Caught it Early This Time

As a rule, I ignore cold symptoms (in myself) until one of two things happens. Either I get a fever, or my asthma inhaler is insufficient to control the chest cold symptoms. Today it was Door Number One. 102F, and the Hubs took Lizzy to school for me because I was still out cold at school time. So tired.

So I went to the doctor (heh - I'm a Doctor Who fan, and I find it difficult to write the word doctor without a capital letter. Just like I cannot write the word last without adding the -on because of my husband's name.) and he looked at my chart and listened to my lungs and did all the crap they always do. And he said this:

"Okay, here's the thing. Your history shows that you are prone to bronchitis and occasionally pneumonia. Your current symptoms suggest the former - your lungs aren't all that congested - except for the fever, which suggests the latter. The good news is that if it is pneumonia, you are likely not contagious, as it's not viral. I'd like to think about knocking this one out hard before you get all that debilitating congestion. What do you think?"

(Author's note: there is nothing I live better than a doctor who respects that I have a working brain. Even when it's not working at its best.)

So we went with his plan, which was a shot of an antibiotic in the uh... hip, and then a week of doxycycline (which I have not had before and am therefore not resistant to) and a cough suppressant that is not a narcotic. No prednisone, because it a) keeps me awake at night and I need rest, and b) makes me gain weight. Which I do not need.

Then they did a lung x-ray, which they will have the radiologist read to tell me whether it's walking pneumonia or what.

And typing this out means that I need another nap. Excuse me.

Some Days...

...it just doesn't pay to get out of bed.

Today was one of those days.

It started simply enough; just get Lizzy off to preschool, come home and work on my final paper for Class A, pick Lizzy up from school, then work on Paper for Class A in between fielding questions about My Little Pony or the state of the union or whatever Lizzy finds interesting today. Simple, right? Because I do it every day.

But we had a personal family issue that needed dealing with, so I did what I could with that, and was running a bit behind after I came back from dropping Lizzy at preschool. Didn't get much done on my paper, but that's okay; I built in time. So I went to get Lizzy at preschool. She was muddy from mid-thigh down, of course, because I specifically asked her not to get filthy today. We were on our way home from the preschool when I get the Dreaded Call.

Uh-oh.

I know that number; it's the school nurse. A zillion scenarios go through my head, but the most prevalent (because it's Abby) is that somebody gave her something to eat that had nuts concealed in it and she's on her way to the hospital. You know, because rationality is such a strong suit when it involves worry about our children.

So rather than turning to go home, Lizzy (muddy from the thigh down) and I go up the hill to the elementary school and pick Abby up from the nurse's office, take her to the doctor.

The cold sore she had on her lip has spread to her left eye lid. Looks like a cold sore, quacks like a cold sore, and probably is one, but they want to take a culture to find out if it's type A or B. Okey doke. This, however, feels like "being poked in the eyelid with a toothpick" to Abby, which makes her mother cringe.

Then it's off to the pharmacy for an oral anti-viral medication, because one cannot use the topical stuff on a cold sore on the eyelid, and we have a follow-up appointment at the ophthalmologist next week to make sure the swollen eyelid does not affect Abby's vision, and there's school and play rehearsal and gymnastics and girl scout cookie sales to schedule around, and the doctor says it's a "medium sized pill" but it's so huge it has to be cut in quarters for Abby to swallow it,  and I can't concentrate on my paper until I write it all out here, and... and...

...and the pharmacist - who is the one who figured out that my recurrent cough was probably a side effect of my medication - looked at me, clearly decided that I needed a little help finding my silver lining today, and said, "The upside is that with this broad-spectrum anti-viral medication? She's really unlikely to get the flu for the next ten days."

It worked.

Last Blog of the Session

Don't fret, those of you used to seeing a post from me every day or a few days a week. No disaster has occurred (knock wood, cross fingers, salt over shoulder, etc).  But Monday starts the last week of this session in school (and a phone interview for a full time CS position, oh please oh please), and you know how that is, even when it's not this class.

Please feel free to read the archives, order girl scout cookies, whatever you like.

See you on the flip side.

Weird Week

Just a little. Not a lot.

Weird in that we're all sick with a cold, so Lizzy has not been in school (it hit her hardest) and it's a little surreal. Like an unending cycle of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, and weak lukewarm herbal tea and can-you-take-her-while-I-nap. It's just a cold (once the initial vomiting was over, and that was Lizzy only) so we're all okay. Just crankypants and Dropping Spoons.

