Boondock Ramblings

Nothing like a good ole' stomach flu. . .Or not.

I felt the twinge in my stomach Friday afternoon while at work. By Friday night my toilet and I were the best of friends.Today I am eating gingerly to be sure all is well with the stomach.

Jonathan is dealing with pink eye again and a runny nose. Ever so often I hear this: "My eye!" and a squeal as he begs for his daddy and I to wipe his eyes for him.

It was nice, though, on Friday night, to know my child was so concerned for me and was there to comfort me in my time of discomfort and misery.

Or not.

I heard the pitter-patter of little feet on the kitchen floor while I was "dismissing" my toast and two sips of tea from earlier in the evening.

"Mama? What that sound?"

Then: "Oh! Eeeew!" and pitter-patter of feet as he ran away again. Then the footsteps came back.

"Mama, that gisgusting!"

I would have responded, but, well, I was unable to. When he said, "That gisgusting!" again I couldn't even laugh. A few moments later he did ask "You better now?" But I think that was just because he wanted me to make him hot chocolate.

A little pink eye for Christmas . . .

 

The goo in Jonathan's eye Christmas morning, along with expected freezing rain, signified our family wouldn't be going anywhere for Christmas except to the ER (the only medical facility open) and then back home again.

After a quick Christmas breakfast at Hubby's grandfather's we headed to the ER, expecting to find our wait long with men holding sliced fingers from missing the turkey, or others with odd ailments. Instead we found an empty waiting room and were ushered into an examine room almost immediately. Jonathan was disappointed that he didn't even get to play with the waiting room toys, but with the way his right eye was starting to swell shut, I was glad for the quick service.

Besides, he seemed to think the examine room was his own personal playground as he climbed on the bed and tried to touch everything else in the room. Mommy wouldn't allow him to touch anything, quite sure that the condition she had originally thought was caused by a foreign object in her son's eye was indeed pink eye.

The doctor confirmed it was pink eye. We were given antibiotic drops, an antibiotic for an additional sinus infection (which the kid had not exhibited any symptoms of other than a small amount of clear snot from his nose), and sent on our way.

I only wish the doctor or nurse had told us how we are supposed to convince a 3-year old to open his eyes so the eye drops can be put in. And then how, after some has hit his eye and apparently it burned, we are supposed to accomplish such a task three times a day while the child is flailing, screaming and shaking his head back and forth.

Fortunately, with his refusal to have the eye drops placed in his eye, there is more for mommy, who started to feel the goo coming from her eye Christmas night into Saturday morning.

It sounds like a depressing Christmas, and I was a little sad not to see my family, but spending much of the day cuddling Jonathan and hugging Hubby made up for the disappointments. It took me almost all day to realize what a nice Christmas it truly was, but when I did I held on to the feeling and it was as warm inside me as my son's sleeping form was next to me.

I hope your Christmas Day/Weekend was special and "uneventful" but yet "eventful."

Was it?

"I love you too."

You and I were both feeling feverish and achy. We popped in Wall-E, which Daddy and I had bought for your birthday.

We curled up under a blanket on the chair and Daddy went upstairs to update his status on Facebook and check his e-mail. You leaned your head against me.

"I sick," you said.

"I know. So am I," I said.

After battling a cough, fever and chills all weekend I was feeling like a truck had run over me a few times.

"Better," you said.

"You feel better?" I asked.

"No!" you said.

"You want to feel better?" I asked.

"Uh-huh," you said softly.

I kissed the top of your head.

"I love you Jonathan."

"I love you too," you said, your tone of voice similar to daddy's when he says the same words as if to say "Well, duh. Of course I love you."

My heart melted.

You'd never said those words back to me before, without being prompted.

Suddenly having the flu wasn't so bad after all.

Hosted by Cecily and JENNIFER

I have a post up about my new camera at Views Beyond the Lens.

Yes, I'm a hypochondriac, but really? I am pretty sure I have the swine flu.

As readers of this blog know, I was really concerned about getting the Swine Flu vaccine for Jonathan. Last week I found out our pediatrics department had it and something told me to take Jonathan over. Two squirts up the nose and he was vaccinated.

Friday I started coughing. Friday night I was achy and coughing. Saturday I was convinced I was on death's door. Sunday I began questioning where I was and who these men were in my house -- one of them (almost) 32 and quite cute, the other a 3-year old as of Saturday, from what the cute (almost) 32 year old told me.

I dreaded even thinking I might have it. You know "It". The Swine Flu. I definitely did not want to mention I might have it because I knew what the reaction of family members would be: "You're a hypochondriac!" That and "You didn't get the vaccine and even if you did, you can't get the flu from the vaccine. And you can't catch it from Jonathan."

According to the CDC, they were right. According to the Mayo Clinic, they were also wrong.

From the Mayo Clinic, about the nasal spray vaccine. . . "Contains weakened live viruses that won't give you the flu but that can, in rare cases, be transmitted to others"

Here, also, is a list of symptoms of the Swine Flu, from the Flu.gov website:

*body aches; fever; coughing and or sore throat; chills, fatigue.

