Feeding the birds, travels through blizzard conditions, a trip to the pharmacy, being ID'd for shoe glue and other happenings.

The soundtrack you should be playing for this particular post would be Joseph Arthur.  :)  Just kidding.  It's just what I'm listening to while I write it.  I do highly recommend it if you haven't listened to it!  

Onward.

There have been busy weeks and days off for cold and all that.  

Last weekend, we traveled out to Alliance to hand feed chickadees at a park there.  We won't be giving free press to that particular park because the people working there had the personality of wallpaper paste.  It was much like the woman we encountered when we visited the NPS Johnstown Flood Memorial.  There are few parks we will NOT visit.  The few we have marked off the list are those with people who just don't care about the people visiting and helping them TO KEEP THEIR JOB.   My husband is a public servant and just doesn't understand why people can be so very crappy in that job.  He is thankful every single day that he has the job he has.  He knows that in this day and age of technology, he's a bit of a dinosaur that can easily be replaced by an app.  (Not in our eyes because he is truly VERY good at his job.  Still . . . ) 

At any rate, we tempted the thick layers of ice, hiked about 3/4 mile into the woods and found the site.  We didn't find the human handing out seed.  There were no signs.  It wasn't obvious to figure out what was going on.  We went into a little shack that they had and we may or may not have helped ourselves to the trash can of sunflower seeds.  We went out to start with the feeding and a somewhat disheveled woman, looking much like the bird lady from Mary Poppins, came up with a reused peanut butter jar of diced peanuts.  (I really though she'd say, "Tuppence a bag!")  Instead she said, "Oh, I see you brought your own seed!"  "Kind of."  

You have to stand still with your arm out.  It seems silly, but your arm starts to hurt rather quickly.

My girl had her handful.

M was the first with a visitor.  It turns out that he would be the only one of us.  Those chickadees are quick.  Not the greatest photo, but it's all I could do!

You see, there was a boy scout troop that came in ahead of us.  Now, this isn't to say anything against boy scout troops.  The boys do great things and can truly be wonderfully behaved.  These children were not those children.  They were loud.  They were running around.  They were throwing snowballs.  They scared all of the birds away.  In fact, we moved to the bridge to try to get away from them. 

My beautiful girl here trying to be patient.  Neither she or I corner the market on patience.  

In other news, these were hand-me-downs from my girl.  They are just slightly big on me.  I just figured this might the place I state that we can no longer share shoes.  Girlie wears an 8 1/2 and I wear a 6 1/2.  These happen to be Keens that run a half size small.  With thick socks, the 7 1/2's fit my feet just fine.  Still, girlie has such big feet!

I admit that we gave up.  K and I couldn't take the snowball fighting and screaming any longer.  I looked over at her and said, "If that were me, my mom would have beat my butt."  She smirked.  The ladies standing somewhat within earshot laughed and agreed.  

Yesterday was our 18th anniversary.  We had plans to go snowshoeing at The Wilderness Center.  We packed up the snowshoes.  We headed out.  People kept talking about how cold it was supposed to be.  We had planned for that.  What we hadn't planned for was this.  

The true white out photo is on my phone.  I had to stop a few times, put my hazards on and hope that no one hit us.  This photo is the same one as below.  They would come and in a minute or so, the white out would be gone.  Still, the driving was nasty.  

Add to that that we were in -- Amish County-- home to the unmarked 90 degree turns.

Oh, yes.  The 90 degree surprise turns about wiped us out.  The road suddenly disappeared.  "Where'd the road go?"  I asked M, then suddenly I found it.  "It's a curve!"  The traction alarm was going off.  We were sliding.  I was hanging onto the steering wheel with one hand, tempted to shift into neutral with my right.  My foot was on the break, but I didn't want to slam on it and cause it to be any worse. There was one very small, low arrow on a sign in the middle of the 90 degree turn.  Um, thanks for that.  I didn't want to shift into neutral because I thought the traction control wouldn't work.  It seemed like we were sliding for minutes, but truly, it was only seconds.  The traction control kicked in and stopped our sideways slide.  We weren't head first sliding.  Oh, that would be too easy.  we were sliding sideways across the turn with my drivers door clearly where the front end of my RAV should be.  She corrected it.  She pulled us all around.  She saved us from biting the ditch.  :shakes of the head:  Wow!  We did have a nice day and I was able to buy all of my spices in bulk.  I found that my spices were old and frankly, some were dead.  

Sunday brought us negative temperature weather.  I guess it got to -12 F last night.  What are my people doing today?  Oh, they are headed to the Columbus Zoo because it is free admission day.  :shakes of the head:  They wore so many clothes that K looked like Randy from A Christmas Story.  They promised to be down there for a few hours and to head back up before the storm hits.

I have a cold.  It isn't severe, but it's enough to make me feel a little funky.  Yesterday, we were stuck going to the Big Box of Blue.  M needed his cold drug of choice-- Advil Cold & Sinus.  I pop up and asked the pharmacy tech, "Can we get some Mucinex with that?"  "You have to purchase it separately with a different ID."  I told her that I understood.  She laughed and said, "Not that you guys look like you are a problem."  "We aren't.  I promise, I really do have a cold!  Besides, my teeth aren't rotting out of my face and my skin is surprisingly clear."  "Honey, you would be buying generic in the biggest box you could and would be faking a cough."  (To note, I bought the smallest box of Mucinex that they had.)  So we suited up with our cold remedies, K and I perused the leftover Valentine's items for Easter egg stuffings.  (I watch what I buy, but the kids don't care.)

M threw some shoe glue into the basket.  We were going as a line of ducklings towards the Kleenex.  M disappeared.  It's okay, because I had to stand and patiently wait for the tissue display.

