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Showing posts with label doctor. Show all posts
Showing posts with label doctor. Show all posts
Friday, January 10, 2025
Back to Physical Therapy--Finally!
January 10, 2025
After nearly a MONTH of waiting for paperwork to appropriately move from the physical therapist to the orthapedic surgeon to my insurance, I was FINALLY approved for the rest of my physical therapy! I went back today and started more strength training to stabilize my knee. Hopefully it won't be long now before I get to go back to my students!
Saturday, January 4, 2025
In Limbo
January 4, 2025
In October, I had knee surgery. Lisa and I were taking salsa dance classes, and one night while being spun by my partner, I heard a familiar snap. (Familiar because I have heard that snap before while jumping on a trampoline, and it signaled a torn ACL and meniscus.) My instincts were right; after a few weeks of some hobbling and significant pain, I went to the orthopedist who diagnosed a torn meniscus. I was thankful it wasn't the ACL, since that would have been a more intense recovery. I scheduled surgery and let my school know I'd be out for a few weeks. Little did I know! When in surgery, the doctor found cartilege that was torn all the way through. He opted to not only repair the meniscus, but to perform micro-fracturing, which is a process by which drilled holes in the kneecap down to the marrow are done in order to promote healing and rebuilding of the damaged cartilege. I'm glad he did it while he was there, but the repercussions of that procedure were that I was to be completely non-weight-bearing on that knee for a full six weeks while it healed. Far longer than I anticipated, for sure, and after that there was physical therapy to rebuild strenghth and stability in those muscules. That's what I've been doing for the past several weeks; I finally got off crutches (falling twice after I could finally start to put weight on that leg!) and have been trying to rebuild stamina and reduce my limp. Here's where the limbo starts: The doctor recommended 24 physical therapy sessions. My insurance will only approve ten at a time. The doctor's note for disability has me off until February 2, but I was hoping to come back early, when the new semester begins. The physical therapist said when my first 10 P.T. sessions were done that she wasn't inclined to recommend me going back yet, but since we still had a couple of weeks of P.T. during the Christmas break, she'd be open to seeing what my progress was like. In order for my insurance to approve of the next set of 10 P.T. visits, my doctor had to review my 10 visit report and agree that yes, he still recommended a total of 24 sessions and would like for me to continue. Apparently, however, communication among Doctor, P.T., and Insurance is something akin to the Bermuda Triangle. P.T. has said they have faxed the doctor with the report three times, and the doctor's office has said that they have never received anything, despite reaching out to the P.T. office. P.T. can't schedule anything without an okay from Insurance, and Insurance says they won't approve anything until the paperwork from Doc to P.T. has been submitted to them. In the meantime, I have been attempting to play middleman to no avail and haven't been able to get phyical therapy for two weeks, let alone clearance to go back to work. And so, although students return from Christmas break on Tuesday, I will be out at least for another week while waiting for everyone to figure out how to get me back on track.
Thursday, September 20, 2012
Alright, Alright...I'll Go to the Doctor
September 20, 2012
Several weeks ago I threw caution to the wind, pretended I was the age I am in my head (somewhere in the mid-twenties), rather than the silly numerical age I actually am, and took on a few forward flips with my sister on the trampoline. "We can totally do this!" said the voice inside my head. "POP! SNAP!" said the ligament in my knee.
Despite not being able to put any real weight on it for a couple of days, a little ice and a lot of Advil set things to right (mostly), and I decided to ignore the signs and pretend it never happened. It was mostly easy to do, except for a slip-slidey kneecap that occasionally clicked and crackled and then felt like mushy applesauce. What's a little loss of strength? A little loss of movement? A little loosey-goosey limb? It turns out, a lot. kneeling down to get cans out of my lower cupboard was not a problem. Standing back up again didn't so much work. A few situations like that made me realize that my knee was not healing on its own as much as I hoped it would.
So when Danielle's soccer coach advised me to get Danielle's knees checked out (she had been complaining of aches and pains), I decided I might as well get myself checked out as well. Danielle, luckily, has no serious injury. A little ice and Advil and strengthening exercises will get her back on track. The popping in my knee, however, gave my doctor some concern. After examining my knee, she called for some x-rays and an MRI and determined that a torn ligament was likely the cause of my problems.
