Cracking up

Well its the story of my life.  Feeling totally overwhelmed and like I'm going out of my mind.  Its my normal.

Both boys have "Hand Foot and Mouth Disease" its the Coxsackie Virus, a self limiting illness causing blisters on (surprise) the hands feet and mouth.  The ones in the mouth make it painful for little people to eat.  It apparently makes them VERY cranky with their mother.  My mum and dad looked after Ben for two days (he got it first) and supposedly he was wonderful.  Polite, playful, nice to be around.  For me... he's sooky, whiny, aggressive and very unpleasant to be around.

The other week when I was sick in hospital, they were delightful creatures for Connie and the grandparents.. but as soon as I arrived, tears, misbehaviour etc.  That's just Ben and to be honest Ryan isn't much better.

They see the cracks and then they push.  They fight like crazy, snatching stuff off each other, punching, kicking and today biting.

I'm going to a counseling session (I mean Maternal Health Nurse) session on Tuesday for Ben.  Behaviour and stopping those I wish to stop are at the top of the list of things to discuss.  A month ago I thought my problem was the dummy - now that's gone. Well I just don't cope with 2 year olds.

He doesn't have a calm down button.  Ryan loves the tv/tablet/phone.  Ben isn't technology based, he's not a sweet tooth, not a huge fan of drinks (although this week he's loving his milk)

I had a melt down (read cry) when I was doing the dishes and I'm very sad to say that there was no one there to tell me I was doing a good job.  I was very short with them today, one particular "naughty spot" was horrible and took almost half an hour and I was pretty close to losing my cool.

Anyway must hang in there, they are sick and need some leniency.

I am doing a good job!  There are three of them and only one of me.

A very unexpected week.

Today is Friday 17 May... but using a technique often utilised by sitcoms.  Our story starts one week earlier.


Sunday 12 May: We were up visiting Jamie's parents.  The kids were having a great time on the tractors, motorbikes, watching Mark be a pyromaniac.  They love the animals.  That morning I woke up with a tummy ache, it wasn't very pleasant, I don't think I had breakfast.  Spent a bit of time on the loo (if you know what I mean), excused myself to go and have a little sleep.  But the pain would not budge.  Around 11am, I convinced Jamie to take me to the little Nathalia hospital.  We arrived just as the doc  was about to leave so he saw us straight away.  I got some loverly panadeine forte, a shot of stemetil and a litre of fluids.  Pain ... gone..   We drove home that night, no further complaints.

Monday 13 May: My cold had taken hold so I took the day off, I have an awful cough, it makes people nervous and grosses them out.  As I work in a GP clinic, people don't want the girl working there to sound infectious.  All was good... cough cough cough.  Went to collect the boys around 4pm.  Got a wave of the pain again.  Wouldn't go away.  Thought to myself, I'm not putting up with this, so I made an appointment with Dr Hussain (my boss!), my plan was for Archie to be my doctor, I've stuck to that since leaving Medical One.  Don't like the idea of mixing work and my health care.  But I was in pain and considered it a bit of an emergency to to Ahsan I went (he's so much closer).  He is sooooo lovely.  Anyone in the north/west suburbs, make the switch to Dr Ahsan Hussain.  To continue with my story, I saw Ahsan he felt my tummy and said the dreaded words "I think its your gallbladder and you need to go to hospital"  WHAT? 

So super organisation had to take place, my tummy HURT. So I couldn't drive. We have 3 children at home, it was decided that Mark would stay home with the little boys with Connie on standby.  Why didn't I call my  mum?  Well she was on the way to NZ as her lifelong friend had just passed away.  My mum and dad ended up arriving at our place just after 7pm to help out.  Mum was due at the airport around 10pm and dad would stay overnight or until one or both of us came home.  Phew that worked.

