Weekend Woes

So, my weekend basically sucked. How was yours?

Friday night was good - the BIL (brother in law) came over for pizza and some hanging out. It was nice to see him - he is so busy all the time that we hardly ever get to hang out.

Saturday was kinda lazy - slept in, played outside, relaxed, etc. Before I knew it, it was like 8 pm and I was still gross from being outside and had compltely missed meeting my salon friends at the bar to celebrate Allison's 21st bday - whoops! I owe her a drink!

Sunday. Sucked.

Owen didn't sleep well at all Saturday night and we knew he was sick because he has breathing really heavy and had a bit of a temp. So, Andrew stayed home with him when I went to church and grocery shopping. On my way to the store, I got a call from my dad saying that they were going to put our cat, Tess to sleep. She has been sick for awhile with diabetes and they had to take her to the emergency vet office Saturday because she wasn't eating or drinking. Turns out her liver was enlarged and her blood sugar was in the 500's. Not good. So rather than put her through more pain, they just had to her put down. I know it seems silly, but as I sit here writing I'm almost in tears thinking about it. I mean, the poor baby. She was our first cat. My mom didn't like cats until we got Tess and since then, between the 5 of us, we've had 7 cats. She was such a sweetie and absolutely adored my mom. My mom is of course a wreck having lost her kitty. RIP Tessy-Woo. We love you. Give Buffy and Annie our love.

Got home around noon, gave Owen lunch and laid him down for a nap. He only slept for like an hour and then he was up and completely inconsolable. He would not stop fussing and didn't want to be held, didn't want to eat, didn't want to lay down, etc. So we called the pediatrican and my dad (next best thing!) who both told us to go to urgent care. So, we packed up and off we went.

Sat in the waiting room for 2 hours. Right before we got in, Owen's fever spiked again so we gave him some tylenol. They finally called us back where we got to meet THE NURSE. Oh dear, THE NURSE. First, let me tell you that when we took Owen's temp at home it was only 98.8 degrees. Let me also tell you that he had just gotten sick that morning. He had a bit of a runny nose the day before but nothing to worry about. Moving on.

We proceed in to the examining room where THE NURSE collects all of our information and looks at Owen with a curious eye. It was a "there is something wrong with you" look. Well, no crap. He doesn't feel well. Thanks. We tell her about the slight fever, the cough, the tugging of the ear, the fussiness, etc. She needs to get a temp and of course wants to do it rectally. We strip him down and as she's taking it she goes "oh mom.....yeah, it's up to 103." WAIT - BACK UP!! WHAT?? First, 103?? Our thermometer at home said 98. She tells us not to use the kind we have and that we need to just take it rectally because of his history with having a febrile seizure. Second, "OH MOM??" whats that all about?? Oh mom my butt - dad is sitting all of 2 feet away! How come she didn't say "oh dad" like its somehow my fault that my poor child is in pain and suffering! It's all my fault that our thermometer sucks. It's all my fault that it got up to 103. Thanks alot lady. My therapist and I will have a whole nother topic to discuss this week - mom guilt and why I suck at being a mom. Awesome.

Next, THE NURSE counts his breaths and says he is up to 80 per minute. Woah. Crazy. Scary. She then says (to me of course because dad must be invisible) "anytime his breathing is over 60 in a minute you want to call you pedatrician right away" to which I reply "yeah we did, he said to come here."

"Oh."

THE NURSE then freaks me out because she is acting all hyper-worried and says "we need to move him to a closer room - I don't like having him all the way back here" Great. Freak me out. what's going to happen to him??? By this time, I'm feeling like a complete failure in the mom department and am worried out of my mind about my little guy. Maybe things would have been better if YOUR DANG OFFICE DIDN'T MAKE US WAIT 2 FREAKING HOURS!!!!!!!!!! *sigh*

We get moved to a new room where they hook this little thing up to his toe that measures his heart rate and oxygen level. Heart is beating like crazy of course because of the fever (170-180 beats per minute) but his oxygen is good. Of course, he hates this thing on his toe and is throwing a complete fit because he wants it gone.