So now we wait for the MRI for the final verdict, and then I find out where we go from there. I figure a little physical therapy and we'll be good to go--back on track. Or maybe even back on the trampoline.
Several weeks ago I threw caution to the wind, pretended I was the age I am in my head (somewhere in the mid-twenties), rather than the silly numerical age I actually am, and took on a few forward flips with my sister on the trampoline. "We can totally do this!" said the voice inside my head. "POP! SNAP!" said the ligament in my knee.
Despite not being able to put any real weight on it for a couple of days, a little ice and a lot of Advil set things to right (mostly), and I decided to ignore the signs and pretend it never happened. It was mostly easy to do, except for a slip-slidey kneecap that occasionally clicked and crackled and then felt like mushy applesauce. What's a little loss of strength? A little loss of movement? A little loosey-goosey limb? It turns out, a lot. kneeling down to get cans out of my lower cupboard was not a problem. Standing back up again didn't so much work. A few situations like that made me realize that my knee was not healing on its own as much as I hoped it would.
So when Danielle's soccer coach advised me to get Danielle's knees checked out (she had been complaining of aches and pains), I decided I might as well get myself checked out as well. Danielle, luckily, has no serious injury. A little ice and Advil and strengthening exercises will get her back on track. The popping in my knee, however, gave my doctor some concern. After examining my knee, she called for some x-rays and an MRI and determined that a torn ligament was likely the cause of my problems.
So now we wait for the MRI for the final verdict, and then I find out where we go from there. I figure a little physical therapy and we'll be good to go--back on track. Or maybe even back on the trampoline.
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Anime Eye
November 13, 2011
I had been experiencing some weird pressure in my eye and had had about three days of fuzzy-headed headaches, and decided I was going to need to get in and get myself checked out. I'm not one to run off to the doctor at every ache and pain, but I'm not about to mess around with my eyes. Plus, I made the mistake of going to Dr. Internet to diagnose my pain, and his news was not good. I also bounced my symptoms off of my sis-in-law, who works in an optometrists' office. She, too, thought it would be a good idea to be proactive and have an eye exam. Since Friday was Veteran's Day and I had no school, I had a little time on my hands to kill in a waiting room.
The last time I had my eyes checked was some fifteen years ago. I'm 44 years old, so I figured I was well-past needing a basic exam, let alone one that would yield a tumor or glaucoma (as Dr. Internet warned was the probable cause). They first checked my vision, and I was honestly pretty thrilled to hear that my vision is still 20/20, and they said I didn't need corrective lenses for reading. I don't have a lot going for me, but dang it, I still have excellent vision.
Next up, they got down to the real business at hand. Since I had only been experiencing pressure in one eye, they dilated that eye for the doctor to take a gander at up close and personal. I breathed a little easier at each, "Looks healthy....looks normal...everything clear here..." A clean bill of health for my little eyeball...almost. He detected a little bacterial infection that was exacerbating a little dry eye situation--easily handled with a week's round of prescription drops. That minor infection was causing a little swelling, triggering the pressure that was definitely NOT a tumor or glaucoma. I wasn't even going to have to wear a pirate eye patch for a few weeks, as my amused husband predicted. What I was left with instead of the pirate patch was several hours of one--ONE--crazily dilated eye. I looked like half an anime character. Or that strangely bug-eyed rodent in the movie Bedtime Story (or half of him, anyway).
I had been experiencing some weird pressure in my eye and had had about three days of fuzzy-headed headaches, and decided I was going to need to get in and get myself checked out. I'm not one to run off to the doctor at every ache and pain, but I'm not about to mess around with my eyes. Plus, I made the mistake of going to Dr. Internet to diagnose my pain, and his news was not good. I also bounced my symptoms off of my sis-in-law, who works in an optometrists' office. She, too, thought it would be a good idea to be proactive and have an eye exam. Since Friday was Veteran's Day and I had no school, I had a little time on my hands to kill in a waiting room.