Jamie and I headed into the Royal Melbourne Hospital just around 6.30pm, parked in the very expensive car park and went to emergency.  Yep they call it emergency but its a waiting area.  I got triaged, she said "I'll organise some pain relief soon for you".  Got administratively organised.  Sat and waited and waited and waited.  Around 9.30pm, I went back to triage and said "my pain is pretty bad, I'm very uncomfortable"  Would you like some pain relief?  I got some panadeine forte and within about half an hour it had settled. Jamie played games on his phone, I was reading a book on my phone.  We were enjoying the antics of two brothers sitting in front of us, one had broken/sprained his ankle and the other was a hyperactive bloke, they were texting, watching Game of Thrones on their laptop in a very cute way.  The admin girl asked if they were partners before thinking of brothers.

Finally 11pm and my name was called, felt like I had won the lottery.  I was essentially pain free at this stage.  Young Dr James examined me and blah blah, had to to blood tests (I'll do my rant about emergency rooms another day) and wait for the results.  Had an ECG, obs etc and more waiting.  After the results came back we were in for a BIG surprise.  "We're going to admit you"  WHAT????  I was positive it was going to another anxiety attack, but this time I had gallstones or hepatitis A.  My bloods showed *deranged* liver function tests that were a little contradictory and as we had been to Thailand recently without being vaccinated, they were concerned about hepatitis.

After a bit I was moved into a very STARK room in the ED.  A single bed in the middle of a very bare room, all the equipment was just behind me, nothing to look at and right next to the nurses station where there was a lot of noise, but the door was shut so nothing to look at.  Later the next morning I was told it was the psych behaviour room!  I thought I was well behaved. Hahaha, so funny.

Tuesday 13th May: 3am, still in the Emergency Department, two youngish doctors arrive they are from the surgical team.  They agree I need to be admitted and I require an ultrasound to see if there are gallstones.  Yep all good.

9.30am Jamie arrives, we watch the next episode of Game of Thrones on the laptop, there is a LONG section of it that I can't watch, the wilful torture scenes I can't tolerate.  Whoops that is beside the point - I love LOVE Game of Thrones, I'm reading it on my phone at the moment.  I digress.

Midday comes, I casually ask, any news on when I might go to a ward, or have my ultrasound?  Oh... I check....

2pm is transfer to ward time... lets think about this.  When I worked at the John Hunter there was a huge kerpuffle called access block when people were 8hrs in ED, I was there for 13 hours and no one appeared concerned.  Very weird.  BTW, no ultrasound yet!

Went to the top Ward 9W, next to the helipad.  Thankfully it was only used twice.  Had my ultrasound around 4pm and it was confirmed gallstones with one stuck in the bile duct.  Crap, that is what was causing the pain and making my pee a very strange colour - dark yellow if you are interested and sorry if you are not.  So a stone was lodged in the common bile duct which means the liver isn't able to work properly either.  Hence jaundice.  No doctor came.

My dear family came to visit for about half an hour.  The boys were so cute, they love elevators so the fact I was on the 9th floor was fantastic.  Ben didn't like me being in bed, he wanted me up and to put my shoes on.  It was so nice seeing them and cuddling them.  But they are very loud and not very good at sitting still.

Tuesday late in the night I asked my nurse, any chance a doctor might come and talk to me about what is going on?  She said she had to call him for another patient, so will ask him to talk to me also.  This was about 10.30pm when he finally came.  He went through it all very nicely, said he wasn't a decision maker but very likely they'd be in to see me in the morning.  He was fairly certain they'd be doing either a lap-chole or an ERCP followed by a lap-chole at a later date.  It all made sense to me, but then I broke down, I cried and cried and cried.  I wanted a proper plan, I was VERY VERY hungry.  I had not eaten anything since 10am on Monday morning and it was nearly midnight on Tuesday. My night nurse was lovely she sat next to me, gave me a friendly hug and talked me through it.

