Thursday, January 26, 2006

Never say, "It could be worse..."

Wow.

What a day.

10:00. In spite of my progressive health improvement over the past few days, I woke up this morning feeling as bad as I did last Saturday. Not good. My throat hurt, my cough was back in full force, and my ears were throbbing in the pain that comes with incredible sinus congestion and pressure.

"What the...," I thought.

So I get up, hoping some movement would make me feel better. But I also discover that I'm dehydrated. My skin's drying out, my kidneys hurt, and I had that weird joint/nerve pain that only happens when you're dehydrated. So I drink some water and some apple juice and take the necessary medications, hoping that maybe I'm in the whole "it's got to get worse before it gets better"-phase of my illness.

10:30. The house is quiet until Kailyn wakes up. So I handle some calls, etc. I learn J-mo's come down with the crud. So I put a backup plan into motion for Sunday.

While I'm doing this, Kailyn wakes up crying. She's coughing non-stop, and she's complaining that her ear hurts. I check her temperature, and the 103 degree temp from the night before is gone. So I decide not to worry too much, get her some juice...and I'll come back to that in a sec...

The longer I'm up, the more I realize that my sinuses/ears are hurting worse than they have since I came down with this a week ago. So, I resolve to go the doctor. Stacey had already set up an appointment for Kailyn/Zachary with their doc at 2:15, so I called my doc to see if they had any open time slots. "1:30 you say? I think I can make that." The receptionist assures me that I will be seen quickly since I'd be the first appointment after lunch.

11:00. So, while I'm lining all this up, Kailyn comes to me and says her stomach hurts. With as much drainage is going down her gullet, I didn't question why. I told her I'd get her some medicine if it didn't get better.

-sigh-

Next thing I know, Kailyn is screaming in the other room, and I go in there to find that she's standing over a puddle of vomit on the carpet. Oh, joy.

Now Zachary starts crying from his room (Kailyn's screaming woke him up). So I go in there to find that he's been laying in his own puddle of snot/saliva/spit-up 'goo.' Being more used to the various fluids that spew out of kids than I was before I was a parent, I get him up, clean him off, and call Stacey to rant about the chaos in the household. So, she comes home for lunch to help us get all ready for our doctor visits.

...

1:20. I arrive 10 minutes early for my appointment. I'm the only one in the waiting room. Zachary's sucking on his bottle. Kailyn's just sitting there looking and feeling pitiful. 2 more patients walk in around 1:30. As I sit there, a nurse comes out and calls the name of one of the other patients who walked in. 1:45. The same nurse comes out and calls another name...again, not me. I go to the desk, inquire what happened, and the receptionist says, "Oops. We messed up. You were supposed to be seen first." I said, "I know", and proceed to explain that I'm about to be late for my kids' appointment. She says, "I'll tell them to hurry."

2:05. I finally get moved to one of the exam rooms. "Finally," I thought. I soon discovered that exam rooms are really just waiting rooms, Phase 2.

2:15. Kailyn throws up. Again. In the exam room. Fortunately, I'd made her bring a small towel with her when we left the house, so she threw up into that. Kept the mess off the floor and her clothes and off me, but...let's just say there's no 'clean' way to deal with vomit. Ewwww....

2:35. Doctor finally comes in. Quick exam....biff-bam-boom...with antibiotic prescription in hand, I'm paid up and out the door at 2:45.

3:00. I arrive 45 minutes late for my kids' appointment. Fortunately, the wait is relatively short, and I'm in the exam room at 3:10, then seen by the doctor around 3:20. Unfortunately, Zachary's had enough at this point, and he starts his crying-thing, which will continue off/on for the next hour.

I learn that Zachary's just got a cold, but Kailyn has both an ear infection AND bronchitis. No wonder she's felt so bad. The doc speculates that the vomiting is probably just a reaction to the infection and the 'crud' seeping down into her stomach from her chest and sinuses. So now I get a prescription for an antibiotic and some phenargen (for nausea/vomiting).

3:45ish. We leave the Decatur General complex to swing by Personal Touch to pick up prescriptions from Stacey. This was the most uneventful part of the day, except that the 15-minute wait in the drive-thru was aggravated by Zachary's incessant crying from the backseat.

4:10. Go to Hardee's. Mmm...Mushroom swiss burger. Good. Must...eat...haven't eaten all day...

4:30. I'm finally back at home, kids are unloaded. I give Kailyn her phenargen and her antibiotic shortly thereafter. I sit down, eat my burger, and thank God the days is winding down. Oh, am I an idiot or what?

5:10. Kailyn's been asleep on the sofa since we got home. She suddenly wakes up, bursts into tears, and proceeds to throw up again all over herself, her towel, and the carpet. Bye, bye, antibiotic. Looks like all of it came back up.

I strip her down, clean up the mess, and get her into the bathtub. At least Zachary's asleep in his crib.

6:00. Stacey comes home later than usual. And I do a 'hand-off' of all this crap to her. "Here," I say. Well, not like that. I update her on what's been happening. She gives Kailyn more phenargen.

Now it's midnight. Kailyn hasn't thrown up again (yet), and she's now got an antibiotic in her system, which will hopefully help her fight off this crud quickly. I managed to meet with Dave tonight and record some stuff for church, which is a good thing. So my productivity was not completely shot today.

Since Stacey and I keep each other awake when we're both sick, she opted to sleep on the couch tonight. Kailyn is asleep on the loveseat across from her. So far, all is quiet, and I'm sitting here waiting on my own antibiotic/medication to kick in and help my sinuses/chest feel better so I can get better, too.

In short, I hate days like today. Who doesn't? There's nothing worse than feeling terrible while also having to take care of kids who also feel terrible... I felt so sorry for Kailyn today. Here's hoping tomorrow will be a much happier day...

...

At least our subwoofer for church should arrive this week. Oh, wait. We weren't aware that it drop-shipped via freight instead of the usual UPS route. We might get it tomorrow. We might get it next week. Who knows. All we know is that it shipped on Tuesday and it will get here when it gets here.

...

I suppose now would be a good time to blog about the things I'm thankful for and get off this negative kick.

But it's now 12:25, and the pillow is beckoning me to put this day behind me.

Woohoo! Sleep!

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