THE NURSE rushes in with a dose of ibuprofen (knowing we just gave him tylenol) and says that the doctor wants him to have both right now to really work on getting that fever down. We're also trying to get him to drink apple juice or eat a popsicle. Apple juice = good. Popsicle = "stop trying to shove that thing at me mom! I don't want it!"

So we sit and snuggle for awhile until the Dr comes in. She is not as hyper as THE NURSE. Thank God. She says his left ear is infected and his chest is tight so we need to do a breathing treatment.

Flashback to last month. Breathing treatment at his pediatrican's office. 4 grown adults. 1 toddler. Lots of screaming, kicking, name calling, etc. And I'm not referring to the toddler here. *sigh*

So THE NURSE comes in with the breathing thing. I get up on the table and put Owen in my lap. Andrew attempts to hold his hands down. THE NURSE holds the mask over his nose and mouth. Craziness ensues. Screaming, kicking, crying, trashing. Someone passing by probably thought we were killing the kid. My word.

The Dr. also wants a chest xray. So, off we go to radiology. He screams through that too, of course.

THE NURSE comes back in, checks temp. It's still high. *sigh*

Dr. comes back in - says the xray looks okay so they are going to give him amoxicillian for his ear and send him home with an inhaler for the chest.

THE NURSE comes back in with inhaler, proceeds to talk to us like we are 5 years old describing how to use the thing.

Dr. comes back in - negates her first statement about xray. Tells us the chief radiologist looked at it and there is a little something in his left lung. Could be a bit of collape (WHAT???) or a bit of pneumonia. Oh, but don't worry -the amoxicillan will help. Thanks Doc.

THE NURSE then continues to insult our intelligence by treating us like we're 5. She tells us that we really need to stay on top of this because he's on the downward spiral and we really need to follow up with his pediatrican in 24-48 hours. Thanks nurse. We aren't bad parents - this freaking started this morning (i really don't think she believed us!).

THE NURSE also warns us that if Owen gets 1 more lung infection, it would be considered "Reactive Airway Disease." WHAT??? What is this?? OMG - a disease?? How did he get it? What is it? What will it do to him? Oh my....

People. It's asthma. ASTHMA. It was written on the paper they sent home with us. Are you serious? Couldn't THE NURSE just have said "asthma" instead of freaking me out like that? I swear! Did she miss the class in nursing school on how to keep parents calm and maintain a good bedside manner? She either missed it or she failed miserably.

Finally, we leave. Almost 5 hours later. Oh and it's Sunday night - all of the pharmacies are closed. Awesome. And we haven't eaten since lunch. We're all starving. Owen get's a cheeseburger happy meal from McDonalds. Mom and Dad get chinese. Shovel food in. Owen's off to bed, dad is off to find a 24 hour drug store. Mom wants to collapse. Dad find's said drug store about 30 minutes away near West Chester.

Side note here - do you remember the yummy pink medicine that we used to take as kids when we got ear infections??? Well, Andrew and I have been wondering where that has been since Owen hasn't gotten any yet. Turns out, it still exists. You just have to ask the pharmacist to flavor the amoxicillan cherry. For $2.99. WHAT?? I have to pay extra now for the yummy pink stuff, otherwise I get this disgusting white crap that my son refuses to take?? Whatever. Charge it.

While Andrew was tackling the great "Operation Antibiotics" I proceed to pass out on the couch. My inlaws got here about 10 - thank goodness for them. They are staying here until Tuesday to help us with the little guy since he can't go to daycare yet.

We give Owen the antibiotics and some more tylenol and off to bed we go. For 3 hours. At that point we had to get up to give him ibuprofen. Back to bed for 1 hour. Up to do breathing treatment. Off to bed for 3 hours. Tylenol. 1 hour, breathing treatment. See the pattern? Needless to say, I'm tired.

So I apologize if non of this post makes sense, it is 10:30 pm. I'm exhausted. And I'm trying to kill a few more minutes until I have to go in and give the little man Tylenol. And do this breathing treatment.

See you in 3 hours.

Love,
E