Wednesday: Approx 9.30am the team arrived, a very proper looking fellow with a wedge of people (that is a Denny Crane quote from Boston Legal, I'm very important I walk with a wedge of people (or something like that) all senior doctors have a group of people following them in wedge formation and it always makes me laugh), I have no idea what this doctors name was.  He was a general abdominal surgeon, he does lap-chole's, but does not do ERCPs, he'll have to call his hepato-biliary colleagues to come and see me.  I said "Ok that is great but I have a question" he thought he was clever and said ohh can you eat... nope that wasn't my question.

I have three children at home, my husband works nights and has had to take the previous two days off to look after them, my family is crumbling with me being here, I need a plan and I need one quickly.  If the plan is for me to stay for another week, that is ok, but I need that plan.  He agreed, said he'd call him personally straight away and get it sorted.  Nice enough if he actually does it.  Within half an hour the EXTREMELY good looking hepato-biliary registrar was at my bedside, what a shock.  He said... ERCP tomorrow, lap-chole in 6 weeks time.  Signed the consent and then spent the day eating.  Jocelyn came to visit that night, nice little catch up with her.

Thursday: Yep, I'm still in hospital.  No work this week!  Connie had the little boys stay with her last night so Jamie could go to work.  And later in the day they all went up to the farm, Connie drove 4 kids to the farm in our truck.  WOW.  Back to me... Early breakfast and then my Endoscopic Retrograde Cholangiopancreatography (ERCP for short) was scheduled for 2.30pm.  Lots of IV antibiotics and weirdly a GTN patch, which gave me an instant headache.  The nicest bunch of people ever was in that endoscopy room.  A gorgeous anaesthetist and nurse, they were so funny and friendly.  Met my surgeon Mr Ben Thomson (I still can't believe I didn't mention that I had a Ben, I always do that), anaesthetist said I'll put you to sleep now and a minute later I was in recovery... wow midaz is amazing.  Not a single recollection.  Stone had moved from my bile duct, but he still did the sphincterotomy.  All was good.  He came to see me on the ward around 7pm when Jamie and Mark were there.  He said he could do the operation privately as soon as Tuesday, but there is no reason not to wait and have it done at the Royal Melbourne publicly.   If I got pain at any time in the next six weeks, just give him a call and he'll have it done within two day!  That's service.

Friday:  Discharged home with no pain and a whole lot of bruises and needle marks.  What a mess my arms are.


People to thank this week is Mark the Magnificent for pulling up his socks and taking charge on Monday.  Jamie for being wonderful.  Dad for going out of his comfort zone and helping with the kids.  Connie for, well just being Connie, she's amazing.

11.30pm

Best picture of Jamie - ever.

 Insomnia, RLS and backpain.



These things suck.

I'm currently in a funk with insomnia, can't fall asleep without drugs, its quite bad. 2-3hrs of dozing if I go drug free and only about 5 if I take a sleeping pill.  So wish it was more, my body wants more but "the insomnia" won't allow it.

RLS comes and goes.  The Sofril (the drug I'm on) is doing a pretty good job.  But I've already taken it and I can feel my legs resisting as I sit or stand.  Grrr.

Backpain.  This one disturbs me.  Its my lower back.  It was sore before we left for holidays and as one of the boys wanted to be carried, it just got worse and worse.  Now its aching all the time.  Positions it hurts to be in... lying down, sitting on a chair, sitting on the floor and kneeling.  It is really only comfortable to be standing.  So night time is doubly bad, insomnia and pain when lying down.  The straight backed wooden chairs are painful, the floppy couches are painful.  So worried I have what mum has.  I'm over being in pain.  My other problem is getting to a physio.  I just can't.  This week I'm working from 9-6 M,T,W,F and have Thursday off... go then you say, its Anzac Day, a public holiday and no private physio works on a public holiday.

Cooking today, wanted to get so much more done, but made fried rice for lunch, chicken drumsticks and mash for dinner.  Granola for my breakfast and a vegie curry type thing for my lunches.  I really wanted to make some cake, but didn't get around to it.

Have to fit in cake making this week as its my sister and her husband's birthdays this week.  They will come over for a little bit on ANZAC day for cake.  Hmmm what to make?

