March is Stupid

Today has simply sucked. No other way to put it. It started of nicely enough...got the kids off to school with no major fights and came home and cleaned up a little. My phone rings around noon and it's one of Mike's co-workers telling me that he had taken Mike to the ER and that he was having similar symptoms as last time, minus the 100 degree heat and basketball game. I was fine until I got into the car on the way there when my hands began shaking.

I talked to Dad until I arrived at the hospital and the nice lady in the front showed me to Mike's room. The guy that brought Mike in took off as soon as I got there and we hunkered in. We just didn't know we'd be hunkering in for as long as we did.

At the three hour point, we'd only been seen by a nurse twice and not a single time by a doctor. I went out and complained. This brings in a nurse who says, "so I hear that you're thinking of leaving." We really weren't but I did pull that card out of my back pocket. She and I get into a scuffle while Mike just sank deeper and deeper into the bed. I'm quite sure he was thinking, "just shut up. Just shut up." Unfortunately, I went into Mama Bear mode and there was no turning me off until I was done.

She tried to tell me that there were 5 more important cases that came in...I told her that, to me, there was nothing more important than the case in that room. I told her that I understood there were other people in there but it takes nothing for a nurse to poke her head in and just ask how we're doing. Two visits in 3 hours is unacceptable. I ended my rampage with a few surprise tears. I hadn't been expecting those. They added a nice touch because the nurse went from all pissed off to very apologetic. Wow...Mom would have been so proud. Fortunately for the nursing staff, I had to leave to pick up the kids. I had intended on coming back but Mike told me to stay at home with the kids (amazingly, a lot of times I had called, there was now a doctor or nurse in the room) because he had to have some more tests done and he didn't want the kids going out of their minds.

We get home and realize I have forgotten to put Alice in her crate. The one time I forgot. Ugh. Daniel says, "Mom, there's something wrong with Alice's eye." I take a look at her and her right eye is almost completely swollen shut. Seriously? I call the vet and they tell me to come right in.

I pull up to the vet's office only to discover that I'd forgotten my purse at home. We pull out and Alice begins throwing up all over my van. This is just getting better and better.

Back at home, I grab my purse, a towel and Oriana's leash (Alice's is now gross) and we head back to the vet.

When we get there, I explain that I don't know if she's gotten into a fight with one of our other animals or if she's just gotten into something. The vet tech comes around to take her back so they can test her eye for abrasions when we both notice the huge red splotches on her tummy. Fanfreakingtastic. After the abrasion test, they take us back and the vet says that her eyes and ears look good so we're looking at some sort of allergic reaction. They give her a shot of Benadryl and a shot of steroid and tell me to take her home and give her a bath. He also tells me to give her a children's Benadryl every 8 hours for the next 3 days and to give him a call on his cell at 7 tonight to let him know how she's doing. He gives me the receipt with his cell number on it and sends us on our way.

Back at home, I give Mike a call to see how he's doing (it's now 5pm) and he said he was still waiting on test results. About this time, Scott (one of Mike's employees who is also a friend of ours) calls to see what's up. I tell him that I'd been sent home (probably for bad behavior LOL!) so he says he'll head over there on his way home and give me a call. The two of them decide that Mike will catch a ride home with Scott (Mike wasn't in a condition to drive) so that I didn't have to hike up there. Nice.

Mike gets home a little after 6pm and tells me he has Mastoiditis, which is "an infection of air cavities within the bone behind the ear, called the mastoid It starts when germs from an ear infection move into mastoid air cells. Mastoiditis is much harder to treat and much more serious than ear infection." No wonder he'd been so freaking dizzy. They gave him a prescription for Cipro and a referral to an ENT. He'd better make that ENT appointment.

I called the vet a little after 7 and he thanks me for the call because he'd be worrying about her all night. Too cute. I love our vet.

We still don't know what she got into that caused the insane allergic reaction. Nothing was out of the ordinary (aside from a chewed up cardboard box) so we'll probably never know.

I'm so tired and the tension in my back is unbelievable. I've got some Peeps, some carmel cone Haagen-Dazs and a glass of wine. Hopefully, that'll help.