It's Friday Already?

Of course, this feels like the longest week ever, too. Go figure.

The kids all had colds this week. Hannah came home from school on Monday with a fever, which meant she couldn't go to school on Tuesday. Even though she was fine. Jacob woke up Wednesday morning and I knew, just by looking at him, that he wasn't going to school. I knew Daniel had developed a cough and when I asked him how he was feeling, he told me, "I'm over all that 'sick' stuff. I'm going to school." Okay then. Wednesday afternoon, I started feeling sick.

Thursday, I felt like I'd been run over by a truck but all of the kids went to school (yay!). However, it was Native American Day in the first grade and I had volunteered to help. *Sigh* Hannah knew I was coming and I felt bad about telling her that I wasn't. So, I heavily medicated myself and headed up to the school.

I was stationed in the "rainstick room," which was good because I could sit the whole time. However, helping 65 kids create rainsticks was more than I was ready for. I was completely exhausted by the time we were done. I so wanted to come home and curl up in bed but since I didn't get home until after 2, that was out. However, I did get a short nap between pickup and tae kwon do, which was nice.

Today, I'm still not feeling well. Hannah has a Daisy Girl Scout field trip to the marble factory (yes, there's a marble factory out here!) after school but I don't have to do anything but pick her up later. Jacob's "camping" with one of the Boy Scout Troops he's been looking at joining tonight. Mike's going with him. I guess they're going indoor rock climbing and they're just going to camp at the place. Many of his friends are going, too, so that should be fun. This is also the last requirement for his Arrow of Light Award (the highest award a Cub Scout can earn...like the Eagle for Boy Scouts) and the only Cub Scout award that can be worn on the Boy Scout uniform. I really wish Jacob would just pick a troop already. I'm tired of the phone calls from the different troops. He's pretty sure he's going to go with the Jewish troop (mostly because several of his friends really liked it, too, and are probably going to join as well) but he's not sure. Girl Scouts is so much easier.

Sick

Ugh. We've caught something. I don't think it's the flu but it's definitely something. I suddenly felt sick yesterday and managed to get to bed at 9 (absolutely unusual for me) and knew that Jacob was starting to slide last night. Hannah complained of a sore throat before she went to bed last night so I wasn't hopeful for her either.

Jacob wasn't up when I got up this morning, which is completely out of character for him. He's usually up around 6:30 on school days so he can watch cartoons without being bugged by Daniel and Hannah. When I went in to wake him, I could tell he was sick. I immediately knew he was staying home. I went in and woke Daniel and then Hannah. She was also not looking so well, so she's home too.

Both have been just hanging out on the couches this morning...I think Jacob finally fell asleep. I'd like to try to take a nap as well but don't know if I'm going to get the opportunity.

Fortunately, neither have fevers so if they're feeling better tomorrow, they can go back to school and there's no school on Thursday or Friday so that should help.

I just hope no one else gets this!

Same Story...Different Day

Jacob was feeling better when he went to bed last night. He was even able to eat a little, which was comforting to me. I was hoping he would be feeling better today since I had a MOPS meeting that I really didn't want to miss. (And because it sucks when they're sick!)

I got up a little earlier this morning since I knew I'd have to shower before taking the kids to school. Jacob woke up and told me that he felt well enough to go to school so I got my clothes together and headed for the shower.

I then woke Daniel and Hannah up for the school day. I fixed everyone breakfast and was getting things together for the day. I had stopped by the computer to check my Facebook for the morning when Daniel came walking in with a picture that he wanted to give to one of his teachers. I looked up to respond and noticed he had goo around his right eye. Upon closer inspection, I noticed his eye was bright red. Ugh. So much for MOPS this morning.

I called the school to let them know and Mrs. R, the secretary, told me that there are several adults with pink eye. Hannah and Daniel were the only kids that she knew of that had it. I then called Lynne, my table leader last year and a Steering member this year, to let her know that I wasn't going to be there and that she would have to be in charge of the table this morning. She then drops a bombshell on me. She and her family are moving at the end of the school year. What?!? Her husband's being transferred to Alabama (he's in the Army) and he'll be leaving soon but the rest of the family will hang until May. That makes me sad. Not only because she's a good friend of mine but because Hannah and her son, Andrew, are such good friends.

