Thanks ER

What a crazy couple of days it’s been. Monday night when I picked Leo up from daycare he seemed ok. But when he let me buckle him into his carseat without protest and proceeded to ride silently all the way home, I had a feeling he wasn’t well. Then he wouldn’t eat dinner, which is always a red flag since Leo is definitely an eater (what can I say, he comes by that honestly). But he wouldn’t even come to the table. He was hysterical when I turned off Dora and then proceeded to wail and cry as I tried to feed Ellie her tofu and avocado and sweet potatoes. Then his wailing started to freak her out and she began to cry. Then her crying agitated Leo. Then Ellie flat our refused to eat at all and I found myself annoyed with Leo which isn’t really fair. Then I felt spread way too thin and that I was being a sucky mom to both my kids, to Leo who was sick and needed me and to Ellie, who at nine months needs a lot of attention, especially when eating and trying new foods. Basically it was a mess. Leo had a bit of a fever so I toyed with the idea of giving him a bath to cool him off but he was just so out of sorts that I decided the only thing to do was to give him Tylenol and put him to bed. Out of his misery. Luckily he went down easily. He’d been on a field trip that day and missed a nap, so that may have been part of it. I was really worried I’d have to keep him home sick the next day and with the work I am missing for his upcoming eye surgery it was really stressing me out. I let him sleep in the next morning and took his temperature first thing when he awoke. No fever, and he was off to school.

Tuesday is his eye surgery to correct intermittent strabismus (basically it’s a lazy eye). It’s been a whole thing to get the surgery scheduled (blood tests, a pediatrician visit to clear him). And of course, he failed the clearance this morning. Sigh. A suspected sinus infection. Or something is gumming up the works and making his nose a real mess. And honestly, he doesn’t seem like he feels well although there was no wailing last night and plenty of eating. The good news is that both tubes are still in place so there’s one surgery we can cross off the list. The ped had me concerned because he hadn’t been able to locate the right tube.

So now we are putting him on an antibiotic and waiting a few days and going back to the ped for a check on Saturday. Hopefully he will be given the clear. I am trying to be optimistic about it but at the same time want him to be healthy for the surgery. I asked the doctor if they would have to intubate him and realized the only reason I know what that means is from watching ER. That made me smile and I thought about telling the doctor that but I figured he wouldn’t care. Pictured above: All hail Children’s Tylenol. Nectar of the gods.