Sick of being Sick and random rants about our health benefits

So it all started last week. Grace was up most of Tuesday night running to the bathroom. Well, that was after she threw up in her bed (makes me want to rethink bunkbeds). Poor baby was miserable. So, I kept her out of school on Wednesday. Naturally, she wanted to play between bathroom breaks. Seemed that her bowels were finally under control so I sent her back to school Thursday and Friday. She got home from school Friday and went right to sleep on the couch. Well, we had a function Friday night, so she got up and went. I really just thought she was a little tired, so didn't think too much of it. We got to our function and she didn't eat. Said nothing looked good. She didn't even eat my Oreo balls! I should've known...


*Grace, when she was feeling better, doing a little Hydro-therapy :-)

Fast forward a day (Saturday). Grace was running a low grade fever, but was feeling much better. Josh, however, was running a bit higher of a fever. The motrin was working and I let it do its job. Rob wanted to go eat in Elizabethtown -- since Josh seemed to be feeling better. So, off we went... to the Golden Corral (I need to say here that I am NOT a fan of the GC, but thought it would be okay since we could get Josh and Grace some jello and not overwhelm their tummies). Everybody ate and everybody seemed okay. Rob fell asleep on the couch about 5 minutes after we got home, Josh went willingly to bed and the girls followed soon thereafter. Everything was okay. UNTIL... the middle of the night. Knowing that Josh normally doesn't volunteer to go to bed, I checked on him through the night. At midnight, I took his temperature and he was burning up! If it had been just a few 10ths of a degree more, I would have taken him to the ER. But as it was, I got him up and tortured him with a lukeward shower, another dose of motrin and made him eat a popsicle (he didn't protest too much with the popsicle). By the time I let him get back in the bed, his temperature was quite reasonable.

*Notice the 'sick eyes' -- I can always tell my kids are sick by looking at their eyes

Then, it hit again -- this time -- ROB! He stayed in the bed all day Sunday (between his bathroom trips) and then yesterday, he didn't go into work until 1030 and was home by 1400 (and said he took a nap on his office couch for 45 minutes)! Now, if you know my husband it takes A LOT for him to miss work.


So, I've taken you up to Monday at 1400... Rob got home and went back to bed. Grace got off of the bus around 1545 and was asleep on the couch by 1600. Hmmm... I woke her up to get some drink into her and to ask if she wanted to eat dinner. Nope. I woke her up again to go to her bed. I checked on her before I went to bed at 2230 to find her with another low grade fever (which isn't too unusual with G while she sleeps) but I gave her a dose of motrin, just to help her sleep better. I checked on her throughout the night, making her drink some tea. No more fever though. I woke her up this morning and she said she felt a little better but not great. Okay... I get on the phone to make her a doctor's appointment. I come in to check on her again with the phone on my ear (on hold, of course) and tell her I'm trying to get her an appointment and she FREAKS OUT! I tell her she has the choice of school or the doctor. She gets up (though she had already missed the school bus) and gets ready for school. No fever and by the time she is leaving for school (Rob took her since he slept in again) she seems to be her good ol' self. I did send a note that she slept all yesterday and to call if she seems to be fading.

Let me interject a rant. I waited on hold for 15 minutes to try and get an appointment just to be told there were no appointments today or tomorrow. Would I be interested in using an acute care center (our version of a referral to an off post clinic)? Yes, I would be interested. She sends me to a voice mailbox to leave information and somebody will call me back.

So when the phone rings (unfamiliar phone number #1), I immediately answer it. The clinic? No. The school nurse. Faith has thrown up on the bus and in her classroom. Faith? I didn't hear that right. Yes, Faith. Okay... I'll be right there.

*This is from a few weeks ago, but see what I mean about the eyes... tells it everytime

While I am getting the boys dressed to go pick up Faith, the phone rings again (unfamiliar phone number #2). The clinic nurse. What is going on, she wants to know. I tell her all about Grace being sick this weekend and sleeping so much yesterday and not eating and only drinking when I made her. She said she *was* going to refer me to a clinic, but she thinks G may be dehydrated and that I should bring her in to the er. I told her that I had been pushing fluids and that Grace had had a liter of tea since 2am. Nope, the er is what she recommends. Well, I asked to talk with Grace when I went to pick up Faith. She had a little pep back in her step and seemed to have a bit more color too. So, I left her there, telling her that she should call me if she starts to feel bad.

I go get Faith from the nurse's office (where she has thrown up another 3 times), bring her home and put her to bed. She has been there now for a little over 3 hours and is feeling fine. Begging to get out of bed fine. I will say that I am glad she got sick at school, for 2 reasons. First, because they sent her home which means I don't have to get a doctor's note. Second, because I didn't have to clean it up. I love Mr Willie (the school custodian) and I hope they pay him well!

This hospital never has appointments in pediatrics. Knowing that, they should be able to work us into the family practice clinics. Not send us to the er. If they could see me immediately, I would do that, but when I took Sam in for his ears, we waited in the waiting room for 4 hours! I knew what was wrong... he was pulling on his ears. Just give him an antibiotic and send us on! So, am I supposed to take my four children to the er to wait for 5 hours? Ridiculous! Military hospitals should be a little more understanding of our *unique* circumstances. What if this happens again in two months? I will be by myself here with all four. We will all be sitting in the er, I guess. Who knows, though, maybe it will make them want us out of there faster :-) In my opinion, there should be an oncall sick call for soldiers... especially trainees! I've never seen such crybabies!

