Is This Normal?
The chaos that is the KerbersArchive for doctors
Seriously sick
Poor Emma. Monday Danielle called me at school to tell me that Ems had a temperature. At that time she was at 101.2°, so I called Dave to see if he could pick her up and take her home. He did, and they had a nice afternoon together. We were giving her ibuprofen and Tylenol and they were both keeping her fever down for the most part. But by 8:30 Monday night I could tell that she was not going to be fever-free by morning, so I called in to work and stayed home with her yesterday. In the morning when I gave her some medicine, I noticed that she was kind of gagging while she drank it. I asked to see her throat, and he little tonsils were swollen so badly that they were almost touching each other. The poor little thing. After that I decided that we should head in to see Dr. Jani, because I was worried that it was something worse than a simple fever. As soon as we went in and he looked in her throat, he diagnosed strep. They did a throat culture, but he was sure that it was strep without even waiting for it to come back. So he prescribed an antibiotic and we came back home.
Ems fell asleep on the couch watching a movie that afternoon, which was a huge indicator that she was feeling awful. I can’t remember the last time she fell asleep on her own while a movie was on. I was hopeful that the medicine would kick in soon, but I knew that she would not have been on it long enough to go back to Danielle’s today. You have to be on the medicine for 24 hours before you’re not contagious, and she would have only been on it for about 19 hours. So I stayed home with her again today. She was better, but the fever just doesn’t seem to be breaking. She fell asleep on the couch again this afternoon. She just doesn’t feel well for sure.
I’m hoping that by morning the fever will have broken and we’ll all be able to get back to our regular routine. I really need to get back to school, and I just want that little girl to feel better. Let’s keep our fingers crossed, because it’s just awful when your kids are sick like this. I hate feeling so helpless.
The incident
Earlier this evening, Dave and I were both upstairs working on various tasks. The kids were both downstairs playing together. They had been bickering a lot, and were chasing each other around which resulted in a lot of screaming. But suddenly we heard the most guttural, blood-curdling scream we had ever heard. It was Ben, and it was apparent that something was very wrong. “Open it, open it, OPEN IT!!” he was screaming. We both ran downstairs to see what had happened and it was bad. Emma had slammed Ben’s finger in the door leading to the laundry room. She had literally shut the door the entire way on the ring finger of his right hand. He was hysterical, the finger was swelling instantly, and Emma was in tears.
Dave laid him down, got some ice, and tried his best to calm him down while I was trying to do the same for Emma. She felt so bad that she had really hurt him. They were just playing and she had no intention of hurting him. It was a classic case of things just getting a bit out of hand (no pun intended). At this point Ben was crying so hard that he was literally shaking. His finger looked awful, too…it was purple and dented in and looked somewhat crooked to us. Thankfully, though, it was not bleeding very much. But it did look crooked, and we thought that we’d need to take him for x-rays just to be sure it was not fractured. I think that freaked him out more than anything. He kept saying, “I don’t want to go to the doctor, I don’t want to go to the doctor, no…NO…” But we convinced him that he had to go. We calmed him down as much as possible, got his coat on, and he and I took off for Prompt Care.
Thankfully we were not there very long and his finger was not broken. He was very brave throughout the whole ordeal, and by the time we got home his finger was looking much better. It was going to be one ugly bruise, but we were thankful that there was no fracture or break. I’m guessing that his nail will eventually fall off, but overall it was a pretty minor injury. Hopefully they will both learn from this and the chasing each other and door slamming will stop.
“Tooth is out”
Yesterday we had a few errands to run to get ready for the garage sale. One of them was to go pick up a cash box and get some change from school. While the kids and I were there, I noticed that my co-worker Caroline was there, so we stopped in the library to chat with her. As the two of us chatted about just about anything other than school, the kids were running around the library randomly. They love to run up and down the steps and rows in the computer lab for some reason.
Suddenly, Ben said, “Tooth is out!” My eyes got wide and I said, “WHAT?” Sure enough, his loose tooth had fallen out. He was so excited. “It didn’t even hurt!!” he exclaimed. Well, that’s no wonder…the new permanent tooth is almost halfway in already. I was so proud of him and couldn’t wait to get a picture.
Ben was so happy that it didn’t hurt him and I was so happy that it didn’t turn into some traumatic event like most things do with him. We put the tooth in a baggie and hung it on the fridge waiting to put it under his pillow for the tooth fairy. Emma kept asking to look at it throughout the day. She was very jealous and was really wishing that she could lose a tooth, too. It was difficult for her to understand that it would, in fact, happen to her, too…she just has to be patient. When bedtime rolled around, he was so excited to put it under the pillow.
The tooth fairy almost forgot to come, but in the end she didn’t let us down and brought him a five dollar bill in the morning! I’m sure it was a bigger amount just because it was his first lost tooth, but needless to say he was super excited and can’t wait to go to the store to pick out a toy to buy. It was another milestone we passes without incident, which is always good and bad for me.