The last time I had my eyes checked was some fifteen years ago. I'm 44 years old, so I figured I was well-past needing a basic exam, let alone one that would yield a tumor or glaucoma (as Dr. Internet warned was the probable cause). They first checked my vision, and I was honestly pretty thrilled to hear that my vision is still 20/20, and they said I didn't need corrective lenses for reading. I don't have a lot going for me, but dang it, I still have excellent vision.
Next up, they got down to the real business at hand. Since I had only been experiencing pressure in one eye, they dilated that eye for the doctor to take a gander at up close and personal. I breathed a little easier at each, "Looks healthy....looks normal...everything clear here..." A clean bill of health for my little eyeball...almost. He detected a little bacterial infection that was exacerbating a little dry eye situation--easily handled with a week's round of prescription drops. That minor infection was causing a little swelling, triggering the pressure that was definitely NOT a tumor or glaucoma. I wasn't even going to have to wear a pirate eye patch for a few weeks, as my amused husband predicted. What I was left with instead of the pirate patch was several hours of one--ONE--crazily dilated eye. I looked like half an anime character. Or that strangely bug-eyed rodent in the movie Bedtime Story (or half of him, anyway).
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Good News!
June 30, 2010
A couple of weeks ago I wrote that Danielle had an extreme day at the water park resulting in a severe sunburn and dehydration. Late that night, she experienced her second seizure in a year, prompting us to check in with her doctor to see if there was something more than a reaction to overexposure to the sun that caused her episode.
After two weeks of blood tests (anemia, thyroid, electrolytes, blood sugar), a CAT scan of her head, an EEG to measure brain waves, and an EKG to measure heart rate, I am happy to say that all tests came back normal. According to the neurologist she was referred to, Danielle did, in fact, have an extreme reaction to the heat and dehydration; she might just be a little more sensitive to that sort of thing than other people are. Although we'll watch her carefully to make sure she protects herself in the scorching summer heat, I'm thankful to know that there doesn't appear to be a larger (and more frightening) underlying health threat.
Danielle, being a good sport as she is hooked up to the EEG monitor.
A couple of weeks ago I wrote that Danielle had an extreme day at the water park resulting in a severe sunburn and dehydration. Late that night, she experienced her second seizure in a year, prompting us to check in with her doctor to see if there was something more than a reaction to overexposure to the sun that caused her episode.
After two weeks of blood tests (anemia, thyroid, electrolytes, blood sugar), a CAT scan of her head, an EEG to measure brain waves, and an EKG to measure heart rate, I am happy to say that all tests came back normal. According to the neurologist she was referred to, Danielle did, in fact, have an extreme reaction to the heat and dehydration; she might just be a little more sensitive to that sort of thing than other people are. Although we'll watch her carefully to make sure she protects herself in the scorching summer heat, I'm thankful to know that there doesn't appear to be a larger (and more frightening) underlying health threat.
Danielle, being a good sport as she is hooked up to the EEG monitor.
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Summer is Supposed to Be Relaxing, Right?
June 17, 2010
So far on my summer vacation:
I've been car-less since Saturday. The van is currently in the shop re-learning what it's like to having a working ignition tumbler. It'll probably be out of rehab today--my fingers are crossed.
I had to walk to the car repair shop to pick up Doug's car, which was having issues of its own. Doug had to rent a car to get to work, but since he was at work, I had to take care of retrieving it. It wasn't too far a walk, thankfully, but a little too hot for my taste at two o'clock in the afternoon.
I took Doug's car in to get it smogged--twice. It failed the first time, because the battery had died the night before (thus, its little trip to the shop). Who knew that a recently dead battery is automatic grounds for failing a smog test--something about it looking suspiciously like someone trying to tamper with the vehicle in order to get it to pass the smog test. First of all, I am not mechanically adept enough to tamper with a vehicle. Tampering could only end badly. Second of all, shouldn't that kind of information be posted somewhere? Such as:
"Dear Customer:
If your battery has recently died, please do not bring it in to be smogged yet. We would love to save you some money and not have you pay twice for the same service. Drive the vehicle for about forty-sixty miles first, THEN bring it in. We hate to have to test it, fail you, charge you, and then have to charge you again when you come back the next day. Just trying to help you save a little dough for whatever vacations you have planned for the summer.
