Oh boy, what a chaotic last 2 days I've had!! So, yesterday Jeff actually got to fly to Oklahoma. He was supposed to fly out on Wednesday, but there was an issue with paperwork, so he had to wait until Thursday. Well, yesterday was supposed to be my "do nothing day." I planned on laying around and doing nothing! I haven't felt well and I've been so tired, so I just wanted to rest. That was the PLAN. Well, when you have 4 kids, plans change at the drop of a hat. So, Cleo told me her ear was hurting. Normally she doesn't talk about that. The only other time she said something like that was when she actually had an ear infection. And, Mr. Baby Guy has been sick for the past week with a nasty cold. I also saw him digging in his ears. So, I think, let's go to the Minute Clinic at The Marketplace right up the road. We'll do it quick and come right home. Better to find out right away. So, we go, and they are on break. So we patiently wait for 15 minutes. Then I get in and start signing the kids in at the kiosk. When I type in Westin's birthday, it says "We do not see patients under the age of 18 months." I was like, "Really?!?" Ugh! So, I talked to the doctor and she said sorry, but they can't treat babies. I figured since we were already there I might as well get Cleo's ears looked at. Turns out she's fine! No ear infection! Great news......but annoying. The doctor WAS nice enough to peek at Westin's ears just to tell me if it would be worth it to take him in. She said I should go.
So, we all get back in the van and I think.....what to do?? It's almost 4:00 pm at this point. There's an Allina Clinic like 2 blocks away from my house. But you need to have an appointment to go. I call and they say they can squeeze him in at 4:45pm.....Perfect, but my kids eat dinner between 4 and 4:30.........and we have 45 minutes. We rush home and eat a bunch of snacks. We get back in the van, drive two blocks, and wait in the waiting room for about 35 minutes! Ugh! So, we get in the room and we are in there for another 15 minutes......The doctor says it's a double ear infection (again). This is his 3rd one since October 2009. Perhaps tubes will be in his very near future......but that's another chapter in itself........
He is prescribed Amoxicillin again, but it takes the damn pharmacy almost an hour to fill a flippin prescription and I don't want to wait anymore or go out anymore! (Terrible mom that I am, I had some Amoxicillin saved from the last time Julian had an ear infection. It was only a couple days past the expiration date. So, I gave him a dose of that and planned on picking up his prescription the next day.) So, we get home and I'm totally on edge and I end up yelling at the kids a lot. We sit down in the hallway and have a talk about being a team and helping out mommy. I told them how I am one mommy and they are 4 kids and I don't have daddy here to help me, so they need to be nice and help me so we can have fun and mommy won't yell so much. They agreed (which isn't worth much in this case). They went to bed. I watched a little tv and went to bed.
I wake up at 4:00 am today with a THROBBING tooth. It is my fault. I haven't been to my dentist in years and I know I have a cavity in this tooth. It's a back top molar and the pain is literally shooting into my gums, jaw, and head. I realize that when I close my mouth, just the slight pressure of one of my bottom teeth touching THAT tooth makes me want to scream! I can't even push up on that tooth with my tongue without it killing!! So, I go take some Excedrin.....also dumb, because it has caffeine, but it usually does the trick with pain. I go lay in bed and my nose stuffs up so bad I can't breathe. But, amazingly, I can smell that the 27 pound cat has pooped the smelliest poop I think I've ever smelled!! I am surprised it didn't wake my kids up! It was really bad! So, I couldn't even lay in my bed.....I couldn't breathe, the smell was terrible, my mouth was throbbing and I just felt like crap. I decided to go dink around on the internet. Actually, I went to my facebook page and looked at all of my status updates for the past few months. I have been sick since February 3rd! Ick! That's straight.....without getting better........But I've been on-and-off sick since last October! Eeeew! Why have I been so damn sick?? And my Mr. Baby Guy, too! He's been sick on and off for the past few months. So I google "how not to get sick." I found some websites talking about Echinacea and Zinc and Vitamin C to help with the immune system. I decided I would go buy some of that later!! (I will try anything at this point!)
