It seems like nothing gets any easier as you grow older. There are bills, work, and Family life to deal with..
This all starts with Daughter wanting a full length mirror so that she can see what her outfit looks like before she leaves the house. I purchased one for her at the local dollar store. I couldn't find anywhere to put it until Husband got home and attached it to the bathroom door, so I leaned it against the fridge, out of the way. Apparently not so out of the way.
Punk our 2 yr old cat came tearing through, banged into it, and broke it. Three cracks right across the top portion. Dang it! How many years of bad luck does that add up to for a cat?
None apparently. But lots of bad luck for us.
The next day my laptop quit. The motherboard is shot. It's only 3 years old, but is now a worthless piece of junk.
Next the furnace stopped working. It's cold outside, and we have no heat. The furnace men have been here twice, installed two different parts. It ran for a little bit last night, now nothing. It's still cold outside. And inside.
My van has been having this weird wiggle thing going on with the front passenger side.. tie rod is shot and needs to be replaced. I also need two new tires for the front. Before the snow flies.
Husband took out the chimney & wood stove because we are getting a pellet stove. We discovered a leak in the roof, and a third of our dining room is covered in plastic with no insulation.
Daughter got invited to a Friend's house to spend the night. Another Friend also stayed over. They had a great time. ChuckECheese plus iHop for dinner. The next morning 2nd Friend had a sore throat and didn't feel good. I picked up Daughter as 2nd Mom was pulling in to get her Daughter. 20 minutes later our phone rang. 2nd Friend had a fever of 103.5. Uh Oh. Not good. The next day 2nd Friend's Mother called again to tell us she had H1N1. Daughter had been exposed. Monday night all was well. Daughter went to bed as usual. At 2:15am Daughter was in our room, touching my shoulder to wake me. She's only actually woken me two or three times ever.. I knew this would not be good. Her temp was 102.9. I immediately gave her Motrin, and settled her on the couch with a large glass of ice water. Within an hour her temp was almost normal, and she fell asleep. Since then we have been on a roller coaster ride that seemingly will not end. Daughter will be fine one minute, then the next her cheeks will be red and her temp will have hit the roof.
That 1st morning, I called work to let them know Daughter was sick and I would not be in, explaining how it was probably the flu as Daughter was exposed over the weekend. Ms Manager wanted a note from the dr. She was sure they would want to see her. I told her I would do what I could. I then called school to let them know she was sick. My next call was to the dr. Over and over until I got past the busy signal and was able to speak with the nurse. She gave me the rundown on how to treat Daughter's flu. Motrin & Tylenol rotation, cough syrup if needed. Lots of fluids and rest. What to watch for. How to handle everything. And told me they did NOT want to see her unless her symptoms got worse. We were to stay at home, and have as little contact with the outside world as possible. A note was faxed to my work explaining how I was to stay at home until Daughter is well. Husband was to stay away as much as possible so he wouldn't get sick also. He has been great, running to the store and picking us up everything we need, dropping it off then going back to work. He doesn't get near us, air kisses are the order of the day, with him coming home from work, then either going to the Fire Department, or to his Man Cave. We carry on conversations from across the room. I call him during the day and we chat on our cell phones. Thankfully I spoke with Boss concerning Daughter's possible exposure to H1N1 and my PIC shift tomorrow is covered.. the other two days I was to work.. I am not sure what happened with them. When I told Ms Manager about Daughter being ill.. she informed me that "this would affect you here also" (like I didn't understand that!). It's not like I would go to work, having been exposed to H1N1, thinking everything would be fine. Besides.. my first concern is with my Daughter, my job is secondary. Having taken such good precautions with Husband, I am thankful he is not sick. For some weird reason.. I am not sick either.
We have now been dealing with the high fevers, a bad cough, headache and other aches and pains for four days now. Daughter has slept on the couch, while I occupy the love seat. I have fed her every soft easy food I can think of, making ice cream a breakfast food does not bother me.
Husband has picked up Daughter's school work for the week, and she has been making her way through it. Daughter's biggest concern on that first night with the fever, was that she would miss two field trips this week. She was heartbroken. And there wasn't much I could do to make her feel better about it, except hug her. This morning when I woke up.. my Mommy Voice told me to.. I discovered she had a temp of 101.9.. for which I gave her more Motrin.. when her fever went down a bit, I heard her ask in a sad little voice, what today was.. I told her it was Friday.. her response was to ask if she would be able to trick or treat now that her fever was back. I told her if she did not have a fever tomorrow, we would trick or treat a little. If she does still have a fever, we will do a candy scavenger hunt in the house for her tomorrow night. That eased her mind a bit.
I was told to send the cat packing. Her having broken the mirror in three places would surely have given her bad luck, but by association, it seems that we are to be the ones suffering.
The hardest part of all of this is feeling so helpless. I can't make Daughter healthy again just by wishing it to be so. All I can do is treat her symptoms, keep her comfortable, and make sure she knows I love her. By this time next week, we will all be back to our normal lives, and this will become a bad memory. I wish with all my heart that it was next week already.