Love,
The Smog Shop"
On the children front, I had to wake up bright and early to take Brianna to work at 6 a.m. yesterday. 6 a.m., on vacation? So not my idea of relaxation. It is time for that girl to get a driver's license! Luckily, Doug was driving his repaired car, so I had the rental for a couple of hours before I had to return it shortly after delivering Bree to work. The fine folks at Enterprise deposited me back home.
The kids' dad picked up Danielle and me yesterday afternoon to go to her appointment with the pediatric neurologist. After her seizure last week (the second one in a year), her doctor wanted to run some extra tests and refer her to a specialist just to make sure there was nothing serious going on. Her blood work for anemia, blood sugar, and thyroid all came back normal, and the neurologist was pleased with what he saw when he examined her--no red flags, everything looks normal. She'll go in for a CT scan and an EEG next week, and he also wants to schedule her for an EKG, but so far things are looking good. She's a trooper, too, and hasn't been too freaked out by any of this.
None of this is exactly what I had envisioned when I was finishing out my last week of school and looking forward to vacation, but on the bright side, at least we weren't picking up the pieces of broken cars and juggling doctors' appointments when we BOTH had to be at work last week. I think I'll just pretend my summer begins today though, when both of our cars are sitting in the driveway tonight and all the kids are healthy and happy swimming in the pool. THAT is exactly what I had in mind for my summer.
So far on my summer vacation:
I've been car-less since Saturday. The van is currently in the shop re-learning what it's like to having a working ignition tumbler. It'll probably be out of rehab today--my fingers are crossed.
I had to walk to the car repair shop to pick up Doug's car, which was having issues of its own. Doug had to rent a car to get to work, but since he was at work, I had to take care of retrieving it. It wasn't too far a walk, thankfully, but a little too hot for my taste at two o'clock in the afternoon.
I took Doug's car in to get it smogged--twice. It failed the first time, because the battery had died the night before (thus, its little trip to the shop). Who knew that a recently dead battery is automatic grounds for failing a smog test--something about it looking suspiciously like someone trying to tamper with the vehicle in order to get it to pass the smog test. First of all, I am not mechanically adept enough to tamper with a vehicle. Tampering could only end badly. Second of all, shouldn't that kind of information be posted somewhere? Such as:
"Dear Customer:
If your battery has recently died, please do not bring it in to be smogged yet. We would love to save you some money and not have you pay twice for the same service. Drive the vehicle for about forty-sixty miles first, THEN bring it in. We hate to have to test it, fail you, charge you, and then have to charge you again when you come back the next day. Just trying to help you save a little dough for whatever vacations you have planned for the summer.
Love,
The Smog Shop"
On the children front, I had to wake up bright and early to take Brianna to work at 6 a.m. yesterday. 6 a.m., on vacation? So not my idea of relaxation. It is time for that girl to get a driver's license! Luckily, Doug was driving his repaired car, so I had the rental for a couple of hours before I had to return it shortly after delivering Bree to work. The fine folks at Enterprise deposited me back home.
The kids' dad picked up Danielle and me yesterday afternoon to go to her appointment with the pediatric neurologist. After her seizure last week (the second one in a year), her doctor wanted to run some extra tests and refer her to a specialist just to make sure there was nothing serious going on. Her blood work for anemia, blood sugar, and thyroid all came back normal, and the neurologist was pleased with what he saw when he examined her--no red flags, everything looks normal. She'll go in for a CT scan and an EEG next week, and he also wants to schedule her for an EKG, but so far things are looking good. She's a trooper, too, and hasn't been too freaked out by any of this.
None of this is exactly what I had envisioned when I was finishing out my last week of school and looking forward to vacation, but on the bright side, at least we weren't picking up the pieces of broken cars and juggling doctors' appointments when we BOTH had to be at work last week. I think I'll just pretend my summer begins today though, when both of our cars are sitting in the driveway tonight and all the kids are healthy and happy swimming in the pool. THAT is exactly what I had in mind for my summer.