There was a woman and her 9 year old daughter.  They had the entire display either blocked with the cart or the woman body blocking the rest of it as she dug through all of the boxes.  She looked up and saw me standing there.  I admit that a cold in combination with a delightful case of PMS may not have caused me to give her the loving look that our Lord would have preferred.  I think she was struck with a sick look combined with bewilderment.  "Oh, I just don't know why but I just had to dig through all of the designs!"  I reached over, grabbed the massive 4 pack and said, "Ma'am, I just need to wipe my nose."  Grant you, they are the marbly ugly Kleenex boxes, but I'm going through them so fast that it doesn't matter as long as the box doesn't empty out at the wrong time.

We went to the cash lane.  We obeyed the sign that talked about 20 items or less.  The girl flagged us and our basket over.  I was ID'd for the shoe glue.  "Are you 18?"  I laughed.  The gray streaks on the top of my head might suggest, but I told her, "I promise, we have shoes to repair.  No huffing at my house!"  She did laugh.  Just doing her job.  I get it.  She managed to somehow overcharge us for Airborne.  She caught it and charged us again.  She overcharged us by over $9.50.  She charged for 3 packages when we got 1.  Of course, I didn't find that out until we got to the car.  We schlepped everything back in.  They cheerfully refunded the money, but still . . . Rrrr.  I know, I know.  It's another reason of why I don't shop there.

K had a "snow" day on Friday for cold.  I think that they called that one too soon.  I envision another "snow" day for cold this week.  Never mind that they have today and Friday off anyhow.  I see Thursday being possible.  Who knows?

Finally, my husband handed me a bag of chocolate yesterday.  "No, really.  I bought this for you.  Please eat it.  If it runs out, I promise that I can buy you more.  Please.  Have chocolate."  Bless his heart.

Be warm!

Calamity Day 8: It's all of my fault.

Yesterday, I knew that there was a big, fat storm coming.  I decided that if I placed my spring wreath on the front door, it would take notice and dissipate. 

 Just in case you wondered, it didn't.  In fact, I think that it made it worse.

 It could be worse.  My driveway has walls, but I'm certain that up north scored more.

Today I decided to put out my "Welcome Spring!" flag.  I mean, maybe the spring wreath wasn't hint enough.  You can blame me when the epic storm of the century rolls through.  

In other news, K had an optional volcano to build for extra credit.  "She's doing great in science," says Hubs.  "It's extra credit and those opportunities don't come by often.  We'll be building a volcano."  We did!

We didn't have brown paint and it was Sunday and we were being snowed upon with about 4" then.  None of us wanted to go out, so Hubs suggested some gray house paint.  I mean, if it's good enough for the house . . .  I had some leftover Modge Podge from when Aunt Donna decided that she was going to save all of the puzzles that the puzzler ladies built downstairs.  It took once and she decided that once was enough.  K sealed it.  It sat on the floor near the heat vent for a day.  It was time for lava.  Well, since it was extra credit, I asked K if she wanted it to be rainbowy with glitter.  SURE!  Rainbow and glitter it is.  It has to work and frankly, I think her teacher cares none about the colors.  

An update to K's recent illness is that despite having a negative rapid strep in office, today I was phoned by the nurse to say that it was positive and she needs antibiotics.  Huh.  We were all surprised.  

I end with, my your snows be small, your warmth be much and may we not float away by the end of the week when all of this melts.  If Noah comes rounding the bend, I'll let y'all know.  

Some of this and bits of that.

This was 2 hours and 45 minutes of our evening tonight.  This spelling list was torture, particularly since this week was standardized testing week.  Maybe it is just me and Hubs, but we thought that this spelling list was a bit insane for a 3rd grader.  

Speaking of, we had OAA (Ohio Achievement Test) or as I think of it Oh-AA week.  K felt pretty good about her testing and the teachers have been (I hate to say it) teaching to test since the kids returned in January.  No kidding.  Her teacher did a skit with the one tutor and it seemed to help K and many of the other kids.  It was something about flipping the snake off their shoulder.  Whatever it was, I told Mrs. H that it seemed to really work and keep up the good work.

Hubs has a man cold.  THE man cold.  I slept in bed a few nights ago, but he woke me up 4 different times because I snored or something.  The next night I slept on the couch to keep from bothering him and woke up 4 different times with him sitting on the couch next to me because HE COULDN'T SLEEP.  I asked what I could do, what I could get . . . Nope.  He just couldn't sleep.  He has come home early the last two days.  He has a program with 800+ expected on Saturday.  He was out at Earth Day on Saturday in high winds and cold.  He had a bit of something underlying, but that basically sealed the deal.  I do feel bad for him and have volunteered my services.  K and I will be helping on Saturday, requiring us to haul out at about 7 AM to get everything underhand with him, get almost everything handled on clean-up of details and press on to swim lessons 30 minutes away, then off to lunch with Grandma and Grandpa after.  I offered to pick things up, but since they are donations from businesses near and far, he'd like to do it personally so that they are thanked from him and the park.  I get it.

K has the same cold.  She coughed and coughed the last night that I stayed in bed that I've been giving her Children's Mucinex every night.  I won't give it to her in the morning since I don't want her going to school drugged.  Even her art teacher commented on her cough.  Yup.  I know.

We have a show at work this weekend.  I was busting my butt to get displays done despite the items that I needed not coming in.  Somebody scheduled a large bus tour to come by, but it seemed like a crazy idea with show prep going on.  We had to have everything all tidy for the tour only to find out that the crowd we expected were not who we got.  Not much money was exchanged, but I got to be the bathroom attendant, so not all was lost!

I had a lady come to the counter with an armload of things and announce, "I only have $52.00."  That would be okay, but she obviously over ran that $52 just on a quick visual run.  It reminded me of last week with the children with the book fair.  At least then I got to the point of saying, "Darlin', how much money do you have with you today?"  I can't do that with the customers.  I have never had anyone else do that.