Some good news, Ryan is back to being fully continent.  I still have him in a pullup at night, but its unnecessary.  The flooding from a month ago still has me nervous.  That being said, he had a big drink before bed tonight and its almost midnight and he woke up, went to the loo, had a little cuddle and then said "I want to go back to bed"

Tonight I went in to check that the fellas were covered.  Ryan has his little toes poking out of his dinosaur blanket (he gets too sweaty under the doona, so he has his polar fleece blanket).  Ben's little arm was hanging out between the bars of the cot.  He did so well today.  We took his dummy off him about half an hour after he woke up and didn't get it back until he was in bed this evening.  He didn't ask for it ether, but was very happy to see it.  He went very badly backwards when we were in Thailand, he had it almost constantly and would cry "dummy" when he didn't' have it.  There are a lot of photos with that damned dummy.  Looking for a motorbike soft toy for the "Dummy Fairy" to bring and then we can lose the retched thing.

Some tough times.

I have NOT enjoyed the past 5 weeks.  Not one bit.

Jamie moved away for work.  So essentially I've been a single parent and I hate it.  I hate the lack of company in the evening, I hate not being able to share the load.

Mark started high school and we had some major anxiety to deal with.  Over the past three days, he's been suffering from a spasm-y stomach, the doc thinks it might be "migraine stomach aches".

Ryan has become super clingy, we attempted to put him in the "big boy bed" but after two weeks of hell, I convinced myself that it was ok to put him back in the cot, so I rearranged the boys room for the 5th or 6th time and his sleeping pattern normalised.  Daycare has been a nightmare for Ryan, he doesn't enjoy* being dropped off, he screams and carries on, clings to me like a koala and pretty much needs to be pried away by the staff who always reassure me that the day improves.  Currently Ryan is sick, he has a double ear infection and congested lungs.  He is on penicillin and ventolin (via a spacer & mask)

Ben is still brilliant.  He cut more teeth without a fuss, currently has 4 top teeth and two bottom teeth.  He commando crawls very quickly and is very inquisitive and quite independent.  He's not a great fan of cuddles but will give a kiss if you "pucker" at him.  He is very smiley and loves the remote controls, 5c pieces and food!  Ben also has a bronchospasm and is on ventolin via a spacer & mask.

I didn't cope with agency work.  Being called at 5am to cancel a shift or be given one is just not my cup of tea.  Dropping the boys off at 6am and dashing to my work with Mr Clingy was more than I could stand.  Thankfully I am starting my "real job" on Tuesday at St Vincent's Private Hospital, I'm stupidly excited about it.  I just have a great feeling that its going to be good.  That our work situation will work out.  Jamie will find a contract job at the airport down here that starts at 7 or 8am, so he can do the daycare drop off... men handle it so much better.... or is that Jamie will handle it better than me.

* this is a super understatement.

Aches and pains.

38 so far has not been a good year for me.  I feel I'm hurting all the time.

• I broke my little right toe by kicking the door frame back in November, its almost fixed now, but can still be very tender.
• Sciatica - OWWW
• Sore shoulder from changing gears.
• Torn medial meniscus (my knee) causing strong pain.
• Tender back, I think that is from being stiff.
• Frequently have a "cricked" neck from sleeping wrong.

Hopeless that is what I think.

Turning 38

Saturday was my birthday.

I wasn't expecting much.  Jamie always forgets to prepare.  Mum had been in hospital, so couldn't send a card, Dad wouldn't send a card.  The rest of the family are not "senders" either.  Sure they'll call, but send a card, ahhh no.

Saturday morning, 4am, Ben woke up for a bottle.  I had a pain in my chest, it hurt when I breathed (get it, hurt all the time, but was worse when I breathed in).  The pain went through to my back, I thought it was my back-pain playing up.  Then my mind wandered, the pain when I was breathing, was this a pulmonary embolism?  Best plan... ignore it.