I got off of the phone and Hannah asked me what was wrong. I told her that my friend was going to be moving away and she gave me the biggest hug. It was so sweet.

So, I get Jacob and Hannah to school and Daniel and I head home. At 9AM, the phone rings. It's the school nurse. Jacob's complaining of a stomach ache and I need to come get him. Fine. Daniel and I pack it up and head to the school to get Jacob.

And that's where we are now. I was actually looking forward to spending time with just Daniel today...since he's not really sick and hasn't been home just him in years. Oh well. At least I have one that's happily in school! *knocking on wood*

For Crying Out Loud

Well, it's Thursday and Hannah's home...again. Her left eye was still a little gooey this morning but her right eye was sealed shut. It took a few minutes just to unglue it. My hands are red and cracked from so much hand washing and I've been trying to sanitize everything she might have touched. Unfortunately, I'll have to keep doing it until her eye stops gunking up. Ugh. Have I mentioned that I hate pink eye?

Last night was our weekly Reflex class for jiu jitsu. Reflex class is where you take the techniques we've learned and put them into action. Essentially, it's over an hour of fighting. Last night was the biggest class that I've ever seen. Since there are certain requirements that have to be met before you can go, not everyone is eligible to attend Reflex class. Anyway, there were 10 of us (4 girls, 6 boys) and they really pushed us past our comfort zones. Val is my usual partner, and I did roll with her but I also had to go up against Karl, Greg, John and Dave. What's funny is, occasionally I was the bad guy for some of these guys. LOL!!! My arms are so bruised today. But it was worth it! :)

Bloobedy Blah ('Cause I Can't Think of a Title)

The kids had a four day weekend and were finally headed back to school today. Before Dad gets all mad about the days off, Monday was President's Day (we don't get Lincoln's b-day like in IL) and yesterday was a teacher's in-service. Anyway, we'd noticed last night that Hannah's eye was a little gooey and I was crossing my fingers that it wasn't pink eye. This morning, she woke up with a big gooey, crusty eye and I knew she had it. Ugh. I hate pink eye. So, instead of all of them being back at school, Hannah had a sick day and we packed it up for the Walgreen's clinic to get drops. It's already looking much better.

Last night, Daniel's Wolf den came over to make macaroni art. We copied Deb's Wise Guys but morphed them into presidents. We've got an Obama, Jefferson, Teddy Roosevelt, Lincoln and Washington and I did Ford as an example (he was the only Eagle Scout). They look awesome!!! Here's the one I did.


Jacob got his High Brown belt in TKD last night (Mike got his Saturday). Now, we start preparing for Recommended Black. Jacob wants to test in December, which I'm told is a good goal. Mike would like to test sooner. It's a lot of work.

*All forms from White to Recommended Black (with only 3 mistakes allowed, total, from white to high brown...that's 10 forms plus Recommended Black)
*10 3-steps
*Board Breaking (hand and foot)
*500 Acts of Kindness
*50 hours community service
*Make up with an enemy
*Written test on a variety of Korean words and phrases

It's all cold and dreary here...I wish the sun would come out.

It's a Monday

It's been a long and busy week here.

Friday morning, I got up and came downstairs to find that the kids were already up. That's always nice. Jacob tells me that he thinks there's something wrong with Daisy, so I go over to her cage. I see that she's got some goo coming out of her eye and she just looks sad. I pick her up to check her out and she just looks at me. She inhales deeply and dies. WHAT????? We think that she got bunny bloat or an intestinal blockage but this is really starting to piss me off. Bumper lived for years. And why do they have to die in my arms??? The boys were okay with it. Hannah cried for about 5 minutes and then began asking when we were getting another one. This will be the last bunny for a while.

I was pretty sad about it (not nearly as sad as with Ruby but that seemed to drag on forever and I think I was much more attached to Ruby) and Mike said he was happy that I had plans to go out with Val that morning so it would keep my mind off of it. So, Val and I go get our pedicures and as soon as I opened the door to the house, I heard the phone ringing. It was the school nurse telling me that Hannah'd had an asthma attack and that she gave her some of her inhaler but she felt Hannah really needed her nebulizer. So, I head off to school to pick up Hannah. I know that a good part of that was that Hannah had been without her Singulair for a couple of days because I couldn't get the pediatrician and Walgreen's to talk to each other. Each wanted me to have the other fax them something. Ugh. Both said they would but neither did. After picking up Hannah, I called the pediatrician and told them that they had to do something because Hannah's asthma was beginning to act up and she needed that medicine. The nurse told me that she would take care of it. I was thrilled when Walgreen's called and said that her refill was ready.