The lady who decided to stay shopping after closed had her credit card decline.  Good times.  I hate having to ask for another.  "Do you have another flavor?"  That's my standard line.  Oy.

While helping K with her spelling extravaganza this evening, I washed and folded laundry.  At least I got decent things done.

I scored on an overrun of Turkey Kielbasa at the grocery.  It was marked down by half.  It doesn't have  a sell by date for another week, they just had too much.  We had that cooked with red peppers and mushrooms, K ate the remainder of her fruit salad from this morning and I cooked cabbage with some butter, salt, pepper and balsamic vinegar.  I could have eaten the whole pan, but I knew that would be no good for anyone involved.  I exercised restraint.  ;)

With a yawn, I have laundry to put away.  I must snuggle up and get ready for another day.

Have a great night!

ETA:  After all of that work, K got every single one of her spelling words right and for that week, she was THE only one who was Spelling Smartie.  She was thrilled!  Now, don't make me tell you about that reading test she flubbed on the same day . . .

The hazmat tent has fallen with a great thud.

It's here.  The YSF.  What is that, you ask?  In our house, it stands for the Yucky Stomach Flu.  (A virus, but there is better ring with the "F.")

K woke me up on Friday morning at 5:30 AM by going into the bathroom and turning the light on.  She never does that.  I knew that something was up.  She said that she was just going to the bathroom, but that she hadn't slept well all night.  She asked that I come lay with her and rub her back.

Absolutely!

I snuggled in and noticed that K was warm in all of the wrong places.  She was toasty on the tender skins, the undersides of her arms and her under pits.  I took her temperature and it was 99.8, still in the normal range on our thermometer.  I gave her Advil, she felt "so much better, Mom" and skipped off to school.

I was at school delivering some things to the classrooms and her teacher mentioned her saying that she wasn't feeling well.  I looked in on her, asked the teacher that she was with if I could speak with her in the hall for a minute and that is when K's cheeks looked like Hatty the Hamster and I went running for the trash can.  The teacher complimented me for knowing.

I took her home and Hubs came home early so that I could go back to help shuttle the frozen pastry items out for the fundraiser pick-up.

Hubs kept texting me.  The news wasn't good.  I came home to the sound of the laundry going and to the smell of disinfectant.

That's never good.

She fell asleep Friday night at 8 PM and didn't wake again until 7 AM.  She felt like a new kid and decided that archery was a doable thing.  She opted to ditch on swimming because she was certain that the warmth of the air + the amount of water that she would inevitably swallow made her think that wasn't a good mix for the pool.  Normally, we don't skip, but she made a good case for it.  Instead, we window shopped for Hatty.

Saturday, she continued to have a few bouts of nausea (she didn't have those until after archery) and so we laid low.  She slept well that night and Sunday was a new day.

Sunday gave us Palm Sunday Service, a church meeting, laser tag and then roller skating with her sister.  She was doing okay until she did splat cat on the roller skating floor.  Her stomach hurt and I started freaking out that there would be some sort of internal damage.

Yes, I went a place I shouldn't go.

She took a bath, started to calm down, we watched Hatty and she said she was feeling a little better.

Fast forward to 1:20 AM when Hubs was standing over me saying, "Didn't you hear her calling for you?"  I hadn't slept real well in the last few days, so no, I didn't and I felt like a louse.  I jumped up, ran to her room and found her leaned over the garbage can.

Shoot.

She stayed home with Hubs, who reported that her low-grade fever had kicked back in.  I phoned the nurse at the ped office who confirmed that it is the stomach virus, not to force fluids, it is 3-5 days and it isn't internal bleeding.  (I had her laughing when I told her that I panicked and thought that but, "She wasn't vomiting blood so I thought we were okay!")  Tomorrow is day 5.  She may be staying home.  The unfortunate thing is that it is the last week of the grading period and her teacher is less than forgiving with any unfinished work.  What can we do?  She doesn't send it home.  She expects it to be done in class when they don't have time to accomplish the things that they are trying to do in there on a regular basis anyhow.

ARGH!

I'm hoping that tomorrow works for her.  I really do.  We've reviewed all through everything that we know was done.  She has a make-up reading test to take when she gets back, a different reading test, spelling test and a math quiz for Thursday, plus research for a beaver project that she'll have due.

Oy.

The cough. It's still here.

I made another appointment with my doctor today. I saw him about a month ago because my ear was paining something horrible (the Q-Tip incident) and I had a cough that wouldn't go away.  It's a month later and while the cough is better, it is still lingering.

Dr. W came in, asked what he could do for me and my response was that, "My cough won't go away and I'm starting to have a reputation. My husband tells me in the store that he'd 'know that cough anywhere,' my coworker wants me to have a second opinion and one of my best friends has said, 'oh you and your cough.'  They all have me a bit freaked out."

I told him that what had been most concerning was the fact that I wouldn't say that I've been short of breath, but just that occasionally I would run out of air while talking.  He asked me if I cough while laying down.  No.  He asked me when it is that I do cough.  Basically, when I'm in and out of outside.

We talked about my habit of reading and that no, it wasn't lung cancer or Lipitor.  I told him that though I read a lot, I don't self diagnose because that is what he is there for.  He did do a check all the way around twice.  He offered a chest x-ray and a steroid shot, but he wasn't encouraging it.  I told him that, "I can tell by the smirk on your face that I'm okay."  "If it was me, I'd say that the cough is a bummer, but I'd rock it out."

I was getting concerned.  My lungs are "clear as a bell" so I'm good.  What is it?  Reactive airways and it is getting better, but it will take time.  It doesn't hurt, it's just more annoying than anything.  When I told him that if I get a cough, it hangs on for a beloved forever.  "Some people are like that."  Lovely.  I'm a long cough holder person.  I've been in church services where people have passed candies and bottles of water to me.  I've conducted PTA meetings where members starting sending cough drops up to the front.  When I get a cough people, I truly get a cough.