5am Ryan woke up, the pain was worse, I felt I had to "hold my chest" which is not an easy thing to do.  I ummed and ahhed for a bit, by 5:30 I had woken Jamie to ask him what he thought.  I had a pain in my chest, all over my right side, my back, felt nauseas and a bit sweaty.  Jamie consulted his "first aid" book and then we both decided it would be best to call the ambulance.  We did and one was here in about 15 mins.

The worst/ best part was the pain went away - before the ambulance came.  They did an ECG, blood pressure etc, all looked normal, but we decided I'd go to the hospital anyway to be checked over as I had never had any thing like that before.  Plus all the advertisements say "don't wait when you have chest pain"

They took me to the Mater Hospital, and the nurses were sneery at me.  I'm sure the ambo handed over "Here is Christy she had chest pain ***whispered*** but its all in her head ***returned to normal volume*** we've done an ECG" blah blah blah.

The nurse did another ECG (my skin has reacted to the adhesive!).  Within 5 minutes the lovely Dr David arrived and he took my history and some bloods.\

Then Dr Katie (I think) she was an intern on the Renal side when I was largely pregnant with Ben and was completely thorough and wonderful, she remains so.  She came and had a long chat with me, explained that I hadn't had a heart attack, didn't have a blood clot and now I'm thinking it was an anxiety/panic attack.  I was home by 9am.

Good start to one's birthday don't you think?

The fellas picked me up, gave me a lovely card and a Lotto ticket, my real present is a ticket to Dolly Parton for later in the year.

I ended up not going to work, had a snooze in the afternoon as I was feeling *heavy and down.*  We went to the Shortland Pub for dinner with my dearest Terese and her boys.   It was very nice indeed.

So Happy 38th Birthday to me.

Illness & Injury

We've not been "right" this week.

Firstly Ryan:
We went to playgroup, there is an outside section with a kids roller coaster (if you have a big back yard, this would be awesome). Ryan loved it, he kept indicating more, I finally got him off it and busied him with something else, but then a little girl hopped on the car. Ryan ran over, tripped on a tricycle and landed on his nose, we have a graze! Later in the day, I picked him up and collided chin with thumbnail and we have a graze! Two days later, other side of the chin collided with my thumbnail and we have a graze!

Mark:
Nothing to report. Just normal puberty stuff and a sore foot. I think that new footy boots might be in order and some good fitting runners. That kid is growing like crazy.

Ben:
He's just delightful in every way. He's so friendly.

Jamie:
Nothing to report.

Me:
As I have talked about previously here, I injured my breast, had some attachment issues and therefore have had a lot of pain. I have been expressing my milk, and all week have been feeling like I was going to get a cold / flu, but it never eventuated. I called the Breast Feeding Support Line yesterday and she felt that might have an infection... after talking about it to 7 different people (Jamie, Mum, Breast feeding lady, receptionist and nurse on the phone of GP Access, nurse at GP access and finally the doctor) I have been given antibiotics and hopefully will feel better soon. So this morning Ben had his first top up feed of formula and took to it so well. The can states for 2-4 month old make up 180ml of formula, I can express 80ml. OMG that is a huge difference.

Must start packing for Melbourne! Leaving between 4 and 6 tomorrow morning.

Injury

Not saying where, but when I was dressing myself today, I scratched a certain part of my body with my engagement ring. No blood was drawn, but this part is getting a real work out for the last couple of months and an injury there is not good. Still hurts an hour later....

Teething

What a awful thing to happen to a little person. Ryab got his first two - actually 8 teeth without much of an issue. They just popped through, maybe a bit of a whinge, but nothing to write home about.

These molars on the other hand. His little chubby cheeks are red, he's off his food, not sleeping very well, cuddly and sooky. Was awake from 12:30 to 1:30 last night just whimpering and cuddling, makes for a very tired me. The face is what is amazing, Jamie only just noticed it today, he can't believe that his cheeks can be so affected by teeth coming through.

He's getting dosed on Panadol which helps so much and I'm putting off the weaning of the bottle until he's better. His bottle of milk is such a comfort to my little Ryan.

