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Oh my gosh has it been the total year from Hell! And it’s only just February! Let me start back in December of 2000: The week before we were to leave for Christmas, Hubby gets the flu. This just screws up all my plans, because I wanted to bake cookies and then go Christmas Caroling to the neighbors. Well, with Hubby barley moving, this is not possible. (Also, the weather did not cooperate. It was a huge bummer.) To make matters worse, the week we are supposed to leave, I have this nagging sore throat. However, since I’m already going to miss over a week of work, I take no time off. This action will come back to haunt me, and is haunting me still. So the Yates family makes it’s annual trek to the ‘burg, and we leave Wednesday morning. Thursday evening Stealth Baby gets the hideous rash on his face, which because I am doctor-phobic and dumb I ignore – even though it is increasing obvious that he is miserable. Finally by Sunday the rash is not going away and it must be dealt with. By now it is Christmas eve so I have severely limited my options. Lois and I go to a pharmacy and talk to a wonderful man (who is NOT a doctor) who recommends some special cream and suggests that if it doesn’t work to go to the hospital. So of course it doesn’t work and the next day after opening gifts I take the miserable Stealth Baby-o man to the hospital. That’s right, I spend Christmas day alone with an unhappy child in the hospital. (I do just hate St. Clair Hospital.) However, they don’t seem to really know what Stealth Baby has and suggests that we go home to our pediatrician. Throughout all this I am still fighting off what seems to be a killer cold and sore throat. So Tuesday morning we pack up (so much for staying in Pittsburgh till new year) and head home. On Wed. Stealth Baby goes to the doctor (he has impetigo and they give us additional prescription drugs to deal with it) and I go to the doctor (who misdiagnosed me, as you already know, with NOT having strept throat even though I did.) So then the following Wednesday I get a call that oops, last week we screwed up and it appears you’ve now had strept throat since December 20. And then we take Stealth Baby back on Jan. 5th it to check on his impetigo and it turns out he has Bronchitis. (This is exactly 3 days after he has finished his original medicine) You will note that someone has been since very single day since before Christmas. We continue along this joyous, germ filled path. (Uncle T wants to know what I am feeding my children, since his diet of pizza and pepsi seems to be shielding him from illness.) On Jan. 25 (2 weeks after my last dose) I am again diagnosed with strept throat. I had burned my thumb pretty badly on Sunday the 21 (like a 3rd degree burn, you should see the ugly scar I now have.) So since the skin was peeling off, even in my doctor-phobic mind I thought, gee, maybe this should be looked at. SO I made an appointment. Meanwhile I go to the nurses station twice a day while at work to pump breastmilk. Duh! So Maria the nurse looked at it and gave me cream and bandages and such (twice a day, no less.) I was going to delete the appointment when I started to feel that cotton feel in my throat. Goddamn, I have it again – I just knew it! So I went to the doctor and they were obnoxious. Them: ‘Well, we are supposed to look at your thumb.’ ME: “I don’t care, My thumb will heal on it’s own and I need medicine because I know I have strept throat.” Them: ‘Hmmm, your throat doesn’t look at all suspicious.’ Me: “Look, I just got off the antibiotics and this is EXACTLY how it felt the last time and I really REALLY want you to take a throat culture. And by the way the last time it took over a week for me to get my medicine because I was misdiagnosed at this clinic, so maybe that could have something to do with it” (IE GRRRRRR!!!!!) Them: mumbling that it wasn’t their fault because the in house has a false negative rate of 20 percent. (Which does not explain why it took a week for me to get the correct results) Anyway, you should have seen the look of shock on the nurse's face when she came back and was like, “Gosh, you’re right, you DO have strept throat again.” DUH! That was Jan 25. I was still feeling crummy on Saturday (and I got worse) so I demanded to be able to sleep in and have Hubby wake up with the kids (usually I get up on Saturday and Hubby takes them on Sunday.) When I got up and staggered sick and sleep