Friday, March 21, 2008

Today I did (have been doing) something I have not done in a long long time. Nothing. Not a thing. Have not even showered yet. (Shhhh)

Yep. I called in sick. Kids are with X all day, from last night and I just called in sick. I suppose in a sense I was sick. Everybody at work yesterday gave me the "are you ok?" look. You know the one? Where you look like crap & people are starting to get worried. And the truth is, by yesterday I had totally reached my saturation point. This sickness, this back and forth from work and home with emergency phone calls, trips to doctor, X... and a wee bit o' PMS... well - not a good mix.

Nathan has this on again off again fever. Brought him to the Dr. Sunday & she gave him an antibiotic for a sinus infection. By Wednesday he still had fever. I had the sitter take him to the doctor. The doctor switched meds (hey, did I write this already? Am I repeating blog posts? omigod. There is nothing more pathetic than not remembering if you've written something in your blog already or not!!! Well, I'm home sick - so I should be forgiven.) and said that if his fever is not down with the new med then we have to take him for a blood test. For Mono.

Mono.

Wednesday, after dealing with a HELL of a morning trying to get Max out of bed and to school "MOM you are making a BAD decision! My stomach HURTS!") having the school nurse call me in the middle of a training session, having the sitter call me in a near panic because Nathan's fever went up so much... I had to deal with Max yelling.. ohhhhh... about THREE HOURS. From about six until 8 pm. "MOM MY STOMACH HURTS! IT HURTS! A BAD DECISION! I'M TELLING YOU! IT HURTS!" If anybody had happened by they would have thought I was the most heartless person in the world. "Ok Max. It hurts. Stop yelling. Or, if you have to yell go into your room. Or the bathroom. Just BE QUIET!"

But it's hard. And we've already discussed that wee part of me that is NOT so sure it's nothing... and three hours straight of yelling... well.. I just think - is it possible for a person to keep up a pretense for that long?!?

So, yesterday they were both home. I caved. Nathan still had fever. They were supposed to go to X's Thursday night through Sunday. (My mom was all "how can you send them? He can't take care of them!") But I said to Nathan - do you want to stay here & he responded that he wants to go to his Dad's.. Sooo... I sent X emails of all the meds he'd have to buy (motrin, tums) a thermometer... (And don't ask me how Max's stomach was yesterday at home, last night, or today - or I'll have to kill somebody. It was, of course, fine. Even X is now starting to say maybe we should find somebody for Max to talk to -- but that's probably another post...)

In the end I caved again - and just bought them for him. I figured, I'm so stressed... why add to it wondering if he's going to get the stuff. So I bought him a thermometer, motrin, tums... I packed up all of the kids' meds in little plastic bags, each one labeled... and oh - I've actually done ONE thing today. I've called and texted X about 25 million times.

I texted him at 7:30 am. "Take Nathan's temp before you give him the motrin. first thing in the morning" Then at 8:30 - "give him lots of liquids." Then at noon - called.

His temp which had been going from 101 - 103 has not gone above 99 today... so I'm cautiously hopeful. If not, X will have to take Nathan for the blood test tomorrow.

Now, time to get back to my nothing.

3 comments:

Gwen said...

Can any child keep up the pretense for so long or can Max, specifically keep up the pretense for a long time? He's pretty determined when he wants to be. And aren't psychosomatic illnesses still real(ish) to the person experiencing them? I don't know, Amy. It's such a tough call at his age. You can push hard for more physical tests, I suppose. What's left for them to look for?

Anonymous said...

Wow you have had a rough one, hope everyone gets sorted out soon. Better go and catch up with your other posts now. Hugs from me and my family to you and yours

Waldo Pharce said...

Amy;
I really hope you got some rest this weekend. I read your blogs from the past few days and I nearly called in sick!
I'm tired from just reading about the things you go through. Here is hoping you don't cave in on Max's demands. This may be one of those times when your decisions will set the tone for the future. Hang in there!
~Waldo