What I can see in his mouth is at least one eye tooth and three molars cutting through the gum line. Poor little chap.

On a side note: in desperate need of winter PJs and some singlets for little dude, its freaking freezing here (and its all relative, so the fact that its still 17 is freezing for here)

Illness - of a canine variety

What a stressful weekend. ** Warning graphic content in parts of this post**

As you may (or may not know) we have two lovely dogs, that is Charlie on the left, we got her as a puppy back in 2001 for Christmas when we first moved in together as a family. About 6 months after we moved to Newcastle we *acquired* Skye on the right from a work colleague of mine who was moving to an apartment in Sydney. Jamie and I were both working full time and Mark had started school so it was time for Charlie to have a companion. They have been inseparable since. They are both now 8 years old and are really good dogs, don't fight, behave themselves, eat well and are very healthy.

Over the last couple of years they have been a bit of an after thought. They are truly outside dogs, amuse themselves and get exercised... well sometimes. I keep thinking that we should give them up to the RSPCA, but then vow to walk them more and spend more time with them. We always decide that we love our dogs and they are apart of our family.

This past weekend has proven this. Skye got sick. Saturday morning at some point his eye became inflamed. We all went out in the morning and when we got home, Mark went into the back yard to find something and told Jamie that Skye's eye looked yucky. Jamie was busy cutting wood for our kitchen, so didn't really react. I came outside soon afterwards and Mark told me, I took one look at the eye and my immediate thought was "YUCK" followed by what the hell can I do, I'm not good with human eyes, (I hate doing eye drops at work, have had a couple of patients with glass eyes and they disgust me), so off to the emergency room for animals on Saturday afternoon we went. ($150 to walk in the door and then it goes up).



The vet was 39 weeks pregnant!!! She gave it a good look at, followed by some antibiotic cream, and we had to go home to bathe it in saline and put the cream in twice a day. Skye got progressively sicker, hardly able to lift his gorgeous head, every time I went outside, he came and rested his head on my knee with a look that said "Help me mummy". Phoned the vet again last night (Sunday about 8,30pm) cos it was looking worse, really red and very painful looking. She didn't think it was an emergency, but to go to the local vet on Monday morning.

We were able to get the 8.30am appointment at my local vet this morning, he looked very concerned. He felt it was a retro-orbital abscess (ie, infection behind his eye) and that he'd need a general anaesthetic for a better look and that he may lose his eye altogether. Dr Smith called back about midday saying there was no obvious cause of the infection at the front of the eye (scratch, injury, seeds) and that his original thought of it being the retro-orbital abscess was the most likely. We could treat it conservatively with antibiotics with a 10-15% chance of success (they are NOT good odds), but the likelihood of it tracking back causing meningitis and ultimately death was too high. The best option he thought was to remove the eyeball and clean out behind it. So that is what we have done. Dr Smith called back about an hour later saying that we had made the correct decision, the infection behind his eye was HUGE, and he would have lost the eye at some point. He is on the way to a full recovery. He has stitched up his eye socket and should be good as gold again soon. Supposedly dogs do very well with vision only in one eye (the only one he has now).


My poor puppy, what a weekend. Its amazing how your thoughts turn to cost when faced with a vet bill. It will cost about $1200 all up by the end of it (I hope), but the thought of losing him is just a bit much. If it had been cancer, and he'd need radiotherapy or chemo... well that is a different story. Dr Smith says he'll be back to his old self in a few days, may be a bit disorientated until he realises that he can't see out of his right side, but will recover well. Need to call them back in about an hour to see how the anaesthetic is wearing off.

Still sick.

Yuck.

I'm fed up with coughing. I'm tired and exhausted.

We're leaving soon (well in the next 7 hours) to go to the snow. We're almost all packed. Just need to get a few more clothes, gloves and well not much else.

Feeling Sick

That is me today. I went to bed with a headache and some weirdo thing happening to my eyes.. they hurt and when I closed my eyes a flash of light would come out and feel like my eyes are doing a dance. Very strange.

