two things you never want to see as a parent

I started off today with grandiose plans. Physical therapy followed by lunch and yarn fondling with Sara.

On my way to PT I was clearly spacing off, as I drove right past it and realized a couple of miles later- I turned around and got their late. It was then that I realized I forgot my phone. If you've ever loitered with me in person, you know I'm neurotic about my cell. Must have it, must be working. Or I twitch.

After PT, it had begun to snow. Big, fluffy gorgeous flakes. I get back to my apartment and leave the van running... I'm intending on grabbing my phone and putting on jeans and a sweater. I see I've missed... eleven calls. The last one is my mom... so I call her back. She answers the phone yelling at me for not answering... I tell her I've been without a phone for just over an hour... how 'bout less yelling and more telling me what the problem is.

School called. Sprout threw up twice. Ok. Sick. Mom leaves work and goes to pick her up because I'm not answering. By the time my mom gets to the school... Sprout is "lethargic". I called mom just as they were leaving the school... mom brings Sprout to the apartment, I call the neurologist (we started a new med last Thusday), and I call Sara and cancel lunch... I see Sprout she looks droopy and I'm nervous.

We decide to go spend the day sick at Grandma’s house (my back won't tolerate any possible lifting that might need done). Drive to mom's house, I'm holding Sprout's hand and she asks me if I will "take care of her" I say of course. We get to my mom's... mom is putting the ramps down to get into her house... Sprout drops my hand. I turn around... and she is completely limp and folded over... she's unconcious, but breathing She then starts... vomitting blood.. While she's unconscious. She is non-responsive, non-communicative and spewing blood.

I yell at my mom to get in the car. Start driving to the emergency room. Did I mention the snow? Sprout fades in and out.. and finally goes.. OUT. My mom crawls into the back of the van with her.. and I'm white knuckling it.. while yelling at people doing 25mph (20 under) they were totally over compensating. If I had known how long it was going to take to drive, I would have called for an ambulance.

By the time we got there mom and I and Sprout were covered in blood vomit (nothing but a small plastic snack bag to puke in)... after the doc came in to see her, she asked about 3 questions before she turned and silently left the room, coming back a couple of minutes later.. in a gown, hat, mask, gloves.. etc. I said "do we need bubble wrapped?" after several hours of hell.. Sprout has been diagnosed with some freak variant of a gastroincitis influenza strain 189yu98QAAZB or some junk. Its making headlines and national news due to the scale of outbreaks its causing.

I've told you before I was the 12th plague monkey of the apocalypse.
Apparently Sprout is the 13th.

I found a grey hair this afternoon while antibacterial'ing myself for the 4000th time.
I dare say these two events are related.


There should be a rule that no parent's child is allowed to:
- lose consciousness
- vomit blood

oh, best part? When we were leaving, the doctor looked at me and said "When you get this, get in bed.. and stay there"..

not "if".. "when"

sock monkeys are go!

here is my nephew modeling his xmas gift.

The scarf and "sock" monkey faces are crocheted, the earflap hat knitted, with a "sock monkey" attached. success was mine, as he likes it quite a bit.


all done patternless, and pretty much winged as i went along. especially that hat. i like the construction quite a bit though and i've been tweaking/ making adjustments to it.

after the fact, i realized i prlly could have saved myself some stress by using the sock monkey face pattern in Happy Hooker-- but I was heavily medicated, awaiting surgery and sequestered away from my pattern collection.

minneapolis, whee!

I made it to Minneapolis in one piece.
So did my Sprout & Gram.
Yes, its been that kind of day.
Very long drive, and it was hell getting out of town this morning.

My back, sacrum, sciatic and freak neuropathic pain in my toes are all less than impressed with the journey I took them on today. I may need an extra pill or six to get to sleep tonight.

We're staying at a really nice hotel.
We have sleep number beds. I'll tell you right now, they suck. No matter what Lindsey Wagner says.
The waitress in the hotel restaurant, clearly made a foolish judgement when she saw us at her table.
Her name was Harmony and she was horrible. She made the service of the dude from Hiro (I'd link but I don't even want to think about that night) look like a champ. The pink and purple striped haired girl with the tattoos.. and her kid in a wheelchair.. and her mom warranted shit service.

Why is it that servers so often tend to not realize that broke ass people understand WHY you should tip and WHY its important (financially) to servers. I may not have bajillions of dollars to throw around, but I know how to tip. I tip well. You don't go somewhere to eat unless you can afford the food and a proper gratuity.

ex. I'm eating my popover, when she comes out with my soup. My plate is directly in front of me. She doesn't make eye contact, she doesn't speak, she just.. shoves a plate holding a bowl of gumbo, underneath my knife weilding forearm as I'm diving to scoot my plate out of the way.

She didn't take dishes away.. came with soup, didnt take popover plates.. came with food.. didnt clear soup dishes.. Frank brought our food. Frank was friendly, smiled, passed out food.. we like Frank.