I know that I don't have much to complain about. Our health benefits are *free*. I don't have to pay for anything... visits, prescriptions, er visits, tests, anything. But a civilian hospital (where people choose to go-- and spend money -- there) would never be able to get by with such crappy customer service.

Since I've put a picture of every other kid up, here is Sam. His antibiotic for the ear infections did its job and he is as bright eyed as ever :-)

Random stuff

We are experiencing some technical difficulties with our computer. Namely, we have no icons and have to maneuver everything through the Task Manager. Pretty annoying. I also can't upload pictures, so these -isms come personal picture-less. Sorry. We may have to call in the Geek Squad.

First... I gave Sam a bath last night. He loves them now that he can sit up by himself... and splash water all over me. Anyway. When he was finished, I took the towel and rubbed his head to dry his hair. His hair stood in a perfect Mohawk. Josh couldn't quite figure out what we were calling Sam's hair, so when Rob walked in, Josh informed him that Sam had a "Bo hawk"

Second... I have been under the impression that I was losing my mind. I have been having this recurring dream that seemed SO familiar but I couldn't place where I was. I was in a boat and was hearing a speaker (announcer) talking about hydroponic plants. Well, it isn't any secret that we are going to Disney for Spring Break this year. Rob and I were on the internet looking at all of the parks (because we really only want to do 2-3 of the parks) and we were looking at Epcot. Living with the Land. Dang... if that isn't the boat and the picture has them going through a greenhouse full of hydroponic plants! I haven't lost my mind. I really did have that memory! Now, in my dream there were also some manatees and I am not sure if that is part of the ride, but at least HALF of it is real :-)

Faith doesn't like rules

Faith just told me that when she is a mom, she is going to tell her kids "No Rules"

She doesn't like that I won't let her love on Sam all the time. She wants to be in his face all the time and so now she says she doesn't like rules.

I told her I was writing it down so she'll remember when she is a mom.

Blogger Question

How do you "Follow a Blog"? Does it notify you when there is an update? I have probably 10 blogs that I look at daily -- most of the time, there is not much of a change.

I am realizing how much time I spend on the computer and am trying to cut it down.

Thanks for your help, if you know!!

Bubba-ism

Josh has become pretty fascinated with Sam and how he really is a little person. Today, he looked in his mouth. He was looking at his gums...

Josh- Look mom, he has these things like us (points to his gums)

me - yep.

Josh - but his are raw.

**because he doesn't have teeth :-)

Never Again

Caution: This blog contains a bit of personal information that may be TOO much information for some :-) Consider yourself warned

So, last night Sam went to bed around 8pm. Awesome, right? He has started waking up for the first time at around 1am. But he usually doesn't go to bed until 9:30. So, my body -- well, my boobs -- are used to feeding him every 3 hours. Last night, I did the unthinkable. I thought my boob was going to explode so I... gasp... I woke him up to feed him. And I paid for it. He stayed up for an hour and a half.

I should have just let him sleep and gotten the pump out. Next time I'll have the pump ready.

Complete and total rants...

I know that I have a great life. I don't really have anything to complain TOO much about, but right now... I really need to complain for a minute.

The dishwasher.
I know I live on post and don't *technically* pay for service/maintenance costs, but really. Our dishwasher stopped cleaning. There was no water getting into the inside therefore no dishes were being cleaned. So, I call maintenance. Yep... we'll be out in 2 days. Cool. I'll wash dishes for 2 days. The maintenance guys come out and don't even know what they are doing. They have to get the manual out to try to figure it out. Forty-five minutes later, they are leaving and the dishwasher was, in fact, getting water. It still had a short in the door which prevented it from shutting off when you open the door. That is right... if it was running and you opened the door, you'd get wet. It ran for two washes. I loaded it the third time, started it up, went to dress Sam and came out of his room to a horrid, metallic-burning smell. Hmmm... the dishwasher sounded like it was running, but no water. So the heating coil in the bottom of the dishwasher was basically burning up. When I opened the door -- it didn't turn off -- and smoke poured out. So I immediately call maintenance, honestly thinking this would be an emergency. Hello?!? My dishwasher was smoking. As I am talking to the lady, I was pushing the reset button on the door - which sometimes will turn it off... if you push long enough. Finally, after literally five minutes, the dishwasher turns off. So what does this mean... no longer an emergency -- we'll be out in three days. Now... enter the ice storm that shut down everything. Another flippin five days go by and the rescheduled maintenance visit happens. The guy (who is the head of appliance maintenance) comes out, is here for 10 minutes and condemns the thing with 4 deficiencies that would individually deadline the dishwasher. And guess what?!? There are no dishwashers in the warehouse and they are going to have to ORDER ONE!! I got a call today that there is one here. And they'll be here on Monday to put it in. So, start to finish, 14 days I have been washing dishes. I hate washing dishes.

Punishment vs Reward.
So, Rob is leaving again. Afghanistan this time. I am having a hard time coming to terms with this because we had already planned out our next PSC, which was supposed to happen this summer. We were going to Germany. I was SO excited. Then the battalion came down on orders. I had my hopes up that Rob would be changing out of command before the deployment, since he has done his year of command (which is the minimum time of a good command). Okay, so he wouldn't get 18 months, but it won't hurt him. But NO -- because he is such a GOOD commander, he has to stay in command for the deployment. That means he is going to have approximately 27 months in command! Un-freakin'-heard of. Why are we being punished for Rob being a GOOD commander? Dang that work ethic.

Computer Virus.
Somehow got a virus that only shows up on my profile. McAfee Virus/Spyware scans don't detect anything. How can you remove something the computer says isn't there? Ugh.

On a good note, Faith's medicine is working and she is doing much better.