Then I felt dizzy and the headache continues, so I got up when Jamie did to have a panadol, but I took my evening tablets (1200mg of Gabapentin) at 5.30am. VERY VERY wrong. I've been in a total fog today. Took the panadol later as well. Did my stupid pregnancy test like I do every month, and the damn thing says no.

I have NO energy. The idea of stacking the dishwasher makes me want to have a snooze.

My main problem of late is dysphasia or word association. I get twisted and tangled, the wrong word comes out all the time. Last night I wanted to tell Jamie a story, I got stuck on one word and could not continue.. I got so frustrated I had to take myself out of the room and come back once I'd settled down. This has been happening for about a year now, and it stresses me out no end. Tried to get into my doctor, but she is all booked out (again), will try again tomorrow.

Heartbreak

Or lung break, or blood vessel break.


Not entirely sure which one it is yet. My darling niece Sheena seems to be unwell. Its a strange one too.
She is lethargic, in that she sleeps so much, a good 12 hours at night and a nap of 3-4 hours. Awake time is activity that is normal for a 2.5 year old.

THen there is the *blue episodes*. Jo sent me a picture of her when she was blue and its tragic. Bluish little fat fingers and tinges around her mouth. During these episodes her oxygen saturations drop to sometimes 75% - normal is 98+%

Jo, Mark and my mum took her to the emergency department several times, she got an appointment with the kids cardiologist. She had an ECHO on her heart. She is seeing the respiratory doc in two weeks. She is having a holter monitor heart check on Friday.

PLEASE don't let there be anything major wrong with our dearest Sheena. She is the lifeblood of our family. Every single thing she does is a marvel. She is a great signer - even makes up sensible signs herself - she is amazing. Little Mark and tiny Roy are fabulous, but it is just expected that they achieve, when Sheena does its brilliant. She is smart, funny, not to mention completely and utterly adorable.

Can you tell I'm in love with her. I get to see her in just over two weeks.

Sheena and Roy

Have I mentioned how much I love these kids? This is Sheena and Roy at my parents house just after Sheena's nap. Photogenic as well. They are both going through *winter* stuff. That means colds, Sheena is a shocker when it comes to a cold, her face goes all sickly and she's miserable and yuck. She tends to go a bit blue as well (oh dear), so my sis has bought a pulse oximeter off EBAY to check her oxygen saturations. She's a clever girl my sister.
Roy has improved out of sight, it went from one day getting ready for open heart surgery in the next three days, to home and now almost great. He has some issues with "work of breath" which means its hard to breathe. His whole little body huffs and puffs to just maintain. He also has a cold at the moment, and as he's only 3 months old, makes it hard to get ones milk when you can't breathe.

I'm hopefully going to visit in October. I haven't' officially met Roy. Sheena definitely needs a cuddle from her aunt again. I wonder if Jo will notice if I take Sheena home with me? I think I'd like to keep her.

Ahhh... now much better

Well was it whooping cough? To be honest, now I don't think so. Last Wednesday I would have bet anyone a million dollars that it was... coughing until I vomited - yuck.

Still awaiting some results from Symbion - now that annoys me - I emailed them to ask how long results normally take as I need to results to return to work. Not a response, what is the point of having a contact us page and no one to respond????

Marko is all better. Jamie only coughs occasionally now. I'm coughing a little bit, but am essentially better.

So what else?
Nothing actually. Life is pretty boring.

Sick of sickness.