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
The End of the School Year Turned Out to Be More Memorable Than I Would Have Thought
June 14, 2010
I had every intention of posting throughout the week last week, but it was such an eventful week that there was no time at all until today (my birthday!) to sit and catch my breath. So what have we been up to?
It all started last Sunday, when Brianna started feeling under the weather. Poor timing for her, as last week was finals week and she still had some studying to get done, as well as a couple of projects. By the end of the evening, after having worked an eight hour shift, she was barely able to stand. Her fever was enough to make her dad want to keep her home and take her to the doctor on Monday. The verdict? A blister on her foot, having gotten infected, made her leg balloon up and caused her system to go into overdrive to fight it. They put her on antibiotics, and she was on the road to recovery.
Tuesday and Wednesday were pretty mellow during the daytime. Even though I was at work, my senior classes were completely empty; all the seniors were out at graduation practice. That left me to packing up my room and organizing my files to wrap up the school year. Tuesday night we had the end of the year Parent-Teacher Club meeting (I'm a member of the Board), and that turned out to be one of the most feisty and interactive meetings of the year. Wednesday night was our high school's graduation, and even that was not without its controversy. We managed to have a few young men decide to they didn't want to follow the rules, and they got themselves escorted from the stadium. One of them dug his heels in and had to exit in handcuffs. Happy graduation!
Graduation was not the most dramatic event of the evening, though, believe it or not. When I picked the kids up from their dad's house after graduation, I realized that Danielle had gotten a severe sunburn on her choir's field trip to Wild Water Adventure Park earlier in the day. Like most kids, she was not diligent about re-applying sunscreen throughout the day, nor was she careful about drinking enough water as she was roasting on the water slides. She was completely wiped out and wanted to fall directly into bed, but she was so burned that I wanted to put aloe vera on to sooth her first. We stood in the bathroom and I gently rubbed some onto her shoulders. Suddenly she pulled forward a bit, then slumped to the floor and started convulsing, eyes rolling back in her head. Let me tell you, watching your child have a seizure is frightening, even when it only lasts a couple of seconds. She actually had a seizure about a year ago, and at the time her doctor said not to worry unless it happened again. So yes, this time, the second time, it was hard not to jump right to panic mode. She seemed to recover pretty quickly though, so I decided I'd let her go to bed after getting some water in her, and I'd call the doctor first thing in the morning. I didn't sleep all night, checking in every little bit to make sure she was okay.
I asked her the next morning if she wanted to stay home, but she was insistent on going, since she was supposed to be accepting awards at the assembly--High Honor Roll and (irony here) Perfect Attendance. She didn't want to miss. I emailed her teacher and a good friend to help keep an eye on her during the day, and went to work. As soon as the doctor's office was open, I put in a call to her for advice. She decided since this was the second seizure incident, she wanted to see Danielle that afternoon. I figured I'd have enough time to get to Danielle's awards ceremony, get back to campus to give my freshmen their final, and then get back to Danielle's school to pick her up for the appointment. Just as I got off the phone with the doctor, a call came into my classroom from the Junior High campus. I picked up the phone and heard, "Hi, this is the nurse at Alta Sierra. I've got Nicholas, and I need you to come pick him up. He's cut himself, and I think he's going to need stitches." I mumbled that I'd be there as soon as possible, and I went to the office to get coverage for my freshman class final. Everyone in the office was ready to bend over backwards to help me out. You know how when you're emotional and people either offer sympathy or help, it can break the facade of one who is trying to pretend to be calm and in control? Well, on no sleep and trauma overload, I completely lost it for a couple of minutes. And by the way, I can't stand it when people see me cry--it's not pretty. I ran to the bathroom, pulled myself together, and yelled my thanks without making eye contact again as I headed off down the hallway and out the door to gather up my injured children.