For Fat Tuesday, I bought Bavarian cream Packzi and knew we didn't need all four.  The boys across the street observe Lent, so I figured that they might enjoy them.  G, a nurse, has been battling respiratory issues since Thanksgiving.  He was finally diagnosed with Bronchitis, Upper and Lower Respiratory infections all at once.  (YIKES!)  He said that he experienced the same breathing issues that I did and it freaked him out, too.  It turns out that G was offered the chest x-ray and the steroid shot and he declined, too.  He said that a girl where he works got the shot and it did nothing for her.  Frankly, my doctor was happy with how I was and I seriously didn't want to add another x-ray to my person unless I really needed it.  If he thought I really needed it, he would have sent me for it and not just have offered it.

So there we have it.  I can leave this bout of hypochondria and continue leading a life.  My life has laundry to fold that I've deposited on my side of the bed.  No rest for the coughing, eh?

Breathe deeply and have a great day!

:cough, sneeze:

We've all been suffering with this late spring virus. K had the headache, Hubs has had the sore throat and I've had the instantly runny nose. A bonus today is that I seemed to have sprung a blemish on my nostril interior that makes the wiping oh so much fun. Oh, and it's darned attractive, too. We've all been sacking out early so that explains my blog absence. Have a great and healthy weekend!

A couple of days off school.

K- was sent home from school on Monday with a rockin' stomach ache.  She had one on Sunday off and on, but we thought it was the donut she ate.

She still had the rockin' ache on Tuesday morning, so we gave her a day home.  She reported that she was feeling better and had promised me that without any morning strife, she would go off to school.

Then 3:30 AM happened.

Some sound woke me up and I sat up to look at K- (I can see her bed from my side of the bed-- we have a small house.)  I didn't see her.  I checked the room and nothing.  I went to go down the hall and heard her call from the bathroom.  She was letting me know that she'd be there for a while.  She was having a middle of the night flush of her digestive tract.  Good times.  Dances with Lysol was done.  Thankfully, there was no need for replay.

Obviously, I kept the child home again today.  The thought of some type of catastrophic bathrooming accident happening at school didn't sit well with either one of us.  She's laid low, but has a pileacious stack o' work to do.  To boot, I believe that the teacher has neglected to tell me that there will be a math test.  She doesn't generally inform the parents, but she's nice to inform me.  Crap.  Test prep on top of two days of work.

Good times here.

Now pardon me as I oversee homework and spend the next two hours making a Mom Practice Test.  We only do fun stuff on days off here at the House of Bailey's Leaf.  Fun times indeed.

The romantic getaway that wasn't.

My husband and I will be celebrating our 15 year anniversary tomorrow.  Back in October, I reserved a rather grand room for us at our favorite inn in Amish Country.  K- was going to be spending the night at my sister's house.  The child had been trying to pack her bag for 3 days. 

Then Saturday morning came.  When it came, it involved vomit.  When vomit is involved, plans are cancelled.  That was 7 AM, I booted the computer up, got the number for the inn and I crossed my fingers. 

"Ma'am, I'm aware that you have a 24 hour cancellation policy and while I wouldn't be mad at all, I figured that it wouldn't hurt to call you.  My daughter woke up this morning and now is vomiting." 

"Ma'am, I'd be happy to cancel that for you and waive all the fees." 

Y'all, if that was the Holiday Inn or some other corporate big box, they could care less.  It pays to make reservations with the mom and pop. 

She seemed to be feeling better, so we decided to do an Amish Country drive thru.  K- was doing well and came into one of the stores with us.  We Purelled her from top to bottom before she did.  We had lunch, cruised along to stores that Hubs or I poked in and out of, and K- hung out in the car.  (Her choice.)  We got home, all seemed well, bedtime came and so did another hour of intense illness. 

Poor kid.

Hubs complimented my insisting we cancel. 

We skipped church again this week, but I did toodle on out to get some more supplies for some homemade chicken soup.  I cooked most of the day between the soup and trying my hand at homemade tapioca. The tapioca came out way better than my first attempt 14 years ago, but it is a little thick and I ended up dropping some cinnamon in it, so it tastes like rice pudding now, but it's all good.

While we were in Amish Country, Hubs bought me an anniversary gift.  What is it?  He bought me these.  I told him that ever the romantic, 15 years must be the wool anniversary.  He told me that it was better than my 10 year rock tumbler.  ;)

K- is holding up.  I think that now, she is suffering more from eating anxiety rather than a full stomach ache.  Hubs thinks that she is still rocking stomach pings (I do agree to an extent) as he thinks that he has been suffering from the same thing. 

We'll reschedule our getaway.  His time off on Saturdays don't come by that often.  He gets maybe a free Saturday once a season.  The importance is the quality of our marriage, not whether we were able to go on a romantic getaway or my husband's thoughtfulness in making sure that my metatarsals are kept nice and warm. 

We're here.  We're together.  It's all good.  Anything over and above that sometimes is purely bonus.

A heaping helping of frustration.

This is my aunt's 8th day in the hospital.  During that time, we've been given highs, lows and in-betweens. 

She was told Monday that her tumor that was found was cancerous.

She was told Tuesday or Wednesday that it was precancerous.

She was told Tuesday that she had a spot on her lung and one in her right breast.  Nothing to worry about.  Probably calcium deposit in the breast and perhaps asbestos in the lung.

She was sent down for a mammogram on Wednesday and the tech told her that it looked suspicious and like it was cancer.  Oh, the term was changed from spot to mass. 

They decided that they had to have a biopsy of it.  Aunt Donna said that they could do it when they do her surgery to remove the rectal tumor.  They came Thursday afternoon and did it in her room.

Today she was told that she has three additional "lumps" that they have found, one place being her pancreas. 

