performance of the whole team not just herself, and 2) When she does her best, practices and is devoted to learning the routines she will get the personal satisfaction of recognition of a well done job from someone that matters ...not just mom who always loves her show!!
So now it is Saturday morning and I just started doing my mountian of laundry because I have no time left for the rest of the weekend until Monday morning, which will be too late because everyone needs clean clothes before then!! We have a birthday party to go to this afternoon and then my friend, our kids and I are going to a local restaurant for dinner and karaoke singing!! Tomorrow our church is having it's ten year anniversary celebration. We have guest speakers and musical guests and lots of food and fellowship! I love my church family and always have such a wonderful time. So my weekend is full but it will all be fun.
I may not be able to write again until Sunday night but I will have plenty to share by then!!
Thanks to those who commented...it's nice to know we are not all alone out here and encourages me to keep writing.
Back to the laundry!!
Karen
OK...here goes. I love to read other mom's blogs so I thought I would give this a shot. I live in a small town and do not work outside the home. Stay at home mom just sounds so lazy so I am trying to come up with a new phrase for all of us moms that do not work outside of taking care of our families. How about I am an 'On the go mom' or OTGM?
I have one daughter in Drama, one daughter that does Flag Corp, and a third in a Ballet, Tap, Jazz Combo dance class. So it seems I usually have a play...a football game or a dance recital to be attending. We are also a christian family and attend church regulary so you see where my OTGM fits right in.
My only complaint I have about not working outside of my family life is that I sometimes feel as though I lose myself. I am always so busy taking care of everyone that I never have time to take care of me. Yes I do know how blessed I am to be able to stay home and be here with my girls but I sometimes feel so left out of the 'real world'. I worked for nine years in the busy real estate industry and miss all the corporate board meetings and deadlines to meet. I don't miss feeling guilty when a child was sick and I could not make it in to the office, or feeling guilty because I made the decision that morning to send that child to school when deep inside I knew she would have benefitted staying home but I had a really busy day and did not want to fall behind or have an angry frustrated boss to deal with!
So being here at home for whoever needs me is where I chose to be at this point in my life. My daughters are 16, 15 and 3...and yes the three year old was planned. Everyone in our family thought we were insane to have another child when the two we had were almost to the self-sufficient stage! I was 39 when G was born and I don't regret it for a minute!! I was/am a much better mom this time around when it came to dealing with the infant zone, the toddler zone and even now with her running around, a preschooler, thinking she surely knows it all!! So my next big desicion coming up is to home school or not...
I am also a singer. I sing with a partner from church. We sing mostly contemporary christian praise and worship music. We are in the process of making a CD together...not for resale but to be able to let other churches hear us so that maybe we can travel a bit to some different places and share our music ministry.
My husband works in law enforcement. I have learned in our 10 years of marriage that this is one of the most stressful, non rewarding jobs anyone can do. It takes a very specific type of person to do this job and , I might add, a very tolerant person to be married to someone in this line of work!!
So this is my first official blog attempt...a little about me
Now you just need to let me know what you think!!
Karen L.