into the kitchen I could immediately tell that Stealth Baby needed to go to the doctor. So I bundle him up and go to the local medi-first (because my doctor doesn’t have hours on Sat.) but of course they don’t see little 10 month olds. So then they found someplace and I’ve got to find it. In the hour some it took me to find an infant emergency doctor Stealth Baby’s breathing got worse. So I find this place and it turns out my stupid insurance won’t take verification calls on Saturdays (grrrrr!!) and that since this place is a medi-help they don’t take checks (apparently they get a fair number of people with low income, if you know what I mean.) So I’m up a creek here without my visa card. Happily, the doctor was good and right away said, hmmm. It appears this little guy has a case of impetigo on his face, which is rather rare. So already this doctor is doing better than St. Clair hospital, and Stealth Baby also had a chest infection. By now Hubby is on the way (having dragged the other kids out of bed) to bring his visa and rescue me. (Yes, I am an IDIOT) So we figure, while we’re here, let’s have Precious looked at too because she and Stealth Baby are always sneezing all over each other and she’s been fussy too. I’m not sure how sick she really was, but we put her on the same stuff as Stealth Baby. It perked her right up and made her not have a runny nose for the first time in weeks. So now I’m sick, Precious is sick, and Stealth Baby is sick with 2 things. And it gets worse! So Sunday night I start getting the chills – like, I’m wrapped in an electric blanket and still so cold my teeth are chattering. (When I go skiing my teeth don’t even chatter!) I was going to stay home Monday anyway so that Stealth Baby wouldn’t go to daycare. Hubby decides he’s not feeling well so he goes to the Dr. to also get checked out for Strept. Turns out that NOW Hubby has strept. He comes home with the medicine and I’m like – I am physically unable to care for Stealth Baby he has to go to Daycare. Boy was I miserable. And I totally didn’t treat Hubby right when he had the flu. I really only gave him like 3 days to recover and then I was like – you’re fine! Get moving! I was sick for DAYS! Hubby has strept. Mommy has strept. Mommy has cut-off-your-head, miss-a-full-week-of-work, 102 degree fever, my God I can’t move flu, Precious has a chest infection, Stealth Baby has impetigo and chest infection. Pumpkin is fine (so far, but not for long.) So it is now the very first day of February. I take Pumpkin to his very first Dentist appointment. Now, I had a feeling something was going to be wrong. The very reason I decided to take Pumpkin to Dr. Urban and the ripe old age of 5 is that – oh yes, I forgot to mention that among all this sickness Hubby’s uncle Leo died. So Hubby was out of town! So everyone is sick and Hubby is gone! Anway, while Hubby was out of town it became my job to brush Pumpkin’s teeth, which usually Hubby does. So I’m brushing his teeth and I see all this black stuff stuck between his teeth. Clearly this is not what God intended, to have food rotting in there. So I made a dentist appointment. However, even I was not prepared for the severity of the situation. Pumpkin has 4 massive cavities – basically one huge cavity affecting 2 teeth on both of the lower sides of his mouth. We are talking nerve damage here! (And 800 dollars worth of work!) I had all 3 kids with me so I had to make another appointment for Pumpkin to come back. (more on that below.) Along with all the diagnosed illnesses, Stealth Baby has just not been acting like himself (since like Christmas!) Which is a long time to have a fussy baby! He’s been downright unpleasant to be around. But he has no real symptoms of anything. But certainly not the loving, happy, inspiring baby I’ve been so pleased with. On Monday night Hubby took Precious and Pumpkin to soccer, and Stealth Baby and I played at home on the floor. He seemed happy enough, but that night Hubby and I discussed that he’d been acting funny for a while now. So we decided than we would flip a coin on Tuesday night to see who took him to the doctor’s on Wed. Basically I was going to call the Drs on Tuesday to make an appointment. Well, of course, on Tuesday he had a total meltdown at daycare and they called me at work to say he was rolling on the floor screaming and inconsolable. Which makes you feel like an ass of a parent. On Feb. 13 Stealth Baby is diagnosed with an ear infection. And by default