Today she was told that the "spot" on her lung needed to be biopsied and they will be doing that tomorrow. 

Cancer, no cancer, cancer, no cancer, cancer . . .

She is looking towards surgery possibly Wednesday.  She's wanting them to remove what they can remove and have radiation or chemotherapy.  She's repeated that several times.  By what she said that the doctor has said, it doesn't look like any of those three are truly the options that they are looking at.

Frankly, I do think that my aunt is full of cancer.  They could carve and chop her up like a pumpkin, but at this point, I don't know that it would make a huge difference. 

Each phone call gives a different answer.  She says that once she hangs the phone up, the doctors come in and tell her something else. 

What is worse is how I currently feel about what would be good news that she gave me.  You see, my biological father (her brother), came to her the other day and said that he is now a Christian.  While I think that it is grand that he is saved, I admit questioning his motives.  As a Christian, I feel horrible about this.  I talked to Mom about it, who was married to the man and could confirm or deny my feelings.  My mom's bit, "Well, I hope that we're both wrong."  Apparently, he had done this once with her.  You see, my aunt is a very devote Christian.  To tell her that you are a Christian as well gets her singing praises to the Lord the way that any good Baptist would.  Sadly, we live in a fallen world.  As such, some people aren't quite as pure and full of integrity with their announcements of such devotion to our Lord and Savior.  My thoughts, and I hate that I go there with it, is that he has told her that so that he can "get in good with her" before she dies.  I suspect that he believes that if he speaks to her in her love language, that he'll be the recipient of all her earthly goods when she passes.

Aunt Donna is an old woman with not a whole lotta much.

My sister frustrates me with her continual complaining to Aunt Donna about things that she and her children don't have.  Of course, this prompts Aunt Donna to be the fixer (middle child) and do what she can for my sister, even if it would be her last cent.  My aunt has been trying to contact my sister from the hospital.  My sister has phones that she said need to be replaced.  Now, she's known this for a while.  My aunt has finally gotten so frustrated that she sent me out today to spend $60.00 on new phones for my sister.  It gripes me to no end that the wanting doesn't seem to cease. 

My mom phoned my aunt and prayed with her.  Mom said that Aunt Donna pleaded to God for healing.  Miracles do and can happen.  Who am I to stand in the way of her pleading? 

I'm frustrated because this isn't my first time at the rodeo.  I walked my grandmother (Mom's mom) through colon cancer.  My aunt (Mom's sister) was prayed for and with through brain cancer.  My grandmother (Aunt Donna's mom) was prayed for and with regarding her small cell lymphoma.  This rodeo looks like a duck.  It's walking like a duck.  I fear that it is a big, massed out duck. 

This one I can't fix, even if I am a middle child.

The Tooth Fairy needs you! Foreign coin ID, please.

Our tooth fairy is an international traveler.  As such, she leaves K- foreign coin when she flies by for a tooth pick-up.  These coins were earned by the tooth fairy with a little help from a friend's mom that works at a zoo.  The zoo's fountain gets filled with coins and some of it is foreign.  Since I try to help the tooth fairy out from time to time, I've been put to task to identify the country of origin of these coins before the tooth fairy distributes them to K- for her lost teeth.

HELP!

1.  Says something to the effect of Confederatio Helvetica.-- SWITZERLAND!
2.  Looks potentially Russian.
3.  and 5.  Looks potentially Russian. 
4.  Says Deutschland on it. -- GERMANY!

She's gotten a Euro, money from Turkey and pence from Scotland.  With the snaggle toothy front tooth that is twisting and just dangling there (I've encouraged her to pull it, but nope), she'll be enjoying some money from Panama.  I also have money from the Bahamas. 

Lend a hand to the tooth fairy, will you?  Thanks!

Aunt Donna update:  She had a mammogram which labeled the spot on her breast as a "mass" and it needs biopsied.  Though she was originally denied surgery for the rectal tumor, she now is cleared by the cardiologist.  (Calcium deposits on her heart.)  She has a spot on her lung, but goodness knows what that is.  Honestly, it sounds as if she has the small cell lymphoma that my grandma had and it has cropped up in several places.  I know that they said that the colon bit is precancerous, but other things have cropped up and it doesn't seem like dots are connecting to me.  Her request is that we pray God's will for her life.  She is a Christian and said that she is good with whatever God's will has for her.  Bless her calcium deposited heart.

ETA:  The dangling tooth de-dangled while I was out visiting with my aunt.  K- was so thrilled that she gave me a call to let me know. 

Aunt Donna and better news.

First, Aunt Donna's test results stunned her doctors and the nursing staff on the ward that she is on. 

Her test results came back as PREcancerous.  The doctor who did the colonoscopy came up to her himself to announce the results.  The nurses were so stunned that they bought her balloons.  Her primary care doctor was shocked. 

The power of prayer is a good thing.

Her primary care doctor told her that she will be able to go through surgery.  He anticipates that she'll be okay with it.

Now, onward to other news.  Her scan came back showing a spot on her right breast and one in her lung.  The primary care physician is keeping those on watch, as he thinks that the spot on her breast may be a calcium deposit (Grandma Gum had that) and that the spot on her lung may be asbestos?  That sounds concerning to me, but her doctor, who makes no bones about letting her know if he is concerned, is okay to sit and watch. 

Her roommate is dreadful, but my aunt is taking it in stride. 

The nurses absolutely love her and she makes them laugh.  It's a good thing to be a blessing.

So, we're praying.  We're being thankful.  We're being cautious.  Thanks for praying.  Keep up the good work!

C

Though some of the inside pieces of this are subject to change, my aunt is currently in the hospital and as of this morning, with no family present, was given cancer as a diagnosis. 

How my heart breaks for her. 