What the what?
Tonight, as we were picking up toys and heading up to the bath, Dave called in from the front porch asking if we were looking for Barbie. I told him we were, so he said, “You have to come out here…and bring your camera.”
This is what was on our front porch.
I know, right? Super creepy.
When we asked Emma why she did this, she replied, “Oh, Bawbie was just feewin’ sick.” I have no idea what was going through that cute little head of hers when she entombed Barbie in rocks from our landscaping, and I’m not really sure I want to. Although she does tell us that she wants to be “a doctor who takes babies out of mommy’s tummies” when she grows up, so maybe this is simply the beginning of a career.
Ol’ Pink-Eyed Emma
Yesterday when Emma woke up from her nap she had some crusty stuff in her eye. I always call them “sleepies”, and I get that a lot, so I didn’t really think much of it. I washed her face and eye off, and I never really gave it another thought. I was gone for the evening so Dave put the kids to bed. When I got home, he told me that her eye had been bothering her all night and it was really watery and kind of gooey. “Oh, no,” I thought. “I hope it’s not pink eye.”
Of course my home doctoring skills were dead on as always and this morning she woke up with a bright red super gooey eye. It was definitely pink eye. So Ems and I are home today. We got medicine, and boy does she hate having it dropped in her eye! But we know she needs it to get better, so we’ll get through this. I’m also putting drops in the eye that doesn’t look infected, because this stupid infection is so contagious that I’m sure it will spread to the other side. My only hope is that the rest of the family will avoid it. I’m washing everything I can think of that she’s come in contact with in the last couple of days. I’ve even resorted to wiping everything from doorknobs to the refrigerator handle with Lysol wipes. I know it’s not the deadliest of diseases, but it sure is gross.
However, it’s actually very nice being home with her when overall she feels fine. Her eye is itching her a bit, but other than that she’s her same, sweet and silly self and we’re having a lot of fun together. I would have to say it’s a sick day well spent.
The flu shots
Dave is a big fan of flu shots. I’m not. Therefore, I delegate him to take the kids to get theirs each fall. He’s agreeable enough about it…especially because he knows that he’s way calmer than I am in these kinds of situations. I don’t do well with doctors and/or shots in general, and I know that if one of the kids freaks, I would be very little help.
I couldn’t have called it more accurately if I tried.
We had talked about it with Ben, because if you throw things on that kid without some fair warning, it’s always a disaster. He was as ready as he was ever going to be. He was in the room with Dave and Emma, and he was calm. Then the nurse came at him with the needle. Ben was trying to watch the needle, but the nurse was doing a pretty good job of hiding it. Dave kept telling him to look at him instead. As she got closer, though, he saw it, and immediately started screaming. “No, no, no, no…I don’t want to do it!” Dave was trying his best to calm him down, and the nurse was doing her best to get close enough to stick him. Attempt #1 resulted in a whiff. She kind of brushed him, but didn’t get the needle in. Then he really started going nuts. The thrashing began. Attempt #2 resulted in him sliding down out of the chair and through Dave’s legs almost to the floor. The nurse was just kind of waiting for him to calm down, which was not going to happen. Attempt #3 was successful…even though Dave had to restrain Ben with almost all of his might. Dave said that he felt like he needed to scream, ”Just DO IT” to the nurse. She finally got him, and he was so tense that when she pulled the needle out of his arm blood spurted out, too. It was quite a scene.
Then it was Emma’s turn. She was much more calm until the actual stick…then she started crying pretty hard. Later she told me that getting a shot was “NOT fun” and that “if I have to go to that door again I am NOT going in!”
Overall it was a pretty traumatic event…I’m so glad I wasn’t there. Dave is a trooper, that’s for sure.
My creepin’ crud
Last Sunday morning, I woke up and had a really itchy spot on my right leg. I thought nothing of it, of course, because mosquitos love and I usually have bites scattered around my arms and legs. But after about an hour or so, this spot on my leg was nothing like a typical bug bite. It was really red, it was hot, and it itched like nothing I’ve had itch in a really long time. In fact, I can’t remember something itching this badly ever…even the chicken pox! I figured something had irritated it, or I was reacting to something I rubbed up against, or I was having some kind of allergic reaction. But now, three days later, it’s even worse. Now the center is kind of purple, and along with itching it burns really badly and aches when I stand up after being off my feet for a while.
So finally I headed to the doctor this afternoon. And of course, I was in there about 5 minutes and he told me that he wasn’t sure what it was. He does think it’s topical, though, which means that I did rub up against something that has created this ugly mess. I left there with a prescription for a cream, and pretty much no answers at all. I hope that this stuff works, because this creepin’ crud is nasty!