I got to Nicholas and he was temporarily bandaged and thankfully wasn't in much pain. The bleachers that had ripped open a couple of inches down his back had only won a minor battle. He and I went to the elementary school to watch Danielle get her awards, and then headed off to the Urgent Care clinic to begin our two and a half hour wait. Nicholas was pretty nervous about the idea of stitches, but fortunately the nurse practitioner decided steri-strips could do the job nicely. It didn't occur to me that Nicholas didn't know what that meant, so her proclamation didn't relieve him nearly as much as it did me. When the nurse walked in with gauze, the strips, and scissors, Nicholas looked as if he was about the hyperventilate. When I asked him what was wrong, his eyes got big and round, and he whispered to me, "What are those SCISSORS for??" Poor kid thought she was going to cut HIM! The nurse looked at him all indignant and said, "I have to cut the gauze with SOMETHING!" She got him all patched up, and we headed to his dad's house to drop him off before I picked up Danielle from school for her appointment.
For those of you who are keeping track, Danielle's visit made the third kid and the third doctor visit of the week. Because she had an appointment, the wait time was much shorter. We got in and the doctor (a new one for Danielle) began to take down all of her history and all of my concerns. As a mom, it's nice to have your concerns taken seriously--there's nothing more frustrating than a doctor ignoring your mother's intuition with a dismissive, "Have her drink some water and get some sleep. She'll be fine." Danielle's doctor, though not alarmist at all, wanted to run a whole series of tests to see if anything abnormal turned up that would make her susceptible to these seizures, and to see if they might be able to predict the likelihood of a reoccurence. She was also fantastic with Danielle, talking to her and not just about her, and explaining everything she was doing without talking down to her. She checked Danielle's blood pressure, vision, and reflexes. She checked her throat and her ears. She inquired about eating habits and sleeping habits. She ordered tests to check her sodium, potassium, electrolytes, and white cell counts. She also ordered appointments to be set up for an EEG and an MRI. Although it was likely that Danielle simply had an adverse reaction to dehydration and heat exhaustion, her doctor wanted to rule out any other possibilites. We are currently awaiting results of the blood tests and will go in for the EEG and MRI as soon as Valley Children's Hospital calls to verify an appointment time. In the meantime, she's recovering well and no longer looks like she's about to drop to the floor at any moment.
The next day, the last day of school, I notified my children that no one was allowed to get hurt--we had reached our quota. Thankfully, they all obliged me. Despite all the chaos of the week, I managed to get my room packed away, finalized and posted my grades, and said goodbye to the few children who deigned to show up on the last day of school. Bring on the summer vacation! Except that the first day of summer vacation, Saturday, my car broke down. I don't know if it's pouting because my kids got so much extra attention this week, but it has decided it's got to go into the shop (its own version of the doctor, I suppose). My best guess is it'll be a $500 fix, if we're lucky. No matter, though--I'm on vacation, and I don't really have any obligation to be anywhere for awhile. We'll manage, I thought. And then Sunday arrived. Doug and I were running around (in his car, naturally), shopping to put some final touches on our back yard before the heavy swim traffic hits it for the summer. And wouldn't you know, HIS car died on us! We were left stranded, waiting for a tow truck to get us home.
So today, on my birthday, I spent the day trying to make arrangements for both of our cars to get the attention they need while Doug was in a rental car at work. The good news is we have a couple of good buddies who took care of towing the cars where they needed to go, and Doug's car ended up being a much more minor problem than it could have been. My car is still in the shop, and I'm hoping it, too, will be a relatively painless repair. I ended the day with a birthday dinner with Doug and the kids and some very thoughtful, carefully chosen gifts. And chaos and mishaps and accidents and all of the unexpected happening all at once can't change the fact that I feel completely blessed by everyone I have in my life--all of those people I love--which is the best kind of birthday wish to have come true. Truth be told, though, I am also wishing, as a special little birthday wish, that this week would be a little less interesting than last week. Even a little boring. That would be okay with me.
I had every intention of posting throughout the week last week, but it was such an eventful week that there was no time at all until today (my birthday!) to sit and catch my breath. So what have we been up to?