She went into the hospital on Friday, knowing that blood counts were down and whatnot.  Her doctor had ordered a colonoscopy and an endoscopy.  The colonoscopy was performed this AM and gave details of a large tumor present, as well as polyps.  She had no idea when the test was going to be today, but called at 6:30 AM to say that, "Her chariot had arrived."

Currently, she is handling the news okay.  I think that she might be in disbelief.  I know that she hasn't been heeding the signs that her body has given to her.  Still, I don't know for how long.  Grandma had been sick for some time and after she died last December, Aunt Donna went into a deep depression.  She seemed to snap out of it personality wise, but she seemed to still be lagging.

Yuck.  Cancer sucks.

The Force was with her.

Yoda.  Who would think?  I found a Yoda peep-esque pop at the store the other day.  As a treat for K-, I bought it and included it in her lunch with a note that said that she was to, "Eat it at Grandma's house."  Lunchtime got the better of her, as well as her being a glutton for punishment, and she ate the whole thing.  "Mom, it was just so delicious, I just couldn't stop." 

Okay then.

After lunch, they had their class party.  Why yes, with my child's history, you know where this is going.  Apparently, she had pepperoni pizza where she actually ate the pepperonis.  She never does that.  She had a few bites of pizza, then a brownie followed up by a trip to the nurse. 

She made it, but the nurse said that she nearly took her out.

I got the call at work.  "Is this Amy?  Amy L-?"  "Yes."  "This is the Health Aide at -- Elementary." "Oh, no."  "K- is in my office and got sick."  "She just had pizza."  "Yes."  :understanding tone as we had dealt with this in the past:  "I think it is her reflux, but let me talk to her please."  K- agreed that she thought it was reflux, but it freaked her out enough to say, "Mom, can you please come get me?" 

How could I say no?

I left my co-workers stranded and hauled off to get my kid.  I stood at the secretary's check out desk with tears in my eyes.  "You know it's her birthday."  The clerical assistant was so sad.  We moved her birthday celebration to tomorrow night.  We wanted to err on the side of caution.  It's just not worth a slice of cake by potentially taking out the whole family with the stomach bug. 

We hung out.  I taught K- how to weave on her loom.  Hubs built a Star Wars Lego ship (some Naboo thing) with K-.  She played with Squinkies and we watched Christmas Vacation together.  (Yes, some questionable bits, but K- knows what is right and wrong and knows that it isn't a wholesome movie.  She wanted to watch it.)  Hubs brought Little Debbie Christmas tree cakes home and we sang happy birthday to her with an "8" candle in one.  (Not that we didn't have cake that we could have used.  Dad brought those home special.) 

It was a laid back night and it wasn't so bad.  It was the first quiet birthday she's ever had.  Frankly, it was kind of nice being able to just focus on her and not everyone else.   A blessing in disguise, really.

She's back to her regularly scheduled programming.  It's a good day.

Because the tonsils are still gigantic.

Last night, K- started complaining about a stomach ache that she had all day.  Now, that is where the strep started.  I had her open wide and by the light of the little LED, her tonsils were waving back at me. 

Boy those suckers are huge.

This AM, I made a call to my favorite pediatric gate keeper, Toni, to find out if we could store a golden ticket to see Dr. P-.  3:40 PM was our time to go before the wizard. 

Word is this.  Yes, her tonsils are rather large.  That is typical for this age.  Completely normal, actually.  She tossed a NEGATIVE! strep in office.  Can we raise our hands all Baptist like and belt out an AMEN?!  Dr. P- is still sending out the cultures to positive that we don't have errant germies running the joint.  She said that she is getting better, but completely understood my concern.

Now onward to the next appointment.  It seems as though K- has developed a bit of a toothache in the last day.  A toothache for K- is not a good thing, as the last one resulted in a root canal.  (Eeek!)  I called Dr. Rick, Lindsay (the gate keeper of dental health) got us an appointment for tomorrow, but was able to bump us up because of a cancellation.  Now, I'm going to have to leave the house at the butt crack of just barely dawn to get to the dentist who is 25 miles one way.  We love Dr. Rick, he is fantastic and knowing K-'s birth history, he said he will always fit her in for a toothache at anytime.  Gotta love that!  I don't even mind the mileage that I log to get to him.  He is beyond well worth it.

With that, I have a bath call, call, calling my name.  Yes, I know that it is only 6:04 PM, but I just feel it necessary.  A bath for me is renewing.  I can get so much more accomplished after one.  It is my evening caffeine.

Smiles in my day:
-  The negative strep test!
-  Unbashed cards arrived!
-  I hit the Scholastic Book Sale with my friend Kay and we bought a ton of books for the library, a book giveaway and for gifts.  I was able to get Magic Tree House books and a Jesus Calling devotional book for K- from my aunt, and some other gifts.  Because Kay and I combined our orders, she had a coupon for $25.00 off $100.00, so the books that were basically half off (not all but almost) ended up being even cheaper.  Hooray!
-  Doctors who could give me appointments without waiting for days.
-  My husband has worked so hard on our kitchen.  He's been doing dances with caulk.  The man loves caulk.  The kitchen?  It looks lovely.  Yes, I will post pictures when it is done, but don't expect them before next week.

Have a great weekend!

ETA:  We made our round trip tour to the Wizard of Dentistry and Dr. Rick pronounces K-'s teeth as okay.  He said to watch them, let him know if anything is awry, but that this just may be a case like a similar time I took her-- she gets a bacteria and occasionally, it pockets under her tooth/teeth.  K- was delivered to school 18 minutes late.  Considering that we left at 7:15 AM, made the half hour drive, saw the dentist and hauled back the 1/2 hour + at that point, being only 18 minutes late to school wasn't so bad.  She was thrilled that she made it in time for gym.  Bless her heart. 

I've decided that I need a name tag that says, "Mama Amy, Health Management Director."  Wow.