I wish I had better examples, but its hard when your server pretty much ignores you unless she has to deal with you. We should have just ordered room service and had someone deliver it on up to us.

She was abrupt, rushed, non smiling and bordering on annoyed when asked questions such as.. "what are your soups for today". Sprout has a cold that is kicking her butt. By the time we got here, all she wanted was "chicken noodle soup, a glass of chocolate milk, my pills and to go to bed". When a kid says that, you don't argue.

I thought maybe she was having a tough day or something and tried to lighten things up, relax things, whatever. She provided crappy service and seriously, treated us like cheap bastards who are going to leave a lousy tip (she was all glarey and all but sneered 'is that ALL?' when all cait wanted was a (ten dollar) bowl of soup and chocolate milk. and not an entree.

Harmony got 15%. I didn't round up.

We have a pool and a hot tub. They are open until midnight and re-open at 6am. I think my back is going to request a soak. Sprout and Gram went to bed early. Bosley is over at

mantofev

's house. She posted a picture of him in his new light blue preppy sweater. You should go check out her blog and see. Elvis is still pathetic and is being cared for by my upstairs neighbor.

Tomorrow morning, we head over to the Shriner's Hospital, so we can talk turkey on what direction we're going to be going with Sprout. Hopefully, we wil be headed in the direction of progress. I could use the feeling of some progress. We're going to talk about that hip, and how its doing. We're going to talk about her spine. We're going to be talking splints and chairs.

Cross your fingers that it all goes smoothly and works out to be everything we've hoped for and then some. I want to sleep in my own bed tomorrow night.

some updates for those so inclined...

The last few days have been entirely hectic, hopefully things are calming and coming together. Granted I know full well they won't until the middle of next week at the earliest.

This week I destroyed my email, and started virtually from scratch. Kiddo and I are firmly nestled back in our own home. I've was able to arrange things to get a proper nurse for the kiddo. My back is still psychotic after a few days of allowing me to feel human, and get my hopes up about returning to my 'normal' life. The internet in the chateau has been reconnected now that we're re-habitating our domicile.. no more hoping for a connection to scalp. Just rebuilding my system components from the ground up.

I spent yesterday morning at the neurosurgeon's office for my first post op visit. I'm still not cleared to drive. *cough* I have had my scripts extended for the muscle relaxers and pain killers. They've prescribed steroids, physical therapy.. 3 days a week, for the next month and they've added a new script for a medicine that is supposed to 'change the way my nerves respond to pain'. I was advised to take them at bedtime as thats when the pain is the worst. uhm. I still woke up in the middle of the night in pain. The difference is, its not just in my hips (pelvic bone/sacrum) I woke up and it was just the right hip.. with pain radiating down to my knee. 24 hours into the medication, my legs *hurt* -they ache like I'm on day 3 of a disney epcot adventure that I'd been hiking through in cheap shoes. Just tired, dull, achey.*. like they want to move. Very restless leg syndrom-y. I'm still having the random spasms in my low back. At least they think the incisions are healing nicely. Gotta keep the scars smokin' hot! :/

I'm not amused and just want my stupid back to work properly. I'm definitely growing frustrated with this mess. Kelly might be right, maybe she and I have both hit the end of where western medicine can take us with this back crap.

After the doc's office and the pharmacy, I fetched up the Sprout from school and snatched up Bosley. We went to the vet to get his last series of puppy shots and prep him for kenneling next week while we're out of town. We were also at the vet to pick up poor little Elvis. Elvis looks freaking miserable. His vet informed me that the clot in E's ear was the largest one he's seen in 43 years of being a vet. Eegh. Elvis once again has hot pink stitches.. as well as two drainage tubes sticking out of incisions carved into his ear. He needs pain meds 3x a day and to have his incisons peroxided 2x a day. He is not amused by the peroxide. He may look miserable, but he is quick to perform an alligator roll and provide his belly for rubs. Whenever I catch him going for his incisions, I rub his neck and he calms to a purr instantly. He goes back in two weeks for his follow up.

Today, my nephew came to hang out as he was suspected of having pink eye. I took him to the pediatrician who confirmed conjunctivitis as well as a raging double ear infection. While we were at the pharmacy I got a call from Sprout's school. She had a seizure while taking her spelling practice test. It was the shortest gran mal she's had.. lasting approximately three minutes. She came back around quickly aftward as well. it was pretty scary, but she seems ok. I'm taking her in to the hospital in the morning before school to get her levels checked so we can get her meds adjusted properly. I'm told puberty is an especially hellish time for kids with seizures.

By the time I got home.. I was completely worn out. Dinner, post ictal kid, kitty in need of meds and peroxide.. btw I have lovely holes in my arm, by claws that made it through my hoodie and long sleeved shirt.