I have all of those and yes, these are also symptoms for the regular flu, but I think it is odd my son had the live vaccine shot into his nose on Tuesday and by Friday I came down with symptoms very similar to this Piggy Flu. I don't find it comforting at all that the information sheet on this vaccine reminds me that most people will be fine if they have H1N1, but "some will die." Ah, crap. Give a sick woman a break, huh?

As if things couldn't get worse, Jonathan started with a fever Friday night and coughing Sunday morning. His symptoms seem mild and are probably the reaction from the vaccine. I'm keeping on top of the children's Motrin and Tylenol to keep his fever in check and come this morning we will try to decide which one of us, or if both of us, should go to the doctors.

Because of all this, and because I'm having trouble remembering if I took Tylenol already or if I'm even awake or actually dreaming, I've had to forgo telling all of you about my son's birthday; the awesome deal I got on a new camera; the fact Jonathan told me Saturday night that he loved me and that this is the first time it was said, unprompted; and of checking up on most of your blogs.

Fear not, like  Nicole  said, you can catch Swine Flu through the Internet, so reading this blog does not leave you open to disease. However, you might can catch it through the phone because Brother, who says what a hypochondriac I am, insisted last week that he had the Swine Flu and called me each and every day to whine about it. Don't worry, I won't quarentine you like he did his readers. You are allowed to leave. Just wash your hands, wear a face mask, and don't cough toward anyone you love (only toward those who drive you crazy).

Until I can get a full post together about Jonathan's birthday here is one photo from the day. He insisted on wearing the Superman costume I bought him and was very excited when he opened his Green Lantern figure, which he has been asking for for months now.

Stress eating and a recovering toddler

Isn’t this all getting old? You know, the posts about HASAY that go something like this:

"This week I did nothing. I ate like crap. I didn’t work out. I am fat. I am depressed. I give up."

That has been the content of my HASAY posts lately and this week it is no different. A sick mommy one week and a very sick baby the next week and I am back to square one -- fat, miserable and craving chocolate.

I’m going to try to get on the Wii Fit tonight and am hoping it doesn’t scream at me: “What!? You haven’t been on here for two weeks!? Are you trying to stay fat you, moron?!”

We’ll see how that goes. We’ll also see how it goes with my new determination to write down everything I eat during the day. My hope is that I’ll look at it, feel incredibly guilty, and try harder the next day. Instead I’ll probably feel incredibly guilty, become overly stressed and stuff my face with something fattening.

It’s bad when even your husband notices stress makes you eat more.

I told Hubby last night that I was so hungry all night.

“Well, that’s what you do when you’re stressed, you eat,” he said.

First off, though, I  had only had a few handfuls of Doritoes (bad, I know) and a peanut butter sandwich all day, so it wasn’t like I was gorging from all the stress of Jonathan being sick. Still, it was a wake up call that even Hubby notices my dependency on food to cheer me up.

A Recovering Toddler

Thank you to those who have been sending well wishes our way for our Jonathan. I’ve hated seeming so dramatic about it all (shut up, Brother), but Jonathan really is usually a trooper when it comes to illness, something I attribute to all the ear infections he had the first year of his life (all 11 of them). This time around it was as if the life had been sucked right out of my kid and that terrified me.

Today I saw a spark of life come back into him and while he is still tired, and it is obvious he is still not feeling well, it is also obvious he is slowly on the mend.

My parents, or at least my mother, have been beside themselves with worry since Jonathan first became more like a wet noodle and less like a toddler. I’ve updated them several times a day the last five days with condition reports on their Jonathan. I’m thinking of starting a Facebook page just for Jonathan to cut down on all the phone calls. That might be pretty funny actually, once he starts feeling better of course.

Status, 4:45 p.m. Monday: Pooping behind the chair. Mommy will never find it here.

Status, 9 p.m., Wednesday: Driving mommy crazy. Refusing to go to sleep. She’s screaming and her face is turning funny colors. So funny.

Status, 10 a.m., Friday: Daddy just pulled out the hair he had left and his forehead and ears are bright red. That’s not good, right?

Status, 7:30 a.m., Saturday: Mommy thought she was going to be able to sleep in. Ha-Ha. What a LOSER.

A good sign in Jonathan’s slow recovery is his request to watch certain movies. For four days there were no cries of “naut!” (a.k.a. astronaut, a.k.a. Toy Story) or Cars! (a.k.a. Cars!). He didn’t even seem interested in TV or books, or making me talk to Buzz Stupid Stinkin’ Lightyear.

After a request of “naut!” Sunday night we curled up in the chair and watched Toy Story for probably the 30th time, which I didn’t mind since my toddler actually seemed somewhat interested. Today he is beginning to appear more like a toddler and less like a glassy-eyed, drugged-up rock star. And that is worth having to hear “To Infinity and Beyond!” 50-times any day.