Emma’s first dentist appointment
This afternoon was Emma’s first dentist appointment. She had gone with us to Ben’s last appointment, so she knew what to expect at the office and she even remembered how Dr. Hall had let her push the button to raise Ben’s chair. I wasn’t too nervous about her cooperating, but there’s always a tiny bit of apprehension with Emma, because she’s definitely a bit of a wild card.
I should have known that she’d handle it like a champ. She was super excited to have her turn first. She brushed for the hygienist, hopped up into the chair, and gave me a cheesy smile.
Then Dr. Hall came in and tipped her chair back. This time the smile on her face was genuine…she was just so excited to get started.
Once Dr. Hall got started counting and then cleaning her teeth, she barely moved. That mouth stayed open the entire time and she was a superstar. Dr. Hall even commented that she was doing really great for a three-year-old.
I was so proud of Ems and she was proud of herself. I’m working very hard to make dentist appointments fun and easy so my fear of the dentist isn’t passed down to the kids. So far, so good. Let’s hope that continues.
P.S. Ben did so much better during his appointment, too. He didn’t fidget like hd had in the past, and he didn’t even complain about the paste this time. I think that having Emma go first was a definite plus…she was a great example for him.
The sliver
At some point in the last couple of days, Ben got a sliver in his foot. We first noticed it last night, but he would not let us even come close to touching it. He totally freaked out at the prospect of me trying to get the thing out, so we just decided to let it stay in for another night. We had this problem before, and getting them out that time not go very well for us at all. I hoped, though, that having another year of maturity would help. I was wrong…dead wrong.
We started talking about the removal of the sliver first thing this morning. Even Danielle helped by reading some books about being brave during the day. When bathtime came, it was obvious that Ben was getting very apprehensive and nervous about the pending removal. 
We had told him that it had to come out, because it as already starting to get puffy and red, which meant the infection had started, and it was hurting him worse. Plus it was right on the ball of his foot, so he was hobbling around like he had a broken leg or something.
So bathtime ended, and I convinced Ben to go into our room to watch some cartoons while Dave was getting Emma to bed. We thought that maybe if he was relaxed and calm before we began, it would go better. Plus, often times cartoons can almost hypnotize Ben, so maybe he wouldn’t notice that we were getting it out. Wrong again, Mom. As soon as Dave walked into the room, Ben started crying and saying, “No, no, I don’t want to get it out!”. He was rolling around trying to get away from us. Dave finally just grabbed him and said, “Buddy, it has to come out.” He was holding him down and I had his foot trying desperately to hold him steady enough to get at the darn thing. I knew that it was festered enough that all I needed to do was poke the end with a needle and it would pop right out. But he kept wiggling that foot so much that I literally could not hold it still enough. The little bugger is strong! All this time he was screaming, “NO…NO…please, Mommy, DON’T!!” At one point he was even yelling, “HELP” at had to be almost the top of his lungs. Thank goodness it was a chilly night and our windows were closed, because if they had been open I swear the police would have been knocking at our door.
Just as I thought, as soon as I got the end poked, half of the sliver was out. With one little push against it the other half came out just as easily. Ben got a huge smile on his tear-soaked, blotchy face, and I gave him a big hug. It was over. We let him watch one more show so he could decompress a bit before going to bed. He was totally wired. We, on the other hand, we exhausted.
Dave went in to see if Emma was ok, because we were sure she could hear him screaming. She said to Dave, “I heared Ben say Help!” Dave assured her that he was ok and that the sliver was out. Apparently this was a traumatic night for the entire family.
Off to the dentist
This afternoon Ben had his six month dental checkup. I was a bit apprehensive, because last time he had freaked out a little bit more than the first time we went. He just doesn’t really like having his teeth cleaned, and I can certainly understand that. I hate it, too. So we hadn’t really talked about it too much…I just picked him up from Danielle’s and told him we were headed to Dr. Hall’s. He didn’t really say too much, so I was hopeful.
Once we got there, both kids were totally entertained while we waited to be called. It’s truly a benefit of going to a pediatric dentist. The waiting room is pretty much a toy utopia, and there’s always a movie playing. Today it was Bug’s Life. As I said, both kids were playing happily when the hygenist came out and called Ben’s name. He got a big smile on his face, and we headed back to the room. Ben was a champ…he didn’t hardly fuss at all! A couple times his hands would get going a little bit and I’d have to remind him, “Put your hands down, Buddy!” But for the most part he was very cooperative with Dr. Hall and he made it through the visit perfectly. I was so proud of him.
On a similar note, Emma was really a good girl during Ben’s checkup, too. She sat next to me and watched really carefully to check out all of the procedures. She kept talking about when she gets to come to get her teeth counted…she can’t wait.
It was such an easy visit, that I couldn’t believe it. The dentist is getting better for me, too!
