Sick kids and the case of the missing $100 bill

Oh my...I am so glad this month is ending. It has been crazy and I think things are slowing down.

We have had 2 sick kids. Early in the month (maybe end of Sept) I had to take both kids to the doctor. Tristan for his normal allergy sinus stuff and Taylor for an eye infection. Well due to our hectic schedules and burning the wick at both ends, we were horrible parents and didn't give him his antibiotic properly. It was sporadic. So needless to say, he has it all over again and I had to take him back on Monday.

It ended up being a dual appointment as Taylor got some new funk. I have had her at the doctor more this year than in her whole life. She's had strep, eye infections, a pulled muscle in her leg, and I can't remember what else. Well now she's ended up with the "new" staph infections in her leg. We are still waiting to see if it is a known strain or an unknown. But let me tell you about our experience. PLEASE take note - this has been a very serious ordeal for us and could have resulted in her being in the hospital. It's not over yet, but so far so good.

So around the 21st, a Sunday, she said she felt something on her leg that hurt. She looked down and it appeared to be a pimple thing. Kinda like what you get when you shave with a dull razor. So she popped it for 2 days and then she shows it to me. It had raised up and had a black head on it. I think it's an ingrown hair follicle or something like that and tell her to go pop it and put peroxide in it. She does. The next night she shows it to me and it still has a black head but it has raised up (about pea size) and is hard. There is a ring of red around it about the size of a half dollar coin. So then we think that maybe she got bit by a bug or a spider. So we make an appointment. By this time it is Friday.

The doctor tells us it is an abcess caused by a staph infection and she has been treating tons of them for the past 3 weeks. These things are very contagious and they are not really sure how you get them when you are perfectly healthy. But more than likely by contact with some who has it or has been exposed. (Our new nurse Tara might be able to shed some light.) My thoughts are that she must have been exposed at school as that is the only place she had been in a 1 - 3 day incubation period before she noticed it. It is in the middle of her inner thigh.

To treat it, the doctor numbed her and then popped a hole in it (needle was about inch and a half long and it went all the way in) and then she squeezed as much puss out of it as she could. Taylor's leg turned purple. It was gross and I was squeezing her hand more than she did mine. Big time EWWWWWW. So she cleaned it all up and sent us home with antibiotics. Tells us to have her wear loose clothes as these things hurt very very badly. Taylor has been limping around.

Over the weekend it gets worse and on Sunday nite, she shows it to me after her shower. The red puffy area around it completely covers her thigh - from where her leg bends to her knee - and is about 6 inches wide. Just red and puffy. So she went with me and Tristan on Monday. They tell us no....shouldn't be like that.

So they numb her again and the puss is coming out while the needle is in. (Sorry to be gross.) She gets a surgical knife to reopen it and when she does, she finds a hole. The whole knife went inside her leg. At this point, I am really freaking out to see this knife go all the way in her leg. So she tells us that the infection is eating her flesh. So I immediately ask if she has flesh eating disease. She says no, but it is similar and is much slower. So now Taylor has a huge hole in her leg. She says, they have to pack it to keep it from closing up and filling with puss again.

So they fill it with medicated gauze (which hurt like hell), give her an antibiotic shot in one hip, a pain killer shot in the other, and then add another antibiotic in pill form. The lab didn't bother processing her culture over the weekend so we are still waiting on the result to see what kind of infection it is. The doctor is very mad. So, we had to take her back yesterday to unpack it and repack it. She says it's looking better (the hole) but there is another area above it to be concerned about. She now has a huge knot under the skin that is hard and painful. The skin is red/purple and puffy.

Today she had permission to shower and take the packing out herself and she chose to do that. We went back and the hole looks even better. Almost looks like she has a gunshot wound. They stuck a big q-tip on the big stick in it to see how deep it is. I speculate about 1/2 inch give or take. The whole q-tip head went in. So now we are down to one bandaide - we clean it 3 times a day with peroxide and put neosporin in it so it will heal from the inside out. Can't let the skin close before the hole is gone. The big puffy hard area above it is still there. We have to put a heating pad on it every 2 hours to try to bring it to the surface so they can see if they need to drain it. I felt it today and my bet is that we will have to go through this again. Unless they can treat it with the meds after we get results tomorrow. We have to keep feeling it to make sure it doesn't get soft. If it does, we have to take her in immediately. Also if it gets redder or bigger we need to do the same. We have to call or go in on Friday to have them look at it to see if anything needs to happen over the weekend.

She can go back to school tomorrow. I was sorta bummed cuz although we have been stressed I haven't had to go in the office these 3 days. LOL I will have another 12 hour day tomorrow as I am covering one more event. It is my last for a while. Woo Hoo!

During all this madness of trying to get the right meds in the right kids, we have been worrying about money. We've been trying to be real careful with spending for a few weeks now. The first day we paid $119.00 and the second we paid $55.00 for meds and Tristan's co-pay. They are billing the insurance to see what will be covered for the "surgical" procedures so we will get a bill in the near future. The doctor is wonderful and gave us all free samples for Tristan and hasn't charged us for the past two days of followup. So during our stressful worrying about money time, Chance gave me a $100 bill to give to the daycare lady.