Saturday, I woke up feeling awful. It lasted all of Saturday and most of Sunday. I'm feeling better now but I still have a cough. I'm tired of getting this same cold over and over again.

Saturday afternoon, I began getting e-mails from every old Minee Subee co-worker in my address book. Apparently, one of the teacher's aides at the school in Lincolnshire got frustrated with a 16 month old and slammed him to the ground. With enough force that it was like he had fallen off a 2 story building. The baby died and she's been charged with 2 counts of first-degree murder. It's incredibly tragic. I just keep thinking that Jacob was in that room once-upon-a-time. So sad.

Today, the kids are all sick. Thank goodness for MLK day because I'm sure I would have kept them all home. In fact, Daniel's currently sleeping on the couch. I hope Hannah's okay for her Daisy's meeting this afternoon!

Anyway, that's about it from here for now. Sorry if it felt that I've dropped off of the face of the earth.

Look At Me!!! I'm Posting for the Third Day in a Row!!!

The only thing I hate about this time of year is that it really flares up Hannah's asthma. I have to admit, though, that it's much better this year than it has been in years past. We haven't had to make an ER run, which is awesome. I did take her in to the pediatrician yesterday because she's been coughing a lot and I can't get it under control with just the nebulizer or the inhaler.

Poor Hannah's a walking steroid right now. Between the Orapred (for just a couple of days), Flovent (until the end of November) and Albuterol (and her nightly Singulair), it's been hard to keep track of what she's taking. I had to make a big chart and put it on the fridge.

The school nurse was thrilled when I told her the spacer and inhaler that I sent with Hannah could stay at school because I made sure to have doubles. I guess there aren't many people that do that and she said that it's hard to remember to always send the meds back home.

She's already sounding so much better. I'd just like for her to be able to get a good night's sleep! We go back for a recheck in two weeks. She'll also get her flu shot then. She's not at all happy about that.

Jacob's Diagnosis

I really thought that the pediatrician would tell me that Jacob had a cold and that it would work itself out. Nope. He's got strep...again. That makes four times this year. I wonder what the threshold is for getting tonsils out nowadays. He was happy, though, because it meant that he couldn't go to baseball tonight. So, his baseball career seems to be over. It's a shame that he's ended it with such a hatred of the sport. Oh well. I have a funny feeling we may be doing this all over again next year.

I Feel Like We've Been Through This Before

UPDATE: Jacob's strep test came back clear and he seems to be okay. Yay! Hannah also does not have strep but does have an ear infection (she's been saying that her ear hurts since yesterday). She's also to have nebulizer treatments every 4 hours to make sure her lungs stay clear.

-------------------
Actually, I feel like we've been through this twice before.

I got a call from the school nurse this morning asking me to come pick up Jacob because he's not feeling well. Oh, and there are two confirmed cases of strep in his class. Nice. Hannah started complaining of a sore throat and sore ear this morning, so we're going to head into the doctor's office this afternoon. If Jacob does have strep, this will be the third time this year. If Hannah has it, that'll be twice for her.

I can't wait for summer.

I Hate Days Like This

Hannah caught the cold I had last week. She was up a good deal of the night coughing. Twice, she threw up from coughing so hard. I gave her some cough medicine this morning, which she promptly threw up all over the kitchen floor. Poor baby...she's been hanging out on the couch all day and has managed to take two short naps. I just wish she could get a good nap in. She keeps waking herself up.

I'm all messed up because it's Bring a Friend to TKD night and that's messed up the schedule a bit. Class starts at 6:00 instead of 5:30 and I don't know why that screws me up so much. Needless to say, Hannah will not be participating in class tonight.

To top it off, there's a chance for some severe weather this afternoon/evening. Since last night, we've gotten almost another inch of rain with more heading our way. Looking at the radar, it seems that our little storm is heading straight for Dad, Deb and even Sue. Although, it's not quite as little as it was when we got hit with it. Sorry about that! If the temps here rise much more (we're in the low 60's), it could spark some severe thunderstorms. The wind's picked up quite a bit in the past half hour and the clouds are just screaming by. I guess I should be happy that we don't live much further west and north...they're getting slammed with snow. Don't know if I could deal with that. I just hope it hits after I've picked the boys up from school.

Roundup and Other Thoughts...*Updated* (at the bottom)

I just found out that one of my new favorite series...Life...has been picked up for a second season. They won't shoot any new episodes for this season, but just knowing that it hasn't been cancelled is awesome!

*********
I woke up this morning to the sound of sleet hitting the window. I turned on the TV and our local NBC was running their version of the Today Show instead of the national one...that's never good since they usually only do that when it's really bad outside. Tons of schools are scrolling across the bottom, but not ours. I get the boys up and Jacob's crying that he doesn't feel well. I can't tell if it's that he just doesn't want to go to school or if he's really sick. I send him to school, telling him that I'll be there until 10:30 and if he still feels sick, I'll take him home then. He reluctantly agrees and I drop him and Daniel off at school.

The roads were terrible. Not just the side streets, but the main streets as well. If we ever really needed a snow day, today should really have been one but that's okay (we probably have over an inch of graupel on the ground on top of a layer of ice). Sleet is the most bizarre thing...it's just pouring out of the sky, even now. And, it's so darn cold out there. I'm so ready for winter to be over. Bring on Spring!

Anyway, we head to kindergarten roundup and Hannah's excited because she knows most of the teachers/paras that were there. Mrs. L (the reading para that worked with Daniel last year) walks Hannah into the library while I head down to the cafeteria.

Mrs. R, the principal's secretary, greets me there and tells me that this should be old hat by now. I laugh and begin filling out some paperwork. Katie from down the street comes in and sits by me, as well as Lynne, who's my MOPS table leader. Early on, Mrs. P (the school's wonderful counselor) comes in and reads some poem that sends me into tears. Lynne makes kind of a big deal about it and gives me a hug. Apparently, I'm the only one crying because all eyes are on me, which makes me laugh. At the end, I walk up to get Hannah's birth certificate and Melissa comes over to tell me that she's glad she wasn't the only one that cried. Since most eyes were on me and I was busy being embarassed, I didn't even notice that she was crying as well. Her kids are the exact same age as mine...Nicole's in Jacob's class, Michael is in Daniel's class and Katie goes to the same preschool as Hannah, so we've become friends.

I go up to get Hannah when I'm stopped by the speech therapist (probably the only support person in the school I haven't met). She tells me that she thinks Hannah needs to be screened and if we do it now (through the district), she'll be able to start working with Hannah from the first day of school. If we wait, then it'll be between 8-12 weeks from the first day of school before they can give support. I ask her if she can voice mail me the information on how to get her screened (because she really does need speech therapy, in my opinion) I get Hannah and ask her how roundup was for her. She tells me that she's set up about 5 playdates with her best friends (she has about 15 best friends) and that I need to call their moms. LOL. She's such a social butterfly.

I go into the office to see if Jacob's with the nurse. I don't see him, but I do see Mrs. H, the nurse. I ask her if she's seen Jacob today...she says no. Mrs. P comes around the corner and tells me that she saw Jacob this morning and he could hardly pick his head up off of his desk. Mrs. H says that she'll go get him if I want her to and I tell her to go ahead. I sign him out and suddenly, there's Jacob. Mrs. H tells me that he was already walking up to the office as she was walking back. Good timing. So, I have a doctor's appointment for him at 1:30 because there's so much going around here and I'm not going to wait to see if it gets worse. He's hardly gotten up off of the couch and has told me that he's dizzy when he does. Hopefully, it's nothing too bad.

*****Update...Just got back from the doctor...Jacob has strep again. His pediatrician told me that he's the first positive case she's had all week. At least it's not the flu. So, we'll be picking up antibiotics after picking up Daniel and Jacob gets another day off of school. He's not happy about that since he has Jump Rope for Heart and Chat 'n' Chew (book club) tomorrow. Maybe he'll get lucky and it'll be a snow day.

Quite The Week

Between all of the birthdays (Happy belated birthday to Donna and Happy 16th Birthday today to my niece Megan!), federal holidays, trips, anniversaries and just general goings-on this week, I did not need a sick child. I got a call from the school nurse yesterday telling me that Jacob had an earache. I picked him up early (but not as early as I would have liked since he desperately wanted to shop the book fair at school) but didn't take him to the doctor like I probably should have. I figured that I'd wait and see how he was feeling today.

When I got up this morning, he was already up and camped out on the couch. Apparently, he'd been up for several hours (like around 5am) but didn't want to wake anyone. He looked terrible. I decided to keep him home and made an appointment for him after Hannah's gymnastics class.

We get to the doctor and all he wants to do is lay on the exam table. The doctor comes in and tells me that his ear looks really bad and that it's normal if we see any blood or puss leaking out of his ear ("just wipe it away," she tells me). What the heck? She goes on to tell me that it looks like Jacob's eardrum burst sometime last night...he tells her that he did feel stuff coming out of his ear and onto his shirt in the middle of the night, he thought it was normal. Seriously? You thought that crap pouring out of your ear is normal? Anyway, she said that it would help with the healing and the pressure and that he should be good in a couple of days. Aack!

He's currently napping on the couch...that's a good thing since I don't think he got much sleep last night. Poor kid.

Back In The Swing

It's been almost a week since my last post. Two weeks off has really messed things up for me. Getting back into the groove has been difficult, but we're managing. It doesn't help that Hannah's gymnastics times have changed. That really threw me off on Monday. The good news is that the boys have been so tired at the end of the day that they go down pretty easily.

We've been in full-on pinewood derby mode here. We spent the weekend sanding and painting the cars for the derby. We're getting close to being done...just have to figure out how to put those stupid weights on in such a way that it doesn't hinder the car's ability to go fast. The boys are having a great time making them. They usually come home from school and ask if they can do something with them. Jacob has even designated a display space in his room for after they're done. It should be interesting to see if we can pull this thing off! :)

I've got the beginnings of a cold coming on. Ugh. At TKD last night, I just started coughing uncontrollably. I hate that. Now, my nose is all runny and stuffy at the same time. I wouldn't mind it so much if it weren't making me cough. I guess it's time to up the fluids.

Hannah's latest thing is to take what the boys said they did at school (or at home for that matter) and apply it to herself. She's been telling me that her preschool's TV came and interviewed her and she told them how to cook a turkey. Jacob's favorite thing to do is the monkey bars at recess...she told me that she was doing the monkey bars at her school (they don't have monkey bars on her playground). She also told me that they are making toy cars at preschool (they're not). Jacob's getting pretty annoyed with it. I think it's funny. She's also not happy with me right now because I won't let her eat all day. She'd snack her way through the day if I let her. She decided to eat two bites of her breakfast and was "starving" by 9:15. I gave her a snack at 9:30 and told her that was it until lunch. She's been begging for lunch since 9:45. Sorry...you get lunch when it's lunchtime and not before.

This, That and The Other

One nice thing about Kansas is the beautiful sunsets. They've looked just like this the past few nights...
Apparently, the fuzzy stuff in the sky (not the defined clouds) is snow that's aloft and not reaching the ground. Very interesting.

Hannah's finally starting to feel better. I took her back to the doctor yesterday morning because she was just off. I couldn't put my finger on what it was, but I knew that it was something. After being told that I was overreacting by the nurse, the doctor told me that something was, indeed, going on. Her strep symptoms were clearing up nicely but her asthma was still a problem. Oh! And now she has croup. They gave her a nebulizer treatment there in the office and sent me home with a prescription for Orapred. I hate giving her that stuff but it made such an improvement to her demeanor. We still skipped gymnastics today and I think that the break's doing her good. I may let her do TKD this evening but we'll have to see.

The weather here's been very strange. We're supposed to be near 60 tomorrow and then a big snowstorm hits on Saturday. Weird. They're saying that travel on Sunday should be okay...I guess we'll have to wait and see.

And Then There Were Two...

Hannah started running a fever yesterday. As long as she had Motrin in her system, she was all good. This morning, she looked like the living dead. I decided that she should not go to gymnastics or preschool and that a visit to the doctor may be in order.

