Archive for March, 2009

Dr. Internet, what’s your diagnosis?

Mar 31, 2009 A day in our life

Caleb is sick. He doesn’t act sick. And, other than a little cough, he says he doesn’t feel sick. But he is.

I worked late yesterday. When I got home it was after 6pm and I was worn out. I made a mad rush to help Spencer get ready for soccer practice…searching for soccer socks, shin guards, his practice shirt and orange shorts. After I scooted him out the door, I sat down on the couch to put my feet up and take a little breather.

Not even two minutes later Caleb came downstairs. In tears.

I asked, “What’s wrong baby?” [Because he will always be my baby...even when he's 45]

He was mumbling something I couldn’t understand between gasping and crocodile tears.

“What?”

“Spencer stopped watching me.”

WTF is he talking about, I thought. But instead I just said, “What do you mean sweetie?”

“Spencer was watching me, but he stopped.”

Um ok. Clearly I was getting nowhere with this line of questioning so I just gave him a hug and told him it would be ok. He stopped crying and curled up next to me.

About five minutes later he was looking off in to space and he said, “Can I have a do over?”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“A do over. Can I have a do over.”

“A do over for what?”

“Life.”

I looked around. Am I being punked? What the hell is this kid talking about?

Then the tears started again and he said, “I don’t want to die.”

Ok, now he was totally freaking me out. I was starting to get a Sixth Sense feeling. I almost asked him if he saw dead people. Instead I told him to lie down for a little bit. I figured he must have taken a nap after school and still be sleeping or something. A couple minutes later he asked if he could go up to his bed and lie down. Good idea.

Fast forward to 9pm. I was trying to get all the kids in bed since it was well past bedtime. I went to give Caleb hugs and kisses and his lips were on fire. I felt the back of his neck. He was burning up.

I ran downstairs to my purse to get the thermometer. [Yes, I keep the thermometer in my purse. That way I always know where it is and the kids don't misplace it. I also have tweezers, dental floss, soap, toothpaste, and a set of plastic silverware plus a napkin in my purse. I'm a regular Boy Scout. Always prepared.]

So I took Caleb’s temp. 103.5.

And then I freaked the fuck out.

“Leeee,” I bellowed in a big panic. I immediately thought back to the do over on life comment from earlier. I was worried Denny from Grey’s Anatomy was talking to Caleb and telling him he was going to die. [Have I mentioned before that I have an overactive imagination and tend to be a big drama queen?]

Lee, who is always the calm one, suggested we take his temp again. We too it under the arm. 100.7. Then back under his tongue. 101.4. Whew. Much better.

We gave him some Tylenol and put him to bed. He slept through the night. [Which is more than I can say for me. I spent the whole night worry that Caleb was talking to dead people.] And this morning his temp was normal. But we kept him home anyway. Just to be safe.

He was fine all day long. No fevers. No coughing. Nothing.

Then at 6pm tonight I was giving him a hug. And he was warm again. I took his temp. 100.5. What the hell? And now he’s hacking and coughing again.

So now I’m baffled. What kind of illness is this that only effects him from 6pm to midnight?

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You’ve got mail

Mar 25, 2009 In my humble opinion

I listen to XM radio in my car, to and from work (and each time I cart the kids off to dance, gymnastics, and soccer). Usually I’m tuned in to channel 21; KISS XM. (I know. I know. I should probably be listening to something smart like NPR or CNN, but I love me some hip hop.)

So the DJ (Toby I think) usually has some interesting news story to discuss and encourages callers to give their opinion. It’s everything from “have you ever had a gay experience even though your straight” to “what do you think about the wife who’s divorcing her husband because he took their teenage daughter to Hooters to celebrate her getting on the honor roll.” As you can imagine a lot of people have opinions about these topics. It’s almost more entertaining to listen to the callers than it is to lip syncing like an idiot to Lady Gaga.

Today he was talking about some city that is proposing a new solicitation policy. The new policy would require the police department to send a letter to the wives of men who are caught with a prostitute.

There were a lot of opinions; from he’s innocent until proven guilty to hell yes send her a letter. I’m a little torn on the issue.

On one hand, doesn’t a wife have the right to know her husband is bringing somebody else in to their marriage. Shouldn’t she know ASAP so she can get herself tested as soon as possible for whatever disease she may get from her sleazebag husband. Her health…her life could be at risk.

But on the other hand, I hate that government is always trying to work their way in to our business. What business is it of the police department to get in to somebody’s marital issues. It should be up to the husband to confess to his wife. And if he doesn’t, that’s tragic, but that’s his wife’s problem that she’s married to a jackass.

