The Week from H-E-Double Hockey Sticks

Now, I'm normally a laid back kinda gal. I don't get stressed out easily. I always look at the bright side of things. But as much of an optimist I may be, I am also part realist. And I have no problems calling things like I see them. And last week was really a week from hell.

I wanted to blog about it every day to get my frustrations out, but one of the main causes of my stress could not be made public on my blog, facebook status, or parenting board community. I just don't think its a good idea to publicly announce any travel intentions to millions of complete strangers. It would be like saying, "Hey! I'm going to be out of town for 3 days! You know what town I live in and probably my last name as well. Feel free to look up my address on Google and break in!"

I also try never to say where we'll be going, but instead, where we have been. Not that I think anyone really cares enough to try to stalk me, but you never know, right?

Okay, so back to my week. It all started last Sunday....

My dear husband had cut his hair off in preparation for some big "GO LIVE" at his company. What I did not say is that he actually had to travel to one of his company's production plants in a remote town in Georgia, several hours away. I was kinda bummed cause I didn't even get to enjoy his haircut for a week!

Brian used to travel all the time. Spain, Germany, and England were his frequent destinations. But with the economy, his company tried to do more and more tele-conferencing and less air travel. There just hasn't been many opportunities for Brian to travel these past three years. And that was fine by me!

Jayce was too little to ever remember his daddy going anywhere for a week, so it was kind of hard to explain to him why he couldn't see his daddy for a few days. Brian joked that maybe he could pack Jayce into his suitcase. Jayce loved that idea!

That cute smile didn't last though, when it was finally time to say goodbye to Daddy. To distract them, I reminded the kids about all the fun things we were going to do without daddy all week! Like leave dishes in the sink, eat dinner on the couch, camp out on the floor in sleeping bags, etc. That helped a bit.

But before Brian left, we took a trip to the grocery store the day before. Now, my car had been acting a bit "off" lately, but nothing too concerning. It made this sort of "rubbing" sound every time I turned the wheel. Our air decided to go out, but since its Spring and the temps have been nice, nothing a rolled down window wouldn't fix. But on this particular weekend, my car started making a high pitched grinding noise when you ran the engine. When Brian had looked under the hood, the power steering canister had completely broken off and was rubbing on some belt. He then insisted that I take my car up to the automotive place ASAP on Monday morning.

Except, he wasn't going to be there to take me and Jayce back home, remember?

And there went the start to my lovely week.

I love giving service to my friends. I never mind babysitting for others kids or getting mail/paper for our out of town neighbors. I'm always one of the first people to sign up to bring a new mom a meal.

But I typically don't like imposing on my friends. I'm a SAHM, I know how busy life gets. I like to be self-sufficient and not rely on a whole bunch of people to make my life run smoothly. I help when I can, but try not to ask for too much help myself.

Well, I totally had to let all those feelings go and start relying on others for help. My good friend Michelle, who also happens to be my visiting teacher (which made me a tad bit better about asking her for help because she's always offering!), ended up dragging all 3 of her boys out early Monday morning to pick Jayce and I up from the automotive place and take us back home. This was completely out of her way so I can't tell you how much I appreciate her willingness to be of service. Thank you SO much Michelle! :) Hopefully you'll let me return the favor some time!

Once home, Jayce's therapists were all scheduled to come to our house and he was also scheduled to ride the bus to school, so that was easy. I just needed someone to pick up Jaina from school that afternoon. The bus is not an option since she goes to a school "out of our zone" with special permission. This is also a problem because that means no one in our neighborhood or surrounding area sends kids to that particular school. And none of her school friends live near us.

Luckily, my former professor Monica (hey, you are going to make the blog a lot this week!) was not teaching at that time and volunteered to pick up Jaina. Whew! That was a great load off my shoulders! So, for Monday, we were looking good. Kids could get too and from school, I had someone to help me go pick up my car later that day, everything was working out.

Until the car place said that they couldn't fix my car by Monday at 5.

Dammit. Okay, no problem. Let me put my thinking cap on. I can do this!

The biggest problem on Tuesday is that Jaina needs a ride *to* school. At 7:00 AM. And again, no one in our neighborhood goes to that school. Luckily, Monica was at our house when that call came and she bravely offered to drive all the way out here the next morning and take Jaina to school before needing to be at her college. Now, if you know my friend Monica, you'll also know that she NEVER teaches 8:30 AM classes on her schedule. Why? Because I don't think she ever even wakes up before 9 AM during the week. And I know better than to call her before noon on a weekend. That girl loves her sleep :) So, offering to help me out was just showing how much Monica loves our family. Thank you SO much, Monica!

Okay, so that's taken care of. Let's see... Jayce has therapy at the hospital at 3. We have a ride there, but no ride back. I call my friend Becca and she agrees to pick us up from the hospital at 4 and take us back home for therapy at home from 4:15-6.

Except that on Tuesday morning, Jayce had other plans. In the form of Strep Throat.

If your kids have ever had strep throat, you'll know how fast this bacterial infection comes about. One minute they're fine, the next minute, they're throat hurts, and the next minute after that, they have a raging fever.

And my car still isn't ready.

So, after Monica drops Jaina off at school and goes to work herself, she then has to drop everything and come pick us up and take us all the way out to the doctor that my kids see, a good 25 minutes from our house. And then sits and waits with us for an hour while the doctor does a strep test.

The strep test comes back negative, but the doctor said that sometimes rapid strep tests do not show growth, but the send away one does. He was pretty sure that Jayce either had strep or a bad sinus infection. Either way, antibiotics were needed. Monica takes us over to CVS to get the prescription filled and then to the automotive place to get my car. $500 was not fun to pay, but boy I would have paid $1,000 to get that sucker back this week!