I set up an appointment for her at 9:45 and, wouldn't you know, my phone rings at 9:15 and it's Betsey...the other room mom. What should have been a 5 minute phone call about the party on Friday turned into a 20 minute conversation about how hectic her schedule's been. Betsey also reminds me that I signed up to bring 2 dozen cookies to school tomorrow. AAAAAAAccccccccckkkkkkkk!!!!!! She was impossible to get off the phone! I told her 3 times that I needed to go so that I could take Hannah to the doctor...I almost had to hang up on her. Thank goodness she didn't have my cell phone number or I'm sure she would have called that and talked to me all the way there.

Anyway, we arrived 5 minutes late to her appointment. After finding out that Jacob had strep last week, they immediately do the swab test. After a few minutes, the doctor comes in and says that her test came back positive. Ugh. However, she looks more like she has the flu than strep (her thought was Hannah had flu on top of strep). She orders a flu test. They swab her nose and the nurse takes off. Another few minutes go by and the doctor comes in again. Flu test is negative (which is awesome news...not just for Hannah, who probably would have ended up in the hospital, but for the rest of us as well) so it's the strep that's causing her problems...and aggravating her asthma. We walk out with a prescription for amoxicillin and one for albuterol.

She's definitely a lot sicker than Jacob was (I think I caught his earlier) and it makes me feel terrible for her. I hate it when the kids are sick.

Anyway, I call her preschool to let them know she won't be there and that she does have strep. She was supposed to bring sprinkles for the cookie decorating party they were having this afternoon and I told them that I would try to send them in with Gwen (two doors down). At 11:45, I walk down and knock on their door. Little Gwen opens the door and just smiles at me. I hear Katie (her mom) yell from another room, "are those the sprinkles I've been waiting for?" I said, "how did you know I had sprinkles for you?" Katie says, "I called the school to see if they needed anything else for the cookies and they told me to expect sprinkles from you." LOL! Then, at about 3pm, there's a little knock at the door. I look out and there's Gwen. I open it and she tells me that she's bringing back the leftover sprinkles (that was nice and unexpected) and that Mrs. M wanted Hannah to be able to decorate cookies too, so she sent home 3 cookies and a cup full of frosting. I just thought that was so sweet and it made Hannah's day.

I finally get in touch with Mike later in the afternoon and he tells me that he went to the clinic at work because he hadn't been feeling well either. He now is on an antibiotic as well. That just leaves me and Daniel. I tell you what...if that boy starts coughing or has even a minor sore throat, he'll be in the doctor's office in a heartbeat.

MRSA and Me

If you haven't heard about MRSA, you need to get out of the cave you're in and join us in the world of the living. LOL! Seriously, it's that antibiotic resistant staph infection that is freaking everyone out right now (myself included). Locally, the people who've had it (or have known someone who has) say that it begins with something that looks like a spider bite and then just takes over.

Anyway, Saturday morning, I woke up with what looked like a spider bite on my tummy. Great. Somehow I've contracted MRSA. I start searching the internet for stuff when I realize that I'm over reacting. Being a person that loves to cook and eat what I cook...and what others cook, I'm not the picture of thinness. I've got some tummy blubber. Okay...a lot of tummy blubber...but I digress. My jeans like to hide out in the space where my waist should be. And, because of the colder weather, my skin's pretty dry. Well, apparently, the waistband (specifically, one of the belt loops) of my jeans decided to rub up against one part of my waist to the point that there was a mark.

Even though there is an explanation for the mark, I've still got it in my mind that I'm going to die. Dad tells me that if I do, indeed, die, he'll make sure my headstone reads, "see, I told you I had antibiotic resistant staph!"

I put some Neosporin and a Band-Aid on it and go about my day.

I forgot that this time of year, because my skin is so dry, I have a hard time with Band-Aids. Once I realized that I was getting a reaction to the Band-Aid, I took it off and left it off. Sunday morning, the initial mark is a lot better but one of the spots that had a Band-Aid on it is all red and puffy. Nice.

Yesterday, I took a look at it and noticed that my first injury is looking pretty good and is almost gone. The Band-Aid mark is now itchy and still a little swollen. Great. And, of course, I keep thinking that maybe I do have MRSA.