Now it is time for the CASE OF THE MISSING $100 BILL. At the time he hands it to me, I am sitting on the recliner with the laptop working. So I get up and lay it on the dining room table next to my purse. Not in my purse like normal but next to it. Not sure why I did that but we were going to town speculating about Taylor at the time. It was Monday. The table had lots of Taylor's school books and homework and some other stuff on it. So the next day, I plan to take the bill to daycare after Taylor's appointment. I can't find it. It is nowhere. So I spend my day looking for this stinking $100 bill feeling like I am going to throw up. What are we going to do if it is lost? We don't have an extra $100 to pay her. I stress all day about it. I ask Taylor if she saw it and she says no.

Chance came home that afternoon and I am in Tristan's room watching him play his game. He immediately asks if I found it. I say no, I've looked everywhere and torn everything up. It has disappeared. So he starts stressing. And then for some reason, divine intervention I suppose, I ask Tristan if he has seen any money laying around. (He has recently come into $21 dollars from the tooth fairy and from 2 of his grandma's.) He says yea. We both say, "WHAT???? Where is it?" He says, "In my wallet." So he pulls it out of his pocket and inside is my $100 bill. OMG!!!!! We were elated but then freaked out that he had actually taken $100 to school. What if he had showed that to someone or taken it out and lost it? It was such relief! I can now pay the daycare lady tomorrow. Yay!

Well that has been our life this week. I asked for the 14th and15th off so I can be around while Phil and Jackie are here. I hope she will let me off. I'm looking forward to normal hours and tonite is Trick or Treat. Tristan is going to be a skeleton. Taylor is going to be a teenager. LOL I will take some pics of him and post them.

This has been another long one. The moral of my post is to PLEASE GO TO THE DOCTOR if you get something on your skin that turns hard and hurts. These things are spreading everywhere and it's better to be safe than sorry. If this had not cleared up, she would be in the hospital so that a surgeon can fix it for her. We are thankful she is healing well. I wish I had taken pictures so you guys could see.

Cya later!

Transition

Wow! I think this is the longest I've gone without posting. I hate it when I do this because my blogs are always so long anyway, this one should be like War and Peace. LOL

I have been so busy with my regular job. The recruiting aspect that was added has really kicked in this month. October is the big recruiting month. So I have been going to many college fairs and events with my recruiter partner. This has involved both day and night hours. On top of that, I have been teaching that class. I am happy to say my early 8-week class is now over. I am getting my Thursday evenings back. (Although my regular job has some other things lined up for me on a few Thursday's in the near future. Ugh!) I posted my grades last nite. That was kinda of scary because it was so final. I had to give 3 failing grades but 2 were because they never showed up to class and never dropped it either. The third one contacted me yesterday, AFTER the semester had ended to make up his work. I consulted my dean and she said to give him a week. So, he's been duly notified of all the work he has to do. I hope he does it. I had to laugh at his email, it actually said, "Pretty please with sugar on top. LOL" Gotta love freshman students.

So now I am in a transition to teaching this same course online. That started last night. As I am sitting here, I should be keeping up with their postings but I have already read and responded to several. I just don't have it in me. I am exhausted. The very same course is so different online due to how the material has to be presented. Once again, I am in a learning process. However, my spring course is online as well, so that one should be a breeze. Let's keep our fingers crossed.

Oh and for the first time since I've worked at the college, I was sent to a big overnight conference - 3 days and 2 nites. That was last week and it was really cool. I learned alot and made some new contacts. Met some people from other colleges that I've talked to on the phone. Nice to have faces with the names. And my roommate, one of our Directors, and I really took advantage of the hospitality suite on our last nite there. We visited with our Rose State partners until 3 a.m. Yes, 3 AM. I never do that and let me tell you, I was one torn up puppy the next morning. We had 2 sessions to attend before we left to go home. She and I shared the Tums that our Associate Registrar brought. He doesn't drink but he sure was prepared! LOL

And to add some fuel to my fire, I am seriously thinking about pursuing my Masters degree beginning this spring. I have until mid November to apply. It is very scary since I am teaching now. I just worry I won't be able to keep up with it all. I feel like I'm neglecting my family as it is, but I think I need to have that paper to help me with my job. If I can come up with the tuition for one class for spring, then I will get tuition reimbursement for each semester after that. The reimbursement will cover all but $100. So if we can scrape up the money for books and tution for spring, I will owe only $100 and books for future semesters. I am only planning on 1 class at a time. I know I couldn't do more than that. My recruiter partner wants to go through the same program so we thought it would be nice to have the support for each other. She is kidless so it won't be so difficult for her. She will take 2 classes at a time. It is so scary just thinking about it. My stomach is doing flips.

I had a parent/teacher conference today for Tristan. I so wish most of the time that I didn't have to be a working Mom so I can help him with his issues. He is doing so much better and is enjoying school. But he is still doing his own thing on his papers. He's listening and understanding but he has problems putting it down. So today I met with the special ed teacher as well and she gave me some ideas to help him. We have to do that freakin evaluation, which is an ADHD eval, so they can identify the problem and get him the IEP he needs for coursework. We refