My First 48 Hours of 2012

Happy New Year!  In case you weren’t hovering over your computer on New Year’s Eve, I wrote a little review of 2011.  To be fair (as in I did do something other than blogging), we did have friends over on the earlier side since we all have kids five and under.   We thought it best to celebrate early to avoid ringing in the New Year with a meltdown.  Objective successfully reached.

I thought that was a good sign that 2012 was off to a positive start.

I thought wrong.

Follow me through this loose time line:

12 a.m. – Holy $hit!  I stayed up to watch the ball drop.  I haven’t done that in at least six years!   Thanks Kathy Griffin and Anderson Cooper for making it fun!

8:00 a.m.  – Holy $hit!  Everyone slept in!  (This should have been the first clue that something was not right).  Woke up and made chocolate chip pancakes.  I also drank copious amounts of coffee with Peppermint Mocha creamer.

9:00 a.m. – Find myself having to repeat everything I was saying to Marie. 

9:05 a.m. –          “Marie, could you please bring me your dish?”

 “What?” 

“Marie, could you please bring me your dish?” 

“What?”

“Marie, could you please bring me your dish?” 

“What?”

9:06 a.m. -           “Marie, did you brush your teeth?”

                                “What?”

                                “Marie, did you brush your teeth?”

                                “What?”

                                “Marie, did you brush your teeth?

                                “What?”

9:07a.m. -            “Marie, can you hear me?”

                                “What?”

                                “Marie, can you hear me?”

                                “What?”

                                “Marie, can you hear me?”

                                “What?”

9:09a.m. -            “Marie, can you hear me?”

                                “What?”

                                “Marie, can you hear me?”

                                “What?”

                                “Marie, can you hear me?”

                                “What?”

10:30 a.m. – Suspect that Marie cannot hear because she has too much ear wax.  Harrington gives her a bath and cleans her ears.  The problem is not resolved.  (See times 9:07 a.m. and 9:09 a.m.)

3:30 p.m. – We are just about to put our coats on to go to my parents’ house for dinner when I see some pus oozing from Marie’s eyes.  I try to stay calm, but on the inside I. Am. Freaking. Out.  I have always had an exaggerated fear of The Pink Eye (term coined by Marie).  I am no doctor, but I do believe that if there is something that resembles drainage that would be normal dripping from your nose actually leaking from your eye, it is a safe bet it is The Pink Eye.  I call the doctor.  He confirms that she has The Pink Eye and prescribes her eye drops.  On a related note, Marie also has a totally exaggerated fear of The Pink Eye, too, so she is hysterical.  Thank goodness my parents are cool with us coming over because she needs a distraction.

4:00 p.m. – Pick up meds from pharmacist.  He is either A) not happy to be there, B) nursing a hangover, or C) all of the above.  The shades on the walk-up window are drawn, and I can see a venti-sized Starbucks cup behind the counter.  The only word he utters to me is, “Yes,” when I ask him, after looking at the receipt, if he had charged my insurance.  (A three milliliter bottle of medicine is approximately $20, however, it originally retailed for approximately $100).

5:30 p.m. – Marie keeps getting up from dinner to examine her Pink Eye.  She says she is done eating so I could give her the medicine.  I try my best to administer the drops without grimacing too much at the sight of the puss.

8:00 p.m. – Bed time.

3:30 a.m. – Marie wakes up in a panic and tries looking at her Pink Eye, which has spread to the next eye.  Thankfully, her eyes are glued shut with goo so she cannot see what I am still trying to erase from my memory.  I try to unglue her eyes with a warm washcloth and give her more drops.

3:42 a.m. – Marie has had a bad dream about The Pink Eye, comes racing into our room, and tries to get in bed with us.  I end up yelling, “No” because she could not hear my loud whispers.  I put her back to bed and started googling The Pink Eye.

4:00a.m. – I finally fall back asleep.

7:15 a.m. – Take a shower so I can be prepared to leave for the first appointment of the day.

8:10a.m. – Secure an early doctor appointment.

9:15 a.m. – Doctor confirms that Marie has a double ear infection with pink eye, which commonly occur with each other.  Since I am in there, I ask if Thomas’s new rash could be related to this.  He says that the rash sounds like strep and that I need to make an appointment.  Gulp.

11:00 a.m. – Give Marie her amoxicillin. 

12: 00 p.m.  – Lunch.

1:00 – 2:30 p.m.  While Thomas is napping, I disinfect Eve.Ry.Thing.

2:30 – 3:00 p.m. – Pray for the best.

3:30 p.m. – Take Thomas to his doctor appointment.  Strep test: negative.  Sensitive skin: positive.  Phew.

5:00 p.m. – Costco chicken noodle soup to supplement the antibiotics.

6:15 p.m. – Start bed time routine early.  Obviously.

7:30 p.m. – Curl up in the fetal position and am grateful for antibiotics.  And that the day is over.

I am going with the belief that my year will only go up from here.  Marie’s eyes are doing much better.  We are still waiting for her hearing to return.

My digestion track was already sensitive with eating lots of salty, fatty food and no down time that facing my Pink Eye fear was just a bit too much for my stomach.  Ick.

Hope your 2012 is off to a great start!