Hubby had to go get him, because Hubby drives to work and has a car whereas I slug so I can’t go get him. So Stealth Baby is AGAIN on antibiotics. The positive is that he had received one dose of medicine by the time I got home – and BOY is he a different baby! Again he is the happy, giggling, I have to get into everything and eat toilet paper child that we know and love. So I’m a little irritated with myself. He’s probably had a low level ear infection for several days now. I should have picked it up sooner that he wasn’t himself. But you, you think it could be teething, maybe he’s just tired. Looking back its just so obvious that I should have taken him to the doctor earlier. And this is where working is such a huge disservice to the kids – I keep thinking that if I had nothing better to do with my time, then it wouldn’t be Hubby and I flipping a coin to take him to the doctors in 2 days, but me taking the kids to the doctors immediately. Yesterday, on Feb. 15 we have our 2nd of 3 Dentist appointments, I have to put the little ones in daycare, which breaks my heart, but there is no way they can be in the office with us while I hold Pumpkin’s hand. It was a little scary to me, but Pumpkin was a champ! He loves the dentist because he gets a prize. Anyway, they had to give him nitrous oxide. It would have been scary – because I’ve never seen Pumpkin lie so still outside of being deeply asleep – it I hadn’t known that the whole idea was to have him be happy and not worried about the drill. It took a long time to have the novicane work. That was the only time I had to duck my head. So first they put what Pumpkin calls “the elephant thing” on his nose, which has the gas in it to make him loopy. Then they inject the Novocain into his gums with a needle. Now, the needle really scared me, but of course I have to be calm and happy for Pumpkin. Anyway, he was Absolutely Marvelous, and very good about sitting still. There were some moments he got a little scared, like the first time he heard the drill. But I was right there beside him the whole time holding his hand and talking to him. “Wow Pumpkin, what does that sound like? Does that sound like Daddy’s motorcycle? Yes, it is loud, isn’t it.” And, because the cavity is so bad, they really had to drill quite a bit. (Oh heavens! Is that my darling’s blood? Ack!) There is still a 20 percent chance that the tooth may die due to nerve damage, but since it is a baby tooth, it is not THAT bad. Of course, it’s not optimal, but not as bad as an adult tooth. If it does die, we’ll just pull it. So in a month we’ll have yet another day at the dentist and he’ll do the other side. I’m a little worried about what 45 minutes under the laughing gas could do to him. Everyone says it’s not a big deal. Which is easy to say when it’s not your kids. You should have heard me quizzing the dentist on how this could possibly happen. Basically he said, that at this age, there’s not much I can do. It’s just bad genes – so it looks like my oldest child has my mother’s genes, which stinks. I take it so personally, since I have never had a cavity, and I take great pride in that fact. (Which is dumb, of course, but I still think that it’s really cool that I’ve never had one.) So now my darling Pumpkin has 4 already and he’s not yet even 5! So I’m asking him about diet and toothbrushes and floss and just everything. I’m going to get something called ACT II which is like extra floride treatment for kids. It’s good for Pumpkin but Precious is too young. And I forgot to pick up these special plastic toothpick type things that I can use to help get food out from the teeth. He suggested I should start using that on Precious ASAP just in case she has bad teeth like her older brother. We shall see. What is interesting is that Pumpkin did go to sleep with a bottle for about ?? 8 months maybe. He had a bottle of milk every night from age 15 months to about 22 months or so. Supposedly that can cause tooth decay. But why would it cause decay in only the molars? Dr. Urban said it was more likely that it’s either bad genes or that he had a fever or such when the teeth were being formed which caused them to be bad. It’s interesting that it is the same 2 teeth on each side of his lower jaw. So, that has been my year of hell so far. And I haven’t even discussed the ridiculousness at work yet. I do so love my job – I just LOVE it, . . . ah, but that is another letter!! |
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