It all started last Sunday, when Brianna started feeling under the weather. Poor timing for her, as last week was finals week and she still had some studying to get done, as well as a couple of projects. By the end of the evening, after having worked an eight hour shift, she was barely able to stand. Her fever was enough to make her dad want to keep her home and take her to the doctor on Monday. The verdict? A blister on her foot, having gotten infected, made her leg balloon up and caused her system to go into overdrive to fight it. They put her on antibiotics, and she was on the road to recovery.
Tuesday and Wednesday were pretty mellow during the daytime. Even though I was at work, my senior classes were completely empty; all the seniors were out at graduation practice. That left me to packing up my room and organizing my files to wrap up the school year. Tuesday night we had the end of the year Parent-Teacher Club meeting (I'm a member of the Board), and that turned out to be one of the most feisty and interactive meetings of the year. Wednesday night was our high school's graduation, and even that was not without its controversy. We managed to have a few young men decide to they didn't want to follow the rules, and they got themselves escorted from the stadium. One of them dug his heels in and had to exit in handcuffs. Happy graduation!
Graduation was not the most dramatic event of the evening, though, believe it or not. When I picked the kids up from their dad's house after graduation, I realized that Danielle had gotten a severe sunburn on her choir's field trip to Wild Water Adventure Park earlier in the day. Like most kids, she was not diligent about re-applying sunscreen throughout the day, nor was she careful about drinking enough water as she was roasting on the water slides. She was completely wiped out and wanted to fall directly into bed, but she was so burned that I wanted to put aloe vera on to sooth her first. We stood in the bathroom and I gently rubbed some onto her shoulders. Suddenly she pulled forward a bit, then slumped to the floor and started convulsing, eyes rolling back in her head. Let me tell you, watching your child have a seizure is frightening, even when it only lasts a couple of seconds. She actually had a seizure about a year ago, and at the time her doctor said not to worry unless it happened again. So yes, this time, the second time, it was hard not to jump right to panic mode. She seemed to recover pretty quickly though, so I decided I'd let her go to bed after getting some water in her, and I'd call the doctor first thing in the morning. I didn't sleep all night, checking in every little bit to make sure she was okay.I asked her the next morning if she wanted to stay home, but she was insistent on going, since she was supposed to be accepting awards at the assembly--High Honor Roll and (irony here) Perfect Attendance. She didn't want to miss. I emailed her teacher and a good friend to help keep an eye on her during the day, and went to work. As soon as the doctor's office was open, I put in a call to her for advice. She decided since this was the second seizure incident, she wanted to see Danielle that afternoon. I figured I'd have enough time to get to Danielle's awards ceremony, get back to campus to give my freshmen their final, and then get back to Danielle's school to pick her up for the appointment. Just as I got off the phone with the doctor, a call came into my classroom from the Junior High campus. I picked up the phone and heard, "Hi, this is the nurse at Alta Sierra. I've got Nicholas, and I need you to come pick him up. He's cut himself, and I think he's going to need stitches." I mumbled that I'd be there as soon as possible, and I went to the office to get coverage for my freshman class final. Everyone in the office was ready to bend over backwards to help me out. You know how when you're emotional and people either offer sympathy or help, it can break the facade of one who is trying to pretend to be calm and in control? Well, on no sleep and trauma overload, I completely lost it for a couple of minutes. And by the way, I can't stand it when people see me cry--it's not pretty. I ran to the bathroom, pulled myself together, and yelled my thanks without making eye contact again as I headed off down the hallway and out the door to gather up my injured children.
I got to Nicholas and he was temporarily bandaged and thankfully wasn't in much pain. The bleachers that had ripped open a couple of inches down his back had only won a minor battle. He and I went to the elementary school to watch Danielle get her awards, and then headed off to the Urgent Care clinic to begin our two and a half hour wait. Nicholas was pretty nervous about the idea of stitches, but fortunately the nurse practitioner decided steri-strips could do the job nicely. It didn't occur to me that Nicholas didn't know what that meant, so her proclamation didn't relieve him nearly as much as it did me. When the nurse walked in with gauze, the strips, and scissors, Nicholas looked as if he was about the hyperventilate. When I asked him what was wrong, his eyes got big and round, and he whispered to me, "What are those SCISSORS for??" Poor kid thought she was going to cut HIM! The nurse looked at him all indignant and said, "I have to cut the gauze with SOMETHING!" She got him all patched up, and we headed to his dad's house to drop him off before I picked up Danielle from school for her appointment.