And the weird places one's mind goes while out doing things. Example: I had a job interview, for a part time job at a church. In Kirkland, and Bing Maps found it with no trouble whatsoever. Now I've had trouble with Bing Maps before, and while I realize that three trips is not a valid statistical sample, it seems that the closer one gets to Redmond Washington, the more accurate and less weird Bing Maps is. When trying to get to a theater in downtown Seattle for instance, it kept trying to take me to the freeway, although I was already in downtown Seattle. When trying to get to a fellow girl scout's residence in Kenmore, it insisted that the house in question was in the parking lot of one of our favorite stores. Wouldn't that be fun?

So, girl scouts (this is the weird linkage that my mind does). Tonight Abby has a Girl Scout meeting where they are making candy under the tutelage of a local candy maker and shop owner. The fact that this links back to Abby's role in her school play - she's an Oompa Loompa in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, sometime in March; I've forgotten the date - is yet another example of the Weird Links.

Just... weird.

Kinda cool, though.

I'm Such a Mom

And although I have two, I am still prone to overreaction as much as the next woman.

You see, Lizzy hurt her neck at the McDonald's PlayPlace last Friday, and after consulting with a friend who is a massage therapist and knows his skeleto-muscular systems, we treated it with ice and heat and rest and coddling, and a little Tylenol at bedtime.

This is not the overreaction in question.

Tonight she went to bed with a minimum of fuss, which she does occasionally. And came trailing out about ten minutes later, saying she had "thwowed up". And oh boy, had she.

This is where the overreaction comes in.

You see, I am not a vomiter. I think the last time I did I was pregnant with Lizzy, which makes it likely about six years ago. Therefore I tend to view vomit as absolutely dire. And my mother is the same way, so our mutual concern got a tiny bit out of hand. This is where the non-vomiter thinks meningitis. Or maybe post-concussion disorder, if she had actually hit her head last Friday (she said not, but she's five, and not a reliable witness).

However, although we were a little carried away, we're also fairly practical people. So I called the consulting nurse at the hospital, rather than - say - packing Lizzy up in her jim-jams and taking her to the E.R. Since she was already in the bathtub by this time, singing tunelessly, "I thwowed up and I can stay up late," I also felt justified in this slightly less-panicked reaction.

The consulting nurse was reassuring, and I caught her laughing several times as she could hear Lizzy in the background, singing her little song and getting impatient with me when I relayed the nurse's questions, like, "Does your tummy still hurt?" or, "Did you hit your head?" The nurse also laughed when I told her that I got her number from the magnet they gave me when I was birthing said baby five-and-a-bit years ago, and said she was relieved that I still have it. No fever, no sore throat, she can touch her chin to her chest. It's okay, she'll be fine.

So either the doses of Tylenol plus Lizzy's first encounter with a crispy bean burrito, in conjunction with a busy preschool day after a weekend of utter sloth causes a one-off, or Lizzy has the stomach flu. The latter would be determined if she keeps throwing up.

She is currently out cold in the little nest I made her on the floor of her room (all her bedding is in the washer and her mattress is damp and airing out). She has a bucket nearby in case of repeat. No school tomorrow, but maybe Grandma's depending on how she feels (I have a lot to do, with job hunting and second-to-last-week of this school session, but if she wants her mommy she gets her mommy). Bland food for a day or two.

I should have realized it was more than her usual "my tummy hurts" (which she generally uses to describe the sensation of over-fullness).

The kid refused an Oreo. That should've been a clue right there.

It's Cookie Time!

Abby is a Junior Girl Scout this year. And she's selling cookies, as always.

Now, the rules about online cookie sales have changed somewhat of late; the Girl Scouts of America (GSA) and Girl Scouts of Western Washington (GSWW) both realize that more and more kids are online. In the interest of Internet safety, they have the girls take a safety pledge, some of which includes that Abby - as she is under 13 and therefore protected by COPPA laws - will not do her own online marketing; she needs an adult to do it for her. Even when it applies to using her own email address.

To that end, Mom to the rescue. Here are the basics:

• Feel free to email me with orders by the 27th of January
• Payment is not required (or even allowed, unless you are buying only for Operation Cookie Drop) until delivery. Check or cash only.
• Cookies are $4 a box. Yes, I know they may be cheaper in other parts of the country; that is regional and out of our control
• There are six flavors available this year; they did a study and these are the most popular:
• Thin Mints
• Samoas
• Tagalongs
• Do-si-dos
• Savannah Smiles
• Classic Trefoils
• The West Coast uses Little Brownie Bakers when you go for nutrition or allergen information.

That second G-looking thing? It's an S that got
connected at the top

And now, a note from our Girl Scout:

Dear Mom's Internet Friends,

Please buy my cookies. I would really appreciate it. Cookie sales help girl scouts learn stuff that will help us when we're grown up. Please do Operation Cookie Drop; it gives cookies to the armed forces. Thanks if you bought some. 

Thanks again,

Abby