The Pediatric Phone Line Lottery

Will I win?  I mean, my child finished her antibiotic on Monday night and now has the return of a sore throat, the stomach is still rotten and is now running a low-grade fever.  Can we say SCORE?!

She's cried because she'll be missing their Thanksgiving celebration and her awards assembly today along with potentially missing Thanksgiving with the family. 

I feel so bad for her.

:(

ETA:  It is strep.  She ran another positive on rapid strep at the office.  Children's version of z-pack sent her into 45 minutes of vomiting.  Was on the Children's Hospital nurse's line on hold for 20+ minutes, but had a lovely and very apologetic nurse.  Had a crap day at work and that translated to my getting on the people at Big Bird Rx for giving me half a prescription-- again.  Snot-nosed (not literally, just in attitude) guy behind the counter said, "Well, it IS flu season."  "Yes, so BUY MORE!"  I didn't swear and I didn't scream, but I did let them know that having me come back-- again-- is just not working for me.  I'm sure that they all talked about me when I left.  It just didn't help that they confirmed twice to Hubs and once to me by phone that they had the script there and all was good.  Yes, their customer service line number will be getting a phone call.  I mean, it is delightful to pay full co-pay for half of the goods.  I proposed otherwise and the lady thought I was a raving lunatic.  Hey, they are giving me half of what they owe me.  Why not give them half of what I owe them?  Oh, but it doesn't work that way. 

I'm too tired to bake pumpkin pies.  I think I might collapse.  I've been up since 4:15 AM and I'm beat.  It'll be the first time that I've never had pumpkin pie on T-Day for breakfast.  Maybe I can force myself.  :shakes head in tirednesss:

So tired.  :yawn:

If it walks like a duck and looks like a duck . . .

. . . it is probably the duck that you think that it is.

Yesterday, K- woke up complaining of a sore throat.  She looked fine otherwise.  She said that she had a belly ache, but if I kept the child home everytime she said that her stomach hurt, she'd never go to school.  I gave her a dose of Advil, sent her off and called the pediatrician for an appointment later on that day.  Normally, I wouldn't call for a sore throat, but I knew that she had been accidentally exposed to strep on Monday.  The mom reported that the rapid strep came back fine on her son, even though she insisted that strep was the problem.  She was sent home with nothing, thinking that he was fine, she sent him to school on Monday, the doctor's office was closed on Tuesday, then she found out Wednesday that his culture came back positive.  She kept him home, did the 24 hour hold on antibiotics, then farmed him back off.  In the meantime, children have been falling ill in their class and all over the school.

Yesterday, K- was one of them.

I was wheeling down the hall, distributing shirts out to the classes, when my dear sweet child was on her way down the hall.  "What's up, Babe?"  "Mom, I'm going to the nurse."  "You don't feel any better?"  "No." 

She went down, the nurse gave her a once over, asked me, "Are her tonsils usually that big?"  "I don't know, I've never looked at them before."  (I should be embarrassed to say that, but I don't know what I'm looking at.)  She handed me a flashlight and without knowledge of what I was looking at at all, I could see.  "Whoa." 

Of course, yesterday was a day that I could not leave.  I had to finish distributing t-shirts, had to finish directories and pass those out and I had a pizza party for 45 K-2 kids.  I gave Hubs a heads up before work telling him the spot I was in. 

God bless him.  He came the 35 minutes in to grab her up and take her home so that I could press on with what I had to do.  It was National Metal Day on VH1 anyhow, so it wasn't like it took much coaxing.

I had a 3:50 PM appointment and we went together as a family.  K-'s pediatrician didn't have any appointments left, so we saw the other doctor in the practice.  Before K- even opened her mouth, she said, "She smells like strep."  She explained that while there was a lot of viral funk going around, she would lay money down on the fact that K- had strep. 

Her rapidly rapid strep came back positive. 

I cruised by Big Bird to pick up the prescription.  Of course, I was the only person in line.  "Oh, we just received the fax.  Give us 15 minutes."  I decided to do some shopping (their ploy, I'm sure) and by the time I got back, it was like the entire NE Ohio population was in line.  I waited and waited and then! K-'s prescription needed mixed calling for me to wait some more.  Hooray!!! 

I got the Rx in her and she kept it down, even though she had a vomiting session to rival just about any other she's ever had.  (Advil is what put her over the edge.)  Later, she opted for 1 spoonful of Advil, which she successfully kept down, she slept through the night and I woke up to, "Mom?  Um, I think I need to stay in bed all day and watch TV, but I can swallow now and my throat doesn't even hurt!" 

Thank God for modern day antibiotics.  It also doesn't hurt that they were free.

Be healthy!

Welcome back, thermostat of my young child's body. We've missed you so.

My daughter's temperature finally returned to normal early this afternoon (at that point it had only been running 99.5) and now she will be able to attend arts camp!  She is so excited!  I'm excited for her.  She's missed it so much.

I've disassembled sick bay, stripped her bed, cleaned and swept her room and while the desk is still staring at me, in need of much love, I'll get to that tomorrow.  Rome wasn't built in a day, you know.

K- and I were in and out today.  She played with chalk, caught butterflies and ran around.  We saw tiger swallowtails, a monarch, a ton of cabbage whites, Peck's skippers, silver spotted and an American lady.  I wanted to give her body a good test in the heat and dreadful humidity to see how well it would regulate.  She sweated up a storm and did just fine.  In fact, we attended the program at the library this evening.  She was able to choose her prize from the prize box.  We got a call last week that she won, but hadn't been able to come to retrieve it.  In true K- fashion, she chose an Amelia Bedelia book-- Amelia Bedelia for Mayor to be exact.  How we love Amelia Bedelia in our house!

She'll go on to arts camp tomorrow and I'll scoot back to get some things done.  I've got to run by the license bureau to pick up new tags, then home to give the house a good scrubbing.  I would love to throw open the windows, but it is supposed to be dreadfully hot tomorrow, so another airing will have to wait. 