By this point, it's 6:00 am and I am antsy and in pain. I decided I'm so mad about being sick that I dug out a bunch of Clorox wipes and started wiping EVERYTHING! Everything the baby touches, everything I touch, everything the kids touch (door knobs, light switches, toys, books, cupboards, the vacuum, the kennel, everything!) I also decided I would open windows once the kids woke up. Of course, to add to my lovely moment, Julian comes downstairs crying, "Mom, I peed the bed...." (And when he pees.....ugh......he PEES!) So, then I go strip his bed and make him strip......so now I'm doing laundry.....then I opened all the windows upstairs. (I only kept them open for about 15 minutes.....I just needed to let some fresh air in....)
I wish the story could end here and I could say that I spent the day in my jammies......alas......I did not. I had to bring Owen to his Ear, Nose, and Throat doctor. The doctor told me that Owen's voice should return to normal right after the surgery......well, he still sounds terrible. (I don't know if I posted this before, but Owen had some Papillomas removed from his vocal cords. It literally blocked about 75% of the tube.....that's why he has been so raspy when he talks.) Unfortunately, this kind of thing is very rare and usually comes back over and over again. The doctor said he's seen patients with the same thing that have to come back every 4-6 weeks to have them removed!! Well, we went in for his appointment today and the doctor listened to him count to ten. I asked if it was normal for his voice to still be raspy. He said it was unusual and most kids recover their voices shortly after the surgery. He recommended speech therapy. I asked if it would help. He said it might or he might never get his voice back.........That....breaks my heart. So, now I need to contact a speech therapist and see if it's even possible to "fix" his voice. The doctor said he wants to see Owen in 2 to 3 months to check his throat and see if anything's come back. I hope this isn't something we need to do over and over again. I don't know that I can take watching my child go in for multiple surgeries on something there is no cure for. There's nothing I can do, either.........I feel so helpless........
We had a decent night and then Jeff called! Yay, right?! Well, his voice was so depressed......I was like, "What's wrong? What happened??" He said he only got about 30 minutes of sleep last night and then he got some bad news. They changed some dates on him, which means he will be gone longer than we thought. Really? He's supposed to do a week of "in processing" and then start "training" on March 5th. From March 5th, it was supposed to be 4 weeks in Oklahoma......then on to Ft. Knox, Kentucky. Well, they changed his start date of training to March 18th. Yeah, 2 weeks....not a big deal......but he's supposed to start "training" at Ft. Knox on a specific day. That will push THAT start date back.......so who knows how long he will be gone? Kentucky could tell him because he came in after his start date that he might have to wait a few more weeks to start his training. So, now we are for sure looking at 16 weeks of him being gone......probablly even longer. I know there's nothing either of us can do. We have to just deal with it and keep truckin' along. I have to try to stay positive or I will go insane!! So, now I am typing this and thinking and knowing I need to go to bed in a few minutes. I have a wonderful day of scrapbooking planned with my mom and sister and I can't wait! I haven't scrapped in so long that it's going to be so fun!!
Everyone has been so wondeful, too! Everyone is asking if I need help or if there's anything they can do?? Well, we are okay right now......perhaps in a few weeks I might need an hour or two out of the house without the kids!! We'll see. For now, we will just keep going day to day and making the most of what we have. The only thing that really keeps me going is the thought that life COULD be worse. I could be in a much worse situation. So, I shall keep going......stay positive.......be excited......and try to stay sane! I love you all and I appreciate all of your support! I know my blogs might be overly detailed and kinda pointless, but I enjoy getting my feelings out. I do it so people can see what's going on, but I also do it as a form of self therapy. It makes me feel better to get it out! So, I don't blame you if you find my posts to be absolutely ridiculous!! And, I know sometimes they are really positive posts and sometimes I'm a 'Debbie Downer'.......I don't wish to bring anyone down. So, if I'm doing that, I'm sorry.
Well, time for bed.......I will post more later
~Rachelle........Crazy mom......Crazy life.......Crazy kids........Crazy cool!
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