Let The Illnesses Begin...

You know school is back in session when everyone has snot and congestion and coughs. We don't have all that stuff but it was fun to describe. Maggie complained Wednesday when I got home from work about her ear hurting. She hasn't had an infection since she got her tubes put in at age 2. But, since we had just spent the weekend swimming in some questionable water quality I wasn't surprised. Of course, she has an ear infection. I retrieved my handy-dandy otoscope from way back in the cabinet. I haven't had to think about it in many months and I actually had to call Curtis to find it. He has several inches on me in the periscope department and he found it right away. I didn't even have to get new batteries to see the gunk (I won't use the word her doctor used) in her ear. Plus, she complained when I pulled and pushed around it too. I medicated her, gave her a warm compress for comfort and put her to bed. Since I had to work Thursday morning the doctoring would have to come from her father. I instructed him to medicate again before school only if she mentioned it first. There was/is no fever so she could likely clear it up on her own. Did I mention she hasn't had an ear infection since 2003? At least she hasn't been treated for an infection since then (that I can remember). Being the completely unsympathetic mother that I am... I fully intended for her to go to school and be normal Thursday morning. Curtis called me at 0800 to get further instructions on how to make an appointment to see the doctor. Hmmmm... she was still hurting and had already been medicated. I guess we can have it checked just this once. :)
So, he pulled her out of class and ran her to the doctor for a quick ear check. Actually, I don't know how quick it really was since I had no conversation with any of my family after work tonight. I got home after 11 and they were (and still are) all asleep. Since I had possession of her all healing antibiotic I woke her just enough to swallow a few dozen times. I don't think she'll remember in the morning. She looked like a crazy person batting my hand away, moaning and then smiling in her sleep. I don't remember seeing the whites of her eyes either. Crazy, I tell ya! She takes after her father, for sure! By 1am she was moaning and tossing and turning in her bed... which is also Lydia's place of rest tonight (which is a whole other story). I retrieved her from her slumber and insisted she snuggle me in the chair while she chewed up more pain relief. I can't exactly force that into a sleeping child's mouth. She doesn't want me to touch the right side of her face tonight. I wish I had something to help her while we wait for the drugs to kill the bugs in her head. I put her in Lydia's bed... for increased back relief in case she needs me again. If you don't follow my 2am humor... Lydia's bed is the bottom bunk but she's sleeping in the top bunk, from which I pulled Maggie with great discomfort to me and her.
So, all that to say... Maggie has an ear infection. Ruth probably has a sinus infection which is evidenced by the tissues she brings to me. Bennett can't seem to keep his head clear this month. We did complete an entire box of Mucinex powders with him a few weeks ago. Lydia says her ear hurts and needs me to check it... right after I've made a big deal over poor pitiful Maggie. She plays the "I'm sick" pout pretty well. She got everything Maggie got except the medicine. Don't tell her Juice Plus gummies won't cure ear pain!

I have now been awake 22 1/2 hours, worked 15 of them, driven 1, worked here for 3 and comforted more than just my own family. We admitted 5 new lives into the NICU today and sometimes I forget I haven't stopped running. I have 4 hours left before the day begins again and we will be at school having a real, live horse experience. One day this crazy schedule of mine will catch up to me and I'll be found passed out in my living room with wild Indians running around the house. I think I've heard them before. They know the way.