Plus who’s going to pay for this extra service? It’s extra work for the police force. Would it require another headcount? What about the extra paper and postage? Since the majority of wives will likely find out on their own anyway, does it make sense to spend taxpayer money on notices to the house?

But what about the minority of women who will be lied to by their husbands and wont find out? I’m trying to figure out how a husband gets caught with a prostitute and his wife doesn’t know. How does he explain why he didn’t come home the night he spent in jail after his arrest? Who does he call to pay his bail? How does he retain a lawyer without her noticing a few thousand dollars missing from the checking account? What does he tell her about his days in court? Does she not call him at the office at least once during the day? Do you do jail time for paying for a prostitute? Or is that just a fine?

What do you think? Should the police department send out letters?

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Unplugging

Mar 23, 2009 A day in our life

I took a little vacation last week. We didn’t go anywhere exciting. In fact we didn’t go anywhere at all. We stayed home, slept in, and spent time together as a family. [And I worked in some girl friend time too.]

We took the kids on a bike ride. Our first bike ride of the year. And the kids’ first time on the trail.

We braved ice skating at the ice arena again. Or at least Lee and the kids did. I sat on the bleachers and read a book. I wasn’t in the mood to break my ankle or freeze my butt off with numerous falls to the ice. And, yes, I do realize that makes me a huge wimp. So be it.

And we hung out at the park We couldn’t have asked for better weather. It was beautiful.

But I didn’t just take a break from work. I also mostly unplugged for the week. I say mostly because I just couldn’t give up my Blackberry. What? A girl’s got to be able to call people.

I did manage to stay off the computer most of the week. And I watched almost no TV. When I plugged back in yesterday I have two inboxes full of email, 1000+ posts to read in Google Reader, and a week’s worth of TV on my TiVo. So I spent much of yesterday going through email (deleting almost all of it…sorry PR people, but your pitches are in my trash bin). I didn’t even attempt Google Reader…just marking all as read (so if you wrote an awesome, award-winning post last week you better send me the link). And Lee got a little caught up on our television addiction.

After all of that I came to a realization. I like unplugging.

No this isn’t one of those “I’m giving up blogging” posts. I’m going to continue to blog. In fact I hope to pick it up and post more often because I’ve really been slacking. But I am cutting back other things.

Yesterday I deleted half of my Twitter friends. I seriously considered deleting my whole Twitter account, but I decided not to be so drastic and at least think it over first.

My next step is to unsubscribe to a bunch of feeds in Google Reader (no, not yours silly).

And I discovered, I love not watching TV. I love not having the TV on. I love the silence. I’m not ready to give up some of my shows just yet (I’m looking at you Lost and Brothers and Sisters), but I’m definitely going to scale back (sorry, American Idol, but you didn’t survive the cut).

How do you unplug?

Pneumonia humor…stop me if you’ve heard this one

Mar 18, 2009 At least I still have my health?

Thanks to my chronic sinusitis and asthma I seem to get a cold whenever anybody with a little sniffle even looks in my direction. Then I can’t seem to ever get over a cold. It goes straight to my chest until I’m full-blown wheezing. It usually drags on for weeks and doesn’t end until I’ve begged my doctor for some Prednisone and maybe a little antibiotic.

Sometimes I call my doctor at the first cough and runny nose. Other times I try to wait it out just to see if this one time I can get over it without drugs. I never can.

I just saw my doctor about two weeks ago for my quarterly appointment. We have a standing date every three months to see how I’m doing and refill my prescriptions. I’ve turned in to an old lady with my days-of-the-week pill box stuffed with all my daily pills. I had a little tickle in my throat so I was worried I was on the verge of a cold, but the doc didn’t hear anything in my chest, and my nose, throat, and ears looked good so I went on my way.

Within just a few days it became clear that little tickle was turning in to a full blown cold; sinuses full, throat scratchy, nose and eyes watery, and ears hurting. But I just saw the doctor and didn’t really want to make two trips in one week. Plus I was busy getting caught up with homework and finishing up some work before I went on vacation.

On Monday (the first day of my vacation) I decided I couldn’t wait anymore. I needed to go to the doctor. She listened to my chest and said, “Well there’s a reason you aren’t feeling well. You have pneumonia. I can hear it in your left lung.”

Great.

I’m familiar with pneumonia. I get it about once a year. [Probably because I wait to freaking long to go to the doctor.] So I knew what was in store for me. Shots. In the butt.

The nurse came in to give me my shots. She looked apologetic as she said, “I have a steroid shot and an antibiotic shot. I need to put one in each butt cheek.”

I said, “I know. I’m familiar with the steroid shot. I’m pretty sure everybody in this office has seen my butt.”

“I haven’t,” she laughed.

“Well today’s your lucky day,” I joked.

Gotta keep your sense of humor when faced with pneumonia.

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