Tuesday, February 09, 2010

Whoa, Nelly. Whoa!

February is running hard and fast - straight forward at break-neck speeds with no brakes. I'm hanging on as tight as I can! Ever since the babe told me that a girl in her class had pneumonia last week, I've been holding my breath. Last night at the doctor's (where she informed me her saturation level was at 86 before the nebulizer), I was afraid we would be headed to the children's hospital. "By ambulance," she added. Thanks, doc. Thanks so much. Of course, she did tell me this after the albuterol treatment. The babe's saturation levels shot up to 97 which is above normal. Thank goodness!

Before this, I worked all day, picked up the babe from school, drove 20 miles to another town to get my oil changed at the dealership (coupon, you know...). On the way was when the babe announced that, not only had she coughed all day, but her chest was hurting. I called the doctor and they said they could get me in at 6:30pm that evening (did I mention the doctor's office is in Salt Lake)?

Oil change over sooner than expected, I called the doctor back and asked if I could get in earlier. No dice. Drove the 20 miles back home, fed the dogs and tried to get the babe to eat something. Meanwhile, Indy was bouncing off the walls (that's what happens when you don't have a nap) and was trying to get into everything. Forty minutes later, we're back in the car and headed into Salt Lake. Darkness falls. The skyline is so beautiful at night. I'd forgotten.

Head to the office and wait for only five minutes in the waiting room (but thirty minutes in the exam room). After the visit (it's now 8:00pm), I head home only to drop off the kids and head to the pharmacy for meds. There's a cop-car in the parking lot which has pulled over a sedan. The man is being talked to outside of his car. Not a good sign.

Walgreens 24-hour pharmacy was like the club Monday night. What the hell?! "Your prescription will be ready in 45 minutes to an hour." Thanks! Off to Barnes and Noble to browse and buy books (always fun). The cop-car now has a friend with "Paramedic" stamped on the side of this car. Uh, oh.

Barnes and Nobl.e offers a good "cure" book and a nice book for a 4th grader. The discount rack has a Michael Jackson tribute book with lots of pictures. I still can't believe he's gone. I just knew he'd be old, gray and wearing Kleenex boxes on his feet. Oh, well.

Back to Walgreens and now, three cop-cars. Sweet! Thirty more minutes to wait and the line is huge. A chatty guy tells me he just came from the emergency room and it's packed there, too. He waited two hours for the emergency doctor to tell him he had a double sinus infection. Yuck! What was up with illness and Monday?! I finally get the scrips and some candy (for stress). The suspect in the parking lot's car is being hella searched and there's crap all over the street, his car and the cop's car. Yeesh!

Home at last (about 10:30pm). I've called in and told the boss-man that I gotta play home-nurse tomorrow (today). So, that's what I've done. The Babe is world's better and is going to try school tomorrow. She's even going to try dance. We'll see...

So, what else is happening in only the first nine days of February? Life-changing stuff. Hubby and I have talked and I'm getting ready to "do something." Can't say what it is, yet. The Enchantress site is going to go through some changes to reflect what's coming, once I have time this week to get it ready. The stall on my weight loss is about to end (fingers, toes, eyes all crossed). Hubby will be helping and supporting, but not training me (not quite ready for him to do that again). I'll need to prepare myself mentally for that.

Oh, and the Babe's speech went marvelously! So many compliments! One gentleman said that she was more poised and well-spoken than some of our teenagers who are asked to speak. For real?! My mom even raved, and she's picky about everything! The services are recorded each Sunday, so mom picked up an extra DVD for me to keep. I can't wait to see my girl working the podium again.

3 comments:

Miss Construed... said...

Wow; the US needs to get a grip on their health care situation... something chronic!

Over here we have medicare which bulk-bills most treatments, costing us practically nothing. It has never cost me a cent to see a doctor.And while I realise the US has 10 times the amount of citizens that Australia does it's still a fact that most people can't afford private health cover. The US health system is a scary sad joke, that sadly,ultimately, costs the lives of tens of thousands of lives per year.

Hope the Babe is feeling better M.

RN x

Dee said...

wow that was a post and a half. Hope your daughter is well again.

Enchantress said...

Miss Construed - It's so true. I hope "the powers that be" figure something out quick and in a hurry. Many "Boomers" are entering into hospice situations, now and they will break the system for sure. It will be up to us to make things better. I hope we can...

GC - She is doing much better, thanks so much to you both (you as well, Miss). It's terribly scary when your kids can't breathe.