Saturday, February 19, 2011

Real Life is strange

Real life can sure be distracting and unpleasant now and again.

Some readers may have noticed a drop-off in my posting rate lately, good old real life is to blame. My wife has been ill for a couple weeks now and after ever progressing symptoms the family doctor told us to get to the Emergency Room so we could get a shot at seeing a neurologist quicker then he could manage to schedule for non-emergency care. We spent all Valentine's Day evening in the ER with our youngest child (the other two were away) before we learned my wife would be admitted to the hospital, the hospital was insanely busy with beds filled in the halls of the ER and elsewhere in the hospital (I'm glad my wife managed to get into a private observation room fairly early on it wouldn't have helped her mood to see the halls it looked like a disaster movie for a while, the staff was surprised even).

The wife spent the remainder of the week in the hospital being submitted to a constant barrage of tests. They even shipped her from one hospital in our state to the neighboring state so specialists could spend more time with her. She was subjected to a battery of tests that subjected her to so many needles you'd think she was being used as a life sized voo-doo doll. I visited her in the hospital twice a day until yesterday morning.

I woke up sleeping on the couch with my baby boy (he's 18 months old). He's been sleeping poorly and really missing his mommy. He had a blazing hot fever. I gave him children's ibuprofen and a tepid bath that he was very unhappy with. Spoke with the call in nurse and she told me everything I knew about treating fevers except for the safe strong dosages for medications to break a bad fever (higher then I thought). The poor little guy was HOT to the touch and not interested in eating but he would drink. I eventually managed to see the Dr in the later afternoon and they ran tests that showed no strep or flu but couldn't' figure out why he had the really high fever (over 104 at one point). I can't manage to see the wife during all this because she's now in the next state over and the DRs think they knew what was wrong with her but weren't sure yet and all of a sudden they are going to be releasing her but have no idea when.

I get home form the doctor with the baby and my parents car is in the driveway, my wife is home (my folks live about 15 minutes from the last hospital). I rushed in with the baby and he was all listless moody and cranky. After a few moments he realized mommy was really home and was going to stay home. His fever went from 103 to 99.7 in a little over an hour. The little guy went from being noticeably unwell to a happy babbling running and playing baby in just a short while mostly because mommy was home, he was getting alternating fever reducers too but we chalk most of it up to mood.

My baby boy is okay, the wife is stable and diagnosed with a mild form of a rare syndrome and is on household rest for at least the next week so we can monitor her symptoms. I actually felt as happy as I did on my honeymoon having my wife home last night.

We had some ice cream and caught the D&D episode of "Community", the wife wished the weekly D&D game was as much fun as the game they had on that show.

...EEEPPPPP... visiting nurse is arriving in about a half an hour and the house looks like a baby, a slob (me) and two teeneagers lived in a small cluttered house and didn't clean the place for a week.

11 comments:

  1. I'm sorry to hear that, and hope everything works out OK for your family. Hang in there.

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  2. That's a lot to go through in a short span of time! Sorry to here about the illnesses. Sounds like things may be on the mend, though.

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  3. Wow JD, I hope things get better for your family soon. Glad you are still blogging and she is still wanting to game. Best wishes.

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  4. Best wishes to you and your family. Glad to hear everyone is back home.

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  5. Well-wishing to all in your household.

    Best,

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  6. Here's to making it through this rough patch and some Community-fun sessions in the future.

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  7. Wow, that's a story that'll pull on the old heart-strings. At least everyone appears to be on the mend. Hang in there!

    (Amazing how the baby's fever dropped when he had his mommy)

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  8. Glad things seem to be heading in the right direction. Hang in there and don't let life get you down.

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  9. Holy cupcakes. This is a lot to go through in such a short time. Loved that the baby felt better straight away like that. Very cool. Sending you all the good wishes I have.

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  10. That's a lot for you to be dealing with right now. I hope everything continues to look brighter for you guys!

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