I was then able to pick Jaina up from school, much to Jaina's dismay. She was hoping that Aunt Monica would hang out with her again. Oh well, she's got to settle for old boring mom instead :)

Since Jayce is sick, I cancel therapy for the rest of Tuesday and again on Wednesday.

Thank goodness because guess who wakes up with pink eye on Wednesday? JAINA. At this point I'm thinking, "Heaven help me, what else can go wrong?" Just FYI, don't think or say those words out loud. Because Murphy's Law will most surely find something else to go wrong.

I take Jaina to the doctor after dropping a recovering Jayce off at my mom's house. She's got pink eye and her throat looks worse than Jayce's! Antibiotics for her, too. I go to pay for her prescription. $60 for eye drops??? You've got to be kidding me! And that was with our prescription insurance?? Maybe next time I'll tell my doctor about our crappy insurance and ask for an effective generic. I had no idea that drug companies even made eye drops at that price. My goodness, its pink eye! If I had been lactating, I would have just given her drops of breast milk in there for free! Craziness!

Finally, Thursday comes along. Back to (relative) normal!! Kids are both at school, having had enough doses of the antibiotic to make sure they weren't contagious. My friend Becca takes me out to lunch to celebrate almost making it through the week. Thanks Becca!!

Then Brian got home that evening. The kids were THRILLED to see him and I was thrilled that he was able to put together our new kitchen table chairs!! Of course I missed my husband, but I was really excited about those chairs! Now people and therapists can sit at our table again!!

Little did I know that more than 24 hours later, I would be seeing that exact lunch again. Much less pleasant coming up than going down!

My stomach started cramping early on Friday morning, but I went about my day as best I could. The vomiting didn't start until the afternoon. And it lasted all.night.long. At one point, the pain was so bad, I had dreams about going to the hospital to get morphine.

Most of you know that I have an intestinal condition that frequently makes me sick with GI problems. However, it soon became apparent that this was very different. I was running a fever, had muscle pain and fatigue that was severe, and was extremely dizzy to the point that I thought I was going to pass out. Brian's response? "Well, you're laying down! Go ahead and pass out then!" Thanks, dear. At one point he had to help me to the bathroom in order to throw up because I thought I couldn't walk that far. Let me tell you, this virus was like nothing I've had before!

I retired to the living room couch around Midnight on Friday night. There was no way I could sleep through all that stomach pain. I had to share the couch with our dog Alli, who has her own little blanket on the couch cushion by my feet. Alli's considered a senior by dog year standards and she can get a bit grumpy. Every time I tossed and turned on the couch, she growled at me. I always apologized to her and tried to stay settled. But getting up and down off the couch to go throw up was more than she could handle her sleep being interrupted. Because around 4 AM, I woke up after dozing for a few minutes with an incredible need for the bathroom.

I stepped carefully on the hardwood floor by the couch, as not to wake Alli up, and realized that my socks and PJ bottoms were soaking wet.

My dog peed on me.

At first, I thought I had stepped on a puddle on the floor. But after careful inspection by Brian, only the couch cushion where my feet had been was wet.

Its okay, you can laugh. I'm mildly amused now anyway. I always knew that dog didn't like me.

Even though the vomiting stopped Saturday morning, I continued to feel weak and nauseous all day long.

But, this morning, I feel 100% better!! Its going to be a wonderful and beautiful day, I can feel it :)  (okay, despite the fact that the forecast says its a 100% chance of rain). It will be full of sunshine in here!

I have so much to be thankful for! My good friends, my family that's home, my repaired car, my recovering health.

Now, if you wouldn't mind sending "stay healthy" vibes to my kids, I would greatly appreciate them! I wouldn't wish this virus on anyone. Well, except my husband. It might teach him some much needed empathy in the process :) Just kidding. Sort of.

Comments

  1. Sounds like you had quite the fun week. Yes, we're going on the cruise for our 1 year anniversary.

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  2. I'm so sorry you had such a terrible week, but I REALLY appreciate the laughs from the bit of humor...

    ...didn't know breast milk would take care of pink eye...

    ...and Alli sure sent you a firm message, didn't she?

    Congrats on the chairs!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Just read the entire blog to my Mom!!! You are soooo funny! I love you dear and sending stay healhty vibes your way!

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  4. Anonymous10:33 PM

    What an awful week! Yikes! I think you're smart not to post your whereabouts on the interet. I spend most of my summers at the beach, and last year, I said something on Facebook about my husband coming that day and how happy I was. He got home and had bunches of tools and our lawn furniture stolen. Not sure if it was my announcement that we were both out of town or what, but from now on, I'm going to be much more careful!
    Hope next week is all blue skies and healthy family!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Wow I can't believe the eye drops were that much. Next time be sure to ask for a generic. Also Walmart and Target have $4 scripts. When I got pink eye a few months ago from one of the kids in our office I only paid the $4 at Walmart for it.

    I hope you all have a very healthy Spring and Summer

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  6. Egad, Jessie. Sorry about the sickies. Glad you got your car back, though. I'm never so down as when my car is out of commission.

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  7. Oh boy, that takes the cake for bad weeks. And your poor sympathy-less dog. I don't think I would be amused by that were I as sick as you were. So glad you are feeling better. Did you ever get your car back? I am assuming so.

    I hope this week is a million times better for you!

    At least Brian is home now, and you have some awesome chairs for your table.

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  8. oh my word. wow.
    what a week.
    i am so sorry! glad it is over.
    confession: i literally laughed out loud when I read that your dog peed on you. sorry about that.

    hoping this week is better!

    ReplyDelete

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