Did you ever get the feeling today wasn’t going to be your day? Really though, it’s looking more like not my week.
Miss 11 was complaining after day-camp Friday that her butt hurt- just the left cheek. & that she had a headache. She took an Advil & an hour later was still complaining of pain so she took another Advil & an hour later went to bed.

She woke me @ 315 am still in pain. She took 2 more Advil & slept with me until 8 am she then said the pain had spread both up her left lower back & down her left leg. I called our doctor’s office & left a message & said if I didn’t hear from them by ten I’d assume they were closed & take her to the emergency room. (they’re open every other Saturday) They didn’t call & so we went to the hospital.

They took a chest xray & a cat scan. They were worried about appendicitis but after 5 hours told me it seemed to be an infection either in her kidneys or her lymph nodes, her lymph nodes were definitely swollen & since her fever was up around 103 every time the Motrin they were giving her wore off they wanted to keep her overnight.

Then they explained that they require an adult family member there the whole time, no running home to shower or change or to get another book (I’d finished the book I’d brought with me- 11 was sleeping for the most part at this point- due to an iv full of antibiotic, morphine & toridol. )

I called work to let them know I wouldn’t be there the next day & they, in their typical short sighted, no clue how the real world operates way, told me I had to call in 2 hours before my shift began in the morning to say I wasn’t coming in “so call around 8 & we’ll enter it in the absence record” Never mind I’m supposed to be there at 9 am- no ones there to take the call until 8 & I’m supposed to be calling 2 hours before!

17, her BF & mr 7, now mr 8- as of Saturday, came in the BF’s car to bring me a nightgown, books & my cell phone charger. It worked out ok after all, but at first 17 was acting like this whole thing was just something to inconvenience her personally & accusing 11 of faking the whole thing to get attention.
If she was faking she deserves an oscar because the nurses were pretty concerned, especially when her fever kept popping back up every time the Motrin wore off.

I watched most of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (which I have always meant to see but never gotten around to) on AMC Saturday night, with 11 waking up & falling back to sleep, I learned how to unplug & re-attach her IV so she could go to the bathroom & tried to get her to eat.

She had thrown up Saturday mid-day, when they gave her this stuff to drink to make her appear correctly on the cat scan & so they had her on clear liquids to start- at dinner she got chicken broth & Jello, she was not pleased about that in the least- though I have to say the cat scan was interesting to watch on the computer screen, I could tell, when they looked at her kidneys, what they were looking at.

I decided early that the reason an adult has to stay with a kid in the hospital is to make it easier on the nurses, if she’d called them every time she had to pee, needed a blanket because she had the chills from her fever or when she was feeling uncomfortable at the end of each of the every 6 hour doses of painkiller they’d have been in her room all the time, I did a lot of what I remember nurses doing for the patient when I was younger. It was ok though, I was glad I was there to comfort her & hold her hand.

They have some sort of program which covers parent’s meals while a child is in the hospital so they brought me trays of food for dinner, breakfast, lunch etc. The food was pretty good really, I especially liked the chicken croquette type thing, stuffed with broccoli & cheese & breaded that I had Sunday night, if only there had been two of them! They’re pretty generous with the deserts too, I got chocolate mousse the first night, cheesecake for Sunday lunch & 11 had regular chocolate pudding at dinner on Sunday night, her first real meal since she had breakfast Saturday morning.

At 3pm on Sunday, the doctor came in & said she thought it might be a kidney infection & that they were going to do an ultrasound, they tried to get her in that afternoon, but it had to wait until Monday morning, thus earning me another day out of work. (As for my absence issue- they count 2 days back to back as 1 absence- so not a big deal that way. We were, however, having a promotion this weekend that if everyone on a team had perfect attendance & did at least a little overtime each day between Friday & Monday the whole team could be forgiven for 1 individual absence infraction- because I couldn’t be there either &/or both days I screwed my whole team out of that one. I still feel my kid is a little more important & there was no one else who could stay with her.)

Around 5 last night she rallied & was cheerful, active & nearly her normal self, we went to the playroom & played checkers, she ate solid food & was fine until about 8 when she took herself to the bathroom & the pain started again when she was sitting on the toilet.

It was the worst I’ve seen & I was pretty scared for her, she’s not one to be whiny & when it comes to pain she is like me in that she doesn’t bitch much, just shrugs it off or concentrates on something else (Book, TV, talking to people etc.) to take her mind off of the pain. She wasn’t able to get on top of this at all though- which is how it was to some extent the whole weekend- which is why I took her to the emergency room in the first place, it is abnormal for her to be the way she was.

I called my mother, the ex’s mother & 17 apparently said something on-line to Chrissea’s daughter because Chrissea called me, we worked it out that she’d come today if I needed her to, as my cousin, & sit with 11 so I could go home & shower, change clothes & see 17 & 8.
I forgot at that point that 17 actually had a class at the Jacksonville center that a friend got her into for free this week she’s studying all types of art & they’re supposed to help her begin to put together a portfolio she can use to apply to art schools - since that’s what she wants to do after High School- she thinks. The BF had agreed to keep an eye on mr 8 until 17 gets home in the afternoon (they play a lot of video games) & 11 was supposed to be at day camp until 3:15 each day.

At 7:30 am they woke us up & took 11 to have the ultrasound, she came back, we ate breakfast & then both of us fell back to sleep- neither one of us slept well at the hospital at all- she says there was a helicopter there last night but I slept through that part.

The pediatrician on call today woke us up around 10 & said the ultrasound showed her kidneys did not seem to be infected, that only her lymph nodes were a problem, that it was probably just a virus & that they felt she could go home with antibiotics & painkillers.

We were out of there by 11! I’ve never been in a hospital longer than the 2 days they give you when you give birth & I’ve never been in one for anything other than giving birth. (Knock on Wood) It’s not my idea of a good time at all & 11, though she is very interested in the medical profession seemed pretty happy to get out of there too. We got soda for me & water for her at the nearest store, went to the pharmacy where we got her meds & a thermometer, I haven’t had one in the house since the one I got when 8 was born got snapped in the move from the trailer to our new house in 2005.

11’s now ensconced on the couch feeling rather miserable still, the painkillers are only to be given every 6 hours & they’re not fever reducers either so she’s taking Advil for that in between too. 8’s been playing video games with the bf since we got home, he gave me a hug as soon as we walked in the door & then went back & I haven’t seen him since (we all have our priorities you know)

I’m trying to decide how I’m going to make up 20 hours over the next week & a half- at least after Friday I’ll be working for time & a half for every hour I put in above the 40 I’m supposed to do- that will help to fill it out, but I’ll have to do some this week too- ugh.

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