For those of you who are keeping track, Danielle's visit made the third kid and the third doctor visit of the week. Because she had an appointment, the wait time was much shorter. We got in and the doctor (a new one for Danielle) began to take down all of her history and all of my concerns. As a mom, it's nice to have your concerns taken seriously--there's nothing more frustrating than a doctor ignoring your mother's intuition with a dismissive, "Have her drink some water and get some sleep. She'll be fine." Danielle's doctor, though not alarmist at all, wanted to run a whole series of tests to see if anything abnormal turned up that would make her susceptible to these seizures, and to see if they might be able to predict the likelihood of a reoccurence. She was also fantastic with Danielle, talking to her and not just about her, and explaining everything she was doing without talking down to her. She checked Danielle's blood pressure, vision, and reflexes. She checked her throat and her ears. She inquired about eating habits and sleeping habits. She ordered tests to check her sodium, potassium, electrolytes, and white cell counts. She also ordered appointments to be set up for an EEG and an MRI. Although it was likely that Danielle simply had an adverse reaction to dehydration and heat exhaustion, her doctor wanted to rule out any other possibilites. We are currently awaiting results of the blood tests and will go in for the EEG and MRI as soon as Valley Children's Hospital calls to verify an appointment time. In the meantime, she's recovering well and no longer looks like she's about to drop to the floor at any moment.
The next day, the last day of school, I notified my children that no one was allowed to get hurt--we had reached our quota. Thankfully, they all obliged me. Despite all the chaos of the week, I managed to get my room packed away, finalized and posted my grades, and said goodbye to the few children who deigned to show up on the last day of school. Bring on the summer vacation! Except that the first day of summer vacation, Saturday, my car broke down. I don't know if it's pouting because my kids got so much extra attention this week, but it has decided it's got to go into the shop (its own version of the doctor, I suppose). My best guess is it'll be a $500 fix, if we're lucky. No matter, though--I'm on vacation, and I don't really have any obligation to be anywhere for awhile. We'll manage, I thought. And then Sunday arrived. Doug and I were running around (in his car, naturally), shopping to put some final touches on our back yard before the heavy swim traffic hits it for the summer. And wouldn't you know, HIS car died on us! We were left stranded, waiting for a tow truck to get us home.
So today, on my birthday, I spent the day trying to make arrangements for both of our cars to get the attention they need while Doug was in a rental car at work. The good news is we have a couple of good buddies who took care of towing the cars where they needed to go, and Doug's car ended up being a much more minor problem than it could have been. My car is still in the shop, and I'm hoping it, too, will be a relatively painless repair. I ended the day with a birthday dinner with Doug and the kids and some very thoughtful, carefully chosen gifts. And chaos and mishaps and accidents and all of the unexpected happening all at once can't change the fact that I feel completely blessed by everyone I have in my life--all of those people I love--which is the best kind of birthday wish to have come true. Truth be told, though, I am also wishing, as a special little birthday wish, that this week would be a little less interesting than last week. Even a little boring. That would be okay with me.
Friday, September 25, 2009
Look Ma, No Cast!
September 25, 2009
Nicholas and I went to get his cast taken off today. The process was quick and easy, but he got a case of the hysterical giggles when they were actually cutting through the cast to get it off--the tickling vibration was almost too much for him! X-rays showed he still has a bit of a hairline fracture, but not enough to warrant any further action than just taking it easy on it and wearing good, supportive shoes. Originally he was supposed to be out of P.E. until October 14, but the doctor extended it to November 10th
instead, just to be on the safe side. The kid who's never liked P.E. was actually disappointed--I think he really misses getting to run around with all his pals. I'm sure once November rolls around, he'll be making up for some lost time!
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