In the meantime, we rejoice that K- is well.  Hooray!

Smiles in my day:
-  Listed above.  :)

The 10-day run

A marathon of sorts is how I would describe this virus that has overtaken my child's body and rendered me short on sleep, high on worry and low on nerves. 

Her body is still busy stepping down that fever mode that it seemed to have permanently ingrained in its memory.  While she has still been running a fever, it hasn't been constant.  It also hasn't been a fever of 104 magnitude.  I'm happy to say that we left the 104 on Monday evening.  She's moved on from there to 102.5, then 101.5 and down to 100.  While these are all fevers, it seems as those are the points to which the high stops. 

I spoke with the nurse at the pediatrician's office today.  Bless Kathy, she told me that K- is getting better, it is a 7-10 day virus and that it'll be a few more days. 

Currently, K- is running NO! fever.  I know not to rest on that, though.  We're looking forward to the day that the fever completely leaves.  For now, we are thankful.  We're thankful for the steps towards healing.

For now, I'm readying myself for bed.  I'm looking forward to some sleep. 

Smiles in my day:
-  When I left this AM, I told K- that I "challenged" her to draw me something on the front steps with her chalk.  When I got home, she was on the front steps with her big bucket of chalk.  She hadn't been out long, but long enough to draw me some colorful squares with the chalk that she made in science camp.
-  The last day of work for this week.  It's just been a very long week, not work-wise, just life-wise.

Have a great day!

Tales from the Trenches: The highs and the lows.

Since K- still had a fever through yesterday, including 104 F, we knew that we wanted her to get into the pediatrician's office today.  Now then, I hate the Monday Morning Pediatric Phone Lottery, so I opted to do something I would never normally do.  Hubs and I made a plan last night to pile into the truck, go on over to the office, he and K- would sit in the car and to bypass the phone mess that can last for upwards to an hour and a half, I went into the office in person to schedule an appointment.  Knowing that it was Monday morning, I thought that the likelihood that they would have an early morning appointment available would be very high.

The gamble worked. 

Bless Toni's heart.  I got in there and I think I stunned her when I came in sans child.  Her computer wasn't up yet, so she had me take a seat.  When she was all up and ready, she had me tell her what was going on.  I told her that I had talked to Kathy on Friday.  She said to bring K- in on Monday if she wasn't better or got worse.  The 24 hour nurse's line nurse said that with the high fever still remaining and the additional vomiting that she wanted her seen today.  With that she said, "Is she in the car?" 

"Yes."

"I have an 8:50 AM.  It would be 8:50 - 9 AM, depending upon when Dr. P gets here.  I'll go ahead and mark you down for that." 

We saw Dr. P.   She explained that K- is suffering from Endo Virus, which is running through our area like wildfire.  She had listed off the symptoms and had me confirm the ones affecting K-.   She understood the high fever, and said that even adults are suffering from the same.  At that point, I told her I had.  She told me that she expected K- to suffer from the fever for a couple more days.  Vomiting and diarrhea may be added to that.  Coughing will be around for a few weeks. 

We left with K- and looking towards the sunlight that had just broken through from the storm.  She was without fever, seemed a bit chipper and we were thrilled with the idea that we had gotten to the end.

Then she started running a fever again.

And she vomited.

The good news is that we've been able to lower the fever from 104 at 6 PM to 99.5 at 8:30 PM.  She asked for toasty cheese.  I made her a half.  She wanted more, but I wanted her to let it settle and I asked what else she wanted.  "Cantaloupe."  I brought her a fresh bowl of cantaloupe and she scarfed it down. 

"Mom, may I please have another toasty cheese?" 

My child hasn't eaten in 5 days.  If she wants a toasty cheese, I'll make her a toasty cheese.  I went back to the oven, pulled the stuff back out and belted out another.  She ate 3/4 of it.

She is sitting up and playing with My Little Ponies, while watching Shrek.  She has polished off yet another thermos of water.  The food, at the moment, is remaining in the proper containment area.

She's out of arts camp for another day.  Oh, she's cried about missing it.  She's cried about missing swimming with Grandma and Grandpa at "The Club."  She's cried because she felt so bad.  She's cried because she had to take Advil and was afraid it would make her vomit.  She's cried for all of the things that she has missed.  All I've been able to do is to grab my fevering child up and to hug her.  Oh how she has broken our heart.  How our phone has rung off the hook with friends and family calling to see if she is feeling any better.  E-mail is flowing the same way. 

So here we sit.  Currently, we're at a high.  I'm not looking forward to the defeating low.   We'll deal with it.  It's not a permanent thing.  This too shall pass.

Smiles in my day:
-  A doting father who wanted nothing more than to get his kid to eat today.  Hubs really did try.  He fed K- her favorite peanut butter and cheese sandwich and a fruit plate. 
-  A pediatric office who could get us in this AM when we showed up.  Grant you, I went to schedule an appointment, but since they had an appointment available, I would have been a fool to turn it down. 
-  A busy work day to keep my mind busy.

Have a great day!

A song for K-.

Oh, playmate,
Come out and play with me,
And bring your dollies three,
Climb up my apple tree,
Shout down my rain barrel,
Slide down my cellar door,
And we'll be jolly friends,
Forever more.

Oh, playmate,
I can't come play with you,
[I still have got] the flu, (should be my dollies got the flu)
Boo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo.
Ain't got no rain barrel, (it's actually a water urn)
Ain't got no cellar door, (no lie there)
But we'll be jolly friends,
Forever more, more, more!

My mom used to sing this to me when I was sick, and she called to sing it to K-.

Speaking of K- and sick, she's still a fever running champ.  She'll be visiting the pediatrician tomorrow.  I'll let you know the update then.