The Spleenless Wonder (Part II)

You guessed it...I'm sick. Gracie had the sinus crud which in turn developed into a mild ear infection for her and bronchitis for me. Whoo hoo. I went to work this morning since I didn't have fever, and took a handful of drugs for the aches and cough. The medication masked the symptoms for most of the morning, and then I took another dose right before noon.

Unfortunately, Nathan had his annual well-child visit at 2 pm, and I needed to take Gracie in as well to get her ears checked out. So, I drove home and discovered that I had exactly 30 minutes before I needed to go get the kids so I laid down on the couch for a power nap. I felt a somewhat better after sleeping for a little while and went to pick up the kids from school and daycare.

On the way to the pediatrician, I realized that I had not packed anything for the kids to do at the doctor's office. I usually stuff Gracie's bag full of crayons (they draw on the exam table paper), books and snacks for both of them. It's easier to keep them bribed and happy than to have a complete meltdown, but in light of my present condition I completely forgot to bring anything for them. I dug down to the bottom of the bag and found one green and one purple crayon...you should have seen the look of disbelief in their eyes! I'm usually the mom with extra everything in the bag (you never know when friends with kids will want to go out for lunch after church); it's like Mary Poppin's carpetbag.

Anyway, they finally got settled with their whopping 2 crayons and all was going well with the examinations until Nathan discovered that he had to get a shot. Now normally I am very tolerant of his shenanigans right before he gets an immunization. After all, I ran and hid from the nurse for years when I was a child. I vividly remember hiding, being seized and then held down in Mama's lap for my shots while Patrick laid calmly and quietly on the exam table to get his. I always felt some shame that I couldn't be as brave as Patrick, but at the time the only thing my brain could focus on was the thought of a long needle being inserted into my behind.

Confession: It wasn't until my diagnoses and subsequent treatment that I got over my fear of needles. Up until I was 19 years old I had a real issue with shots....it took all of my resolve to walk into the campus Quack Shack and voluntarily get my MMR booster when I was 18. But it wasn't until after a full year of needles and procedures (that I will not recount in graphic detail for you here) that I finally got over that particular fear.

So with that in mind, I really should have been more patient with Nathan when the time came for the shot. Unfortunately, I let the fact that I was feeling bad override my mothering instinct and had little sympathy for him. I ended up picking him up and forcing him on the table. I held his arms while the nurse braced his legs. He was so focused on anticipating the shot that he didn't even feel it when it came.

So, a few stickers and $30 later we were on our way home. I put Curious George on the television for the kids and promptly fell asleep on the couch. I was still sleeping when Trevor got home at 5:15 and didn't really wake up again until the pizza came at 7 pm.

So there you have the saga of my illness......I hope that with a good night's sleep (and a healthy dose of NyQuil) I will feel better tomorrow since Trevor will be gone all day at his concealed handgun class.