We leave Monday morning for Minnesota. I'm hoping to haveThe Best Shriner's Visit Ever! (tm) However, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a bit afraid of the 7 hour drive annoying my back further.

However... I got super awesome mail today. I received a slightly mis-delivered package from my SecretPal Pal. Fantastic! It looks to be the entire contents of my KnitPicks wishlist. Which of course were all placed there because I had projects in mind for them. I will try and snap some pictures of them tomorrow. My pal has definitely gone above and beyond. Now that I think about it, I don't think I posted pics from her previous package.. which had limenviolet sock yarn from lisa souza and a beautifulskein of merino/silk yarn from ellen's half pint farm (also snacks, there were snacks! no pictures of those though, totally snarfed them down already.)

I am two half projects away from finishing my holiday knitting.. I earned a special dispensation for the fact that I spent the two months pre-ceeding the holidays.. broken. :/ .. not to mention largely unconcious.. mmm pills.. and without my internet addiction. I'm ready to dive into all of this fluffy secret pal goodness. I have stuffs to make.

This was way longer than I intended.. at least I'm ending on a good note.



*after I wrote this entry, I went to get some links to supplement it.. 'lo and behold my drugs say to 'notify your doctor about any... muscle pain along with a fever or tired feeling..." lovely.

elvis sings the blues

Yesterday, Elvis's ear took a decided turn for the worse. It had been going down a little.. and the edges of his ears had a little 'crimp' (flat around the edges) like the edges of a poptart.. around dinner time I was playing with him, and began to actually notice how much weight he's lost. He was a little on the er.. husky.. side. Now he's gots some boney bits... not only that.. but.. the "crimp" was gone, and it was raw and oozy when you pulled it back a little to try and look inside. I called the vet and made him an appointment first thing this morning.



this morning he looked like this.. and his face was swelling too.

Now he's in emergency surgery.

My baby is hurt.. sick.. and scared..
and I am dreading the bill.

Looks like Sprout is getting a fixed kitty for her birthday.
eegh.

I shouldn't touch electronics until I'm off the meds.

I am turning into my friend E. Just when I think YAY REGULAR INTERNET! I screw up an upgrade. Hi. I'm an idjit who has just lost all of her email. I should have followed my own advice to E, and kept it all in a nice online email server thing.

Thanks Outlook.
:/

(not snow) boots, snow, cold

I'm watching The View right now. Yes, I know.

That SuperNanny is on. I like her.
I like Rosie even more.

But something concerns me.

It appears Barbara Walters and I have the same knee high boots.
(the same boots that terrified me when I liked them so much, I got them in two colours*)

I'm making up for it today though.
I'm stomping through the snow in my combat boots.

Its so cold outside that my digital camera is laughing at me.
ahhhahhahahaaahayeahfreakingrighthahahahahha
its ok though. I like this cold/snow thing.
-2, -20ish windchill.
five inches (wish it was more) of fresh powder.

I'm still sucking down vicodin and flexeril.
My back is miserable. Miserable.


*I never do that.
(unless you count having multiple colours of old skool vans/visions)
My sister the shopping fashion maven does that.

mmm sunday

its snowing and beautiful outside.
my back has been really shitty, so i'm back on painkillers and muscle relaxers 24x7 until my appointment with the neurosurgeon Wednesday.
I finished my mom's holiday scarf last night, and its blocking now.

Sometime last night, Bosley finally annhilated his buffalo.
oops.
Now he is sick. He has puked three times this morning.
Presently he is curled up on the floor next to the couch, with his chin resting on my foot.
The Sprout and I are watching the last Xmen movie. I've heard its tripe. We'll see.
Jean Gray is making me think about going back to red hair

I'm petting yarn.
Snow, Xmen, puppy sleeping on my toes.

I need some coffee.
and a mountain.
but right now, I'd settle for the coffee.

I also have some blogs from the last couple of weeks I need to actually.. post. Maybe later.

People are strange

There is something to be said for the disappointment a person feels, when someone they put some faith in, someone they believed in.. turns out to be human, just like the rest of us. Its the part where they thought they needed to fib, that makes you want to choke them.

My back is getting better. I'm starting to feel like maybe I have a chance of controlling my destiny once again. I'm off the pain killers and muscle relaxers, and starting to contemplate getting things together and I'm actually making plans for the future again. Hopefully this is for real, and not just the beginnings of some spastic manic episode.

Oh, and I'm knitting again. I'd guestimate that my holiday knitting might be accomplished before the end of January.

Gads. Maybe I'll have some pictures soon.

details... details..

Its amazing, the wee, small details that can completely wipe away a good mood or a happy feeling.
How something so minute can take the wind completely out of my sails and leave me feeling empty and alone.

The upside (its not really an upside, so much as something to remind myself of when I'm low)
is that in other circumstances.. its the wee, small details.. that can lift me up and blow my mind.

Details always make the difference.