MIA… Except That I’m Not Missing Any of the Action

I’d love to write a post explaining why I didn’t write at all last week… but I did that already and I don’t want to rehash it all.  Plus I’m assuming that everyone who reads this blog also reads that one, because… well, why wouldn’t you?  I update that one far more often.  And my kids are pretty cute, if I do say so myself.  Even if my computer refuses to let me take any pictures from my memory cards without shutting itself down to offer you as proof.

Let’s just say that last week was utterly exhausting, and this week – while looking to be less busy - will most likely leave me no less spent.

I spent most of this morning in the pediatric clinic and sitting in the pharmacy’s waiting room.  Last Thursday when I brought Bear in because of her ear infection, the doctor prescribed an inhaler for her persistent cough, thinking it might be pre-asthma.  I mentioned at the time that Bug had a similar cough and she advised me to make an appointment this week for him.  The secretary at the desk had an opening at 9am today and I took it for him.   Apparently not a moment too soon; he doesn’t have the same wheezy sounds as Bear but his cough is identical to the one that lasted from last May to October, and she’s suspecting an allergy.  She’s prescribed a medicine to try, but if it doesn’t clear up within a month she’ll do a blood draw allergy test to see what’s going on there.  While she was listening to his lungs she also checked out the rest of his head and discovered he was well on his way to yet another double ear infection.

While we were there I mentioned that Bear’s cough hadn’t improved at all even with the inhalers, and she told me to bring her in at 11:30 to check her out.  So we sat in the pharmacy’s waiting area for about 45 minutes while they worked on those prescriptions before heading out to get me a coffee and Bug a Munchkin for being so good.  (Both of us.)  From there we went to Bear’s school to pull her out, promising to return her after a quick appointment.

It wasn’t to be.  The pediatrician was concerned that her fever hadn’t abated, that her lungs still sounded ‘crackly’, and sent us right to radiology for a chest x-ray.  That part was fast; most everyone was off for lunch so the technician brought her right in, and by the time we’d gotten back to the pediatric clinic her doctor had discovered that the noises in her right lung were the sounds of pneumonia.  So we went back to the pharmacy where the woman at the desk looked at me with surprise as I said, “This is for the other one.”  I guess we were pretty pathetic – and because I hadn’t complained about the earlier wait time – they made her new prescription a priority and bumped us ahead of others in line (who didn’t look happy that we cut in front, but I was grateful).

So she’s out of school at least for the rest of today and tomorrow, and possibly Wednesday as well.  She needs to be fever-free for at least 24 hours before returning, and if she’s homebound then so am I.

And because a picture is worth a thousand words (though I rarely allow them to do the talking for me) here are all the medications we’re brought home with us in the past eight days:

And that’s where I’m leaving off with this one.