My whole house has been engulfed in sickness.
Jamie still has his whooping cough - although thankfully its almost past now, only coughs about once a day.
Friday 22nd about 4am Marko came into me complaining of sore legs. I got him to the lounge room to put some Deep Heat on his legs when he said "My elbows hurt, my arms hurt etc" then I felt him... bloody hot.
He had Friday off school with Jamie up at the shed and they didn't get home until 1am as Jamie was putting the turbo in the Patrol.
Saturday, woken at 3am with the same scenario... hot hot hot... gave him some panadol and we sat on the couch watching a dumb movie. I was working Saturday arvo so he was home with Jamie who was in the garage with Ricky from footy making up some plaques. Mark did not have any tea, not hungry.
Sunday, woken at 2am (are you seeing a theme?), again hot, hot, hot... well I finally found my thermometer and took the poor boys temperature, it was at least 39C as that is as far as my thermometer goes (its a fertility one), and I panicked. Jamie wouldn't wake up - once he's asleep, there is just no waking him - so I called the GP Access Clinic which is wonderful. I knew he wasn't ED criteria, but he needed to see a doctor, or more to the truth, I needed to talk to someone to tell me not to panic. I did not inform them I was a nurse, that would just be embarrassing.
We went to the GP Access doc on Sunday who said Mark had the flu...
I was home with him on Monday and Tuesday.
Tuesday evening, my throat seized on me and both Mark and I have been coughing ever since.
I've been dizzy, nauseas, not eating *well there has to be one positive* coughing, grumpy, sleepy, sneezy and feverish.
Its awful, as of tomorrow, I will have had 5 days off work = for a damned cold!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Coughing.

That is the main sound in our house for the past month!

Jamie is coughing.
Jamie is coughing, a lot.

Today he was officially diagnosed with Whooping Cough. I'm very surprised as I thought it was a children's disease. I have been vaccinated, as has Mark which I guess is why we don't have it.

Dramas with this cough include - its bloody noisy. He seems to stop breathing during a coughing fit. The force of the cough makes him vomit.

On the weekend, he was having a bad night. He had his friend Aaron over to help him fix his computer. I had gone to bed. Jamie started to cough, he walked from the kitchen into the office and stopped... he coughed... stopped breathing... and fell down and stayed there for about 30 seconds making Aaron very frightened... scaring Mark and his friend Madsen. Anyway he's fine now.

Medications include: Intal (a medication like ventolin to suppress the cough) and now codeine phosphate to work on the cough centre in the brain. Seems to be working.

That Intal was a bother.... Friday I worked until about 4.10pm drove to school to collect Mark, drove to Hamilton to collect Madsen, drove to Lemon Tree Passage (50km) to collect Jamie, drove to Newcastle West to try to get the script, drove to Hamilton (again) to try and get script, drove home (dropped off Jamie, Mark and Madsen), drove to Charlestown and got the script and then drove home!!! I was very exhausted after all of that.

Other news is my friend Ella turned 30. There was a big *do* with all the cool chicks from work. Unfortunately I had to work, so I arrived at about 10.30pm and it was fun, even if only for the short time. I work with some beautiful women, Kathryn, Lauren, Ella, Toni and Amy to name just a few.

Football was a disaster on Sunday, biffo with the Port Stephen's Team. Freaking rediculous that kids footy would do such awful things to parents. There is going to be an investigation in the behaviour of EVERYONE. Finally Daniel came to play and he scored the only point for the U12s.

I'm done - I think.

Freak

Does anyone know this song???

No more maybes
Your baby's got rabies
Sitting on a ball
In th middle of the Andes

Yeah I'm a freak (of nature)
Yeah I'm a freak

If only I could be as cool as you

Body and soul I'm a freak I'm a freak

Try to be different
Well get a different disease
Seems its a fashion
To need the cold sore cream
I don't really know
How to put on a cool show
As boring as they come
Just tell me where to go

If only I could be as cool as you

Well that is me at the moment, trying to be in fashion by needing the cold sore cream.
All this stress has finally caught up with me and I broke out. Not one, but two cold cores. I feel disgusting, I look disgusting and I'm TIRED.



Roy doesn't need an operation. He is healing himself - clever little boy :)

Doctors, doctors and probably heaps of blood tests.

Tomorrow I am going to a fertility doctor. I'm quite excited and nervous.

I think I'm nervous, got so anxious that I felt nauseas - took a pregnancy test - negative as per usual. But that would have been my luck. Cheaper luck though.