I tried one of those "advanced" Band-Aids that are meant to totally enclose the injury...another lesson learned. Those do the exact same thing as regular Band-Aids. So, now I have two Band-Aid marks on my tummy. What's funny is they are shaped just like the sticky part of the Band-Aid. The good news is that I now have a good excuse to wear my sweat pants all day.

Blah...Just Blah

After a miserable weekend, I'm still not feeling well. I am pumped full of medications (amoxicillin, Mucinex and Claritin) but it's just knocking it down a notch. I would have expected to feel a lot better by now but it's just not happening. I absolutely hate being sick. Luckily, Hannah is doing better. I guess being pumped full of prednisone, Xopenex and Singluair will do that to you. She's breathing and acting normally, so that's a good thing. Only 3 more days of the prednisone and then we're done and we can also go to the Xopenex on an as needed basis.

There was a mom at gymnastics this morning who was talking about how her daughter has to have breathing treatments but she's fed up with how wired they make her daughter so she's not giving them to her anymore. How stupid. Her other complaint was how long it takes to give the treatments. Get over it. Yes, they take forever, but if your child is having a hard time breathing, you do what you have to do to make them more comfortable. I got so annoyed listening to this woman go on and on about how inconvenient it is for her that I had to walk away. So obnoxious.

Not Really My Idea of a Fun Saturday

Hannah's had a bit of allergies...or a cold...for the past couple of days but it hasn't been anything that we've really worried about. This morning, we woke up to Hannah screaming that she couldn't breathe. I gave her a nebulizer treatment and we hung out for a little bit but I just couldn't get it under control, so we went off to the ER.

We get there and they immediately take her into triage. A quick work up and they tell me that it will just be a minute...she's sorry but can I take Hannah out to the waiting room? Okay. We're out there just long enough to watch as a very pregnant lady walks in with her overloaded husband (pillows, blankets, suitcase, cameras, etc). She looked nervous, he looked downright terrified. At that point, we were called back.

They put one of those glowy things on Hannah's thumb and the monitor immediately lights up. The alarm goes off because she's under 90% for her oxygen level. The nurse quickly turns the sound down so that I don't freak out every time it goes off. They also gave her a purple gown, which she loved. The respiratory therapist comes in and sets her up for a treatment. The doctor comes in and assesses Hannah (her blood oxygen levels were low and she's very wheezy) and says that we'll have to see how she does with a couple of doses of albuterol and tells the respiratory therapist that she'll need another treatment in 20 minutes. He then asks when the last time she had prednisone was (November). Then she needs some.

A few minutes later, the nurse comes in with the prednisone and she tries (unsuccessfully) to tell her that it tastes like grape juice. She took it anyway.

Long story short...after a dose of prednisone and 4 breathing treatments, she was borderline. After having Hannah run around the room a couple of times to determine her lowest oxygen level, he cautiously agreed to let her go home (but if there's any wheezing stronger than when we left, we need to bring her back in to be admitted).

Hannah couldn't wait to get out of the hospital...she hardly waited to get dressed before making her way out of the room. When we got home, the boys greeted her with this card.

I thought it was sweet. Anyway, so far, so good. I'm hoping that we don't have to make that second ER run today.

Sicky McSickmeister

I've been feeling pretty wonky this week. It started Monday and has gotten progressively worse as the week has continued. I learned my lesson from last fall's sinus infection that I let go for too long and hauled my behind into the doctor this afternoon. Actually, it wasn't exactly the doctor, but the nurse practitioner at the Walgreen's Clinic.

I arrived around 12:20 (after dropping Hannah off at preschool) and there was no wait. They immediately called me in and she started looking me over. She gets to my nose and immediately says that my nose is desperately sick. She types up a prescription and tells me to also pick up some Mucinex-D from the pharmacist and I'll be good to go. I walk out and over to the pharmacy section. They tell me 15 minutes (it was more like 5). I walked out of Walgreen's with a diagnosis and prescription in hand at 12:50. Too sweet.

I tell you what, that Mucinex is some awesome stuff. I came home to take a short nap and I could just hear the popping in my nose as it began to open up. Gross? Yes. But it feels so much better. So, I guess that sinus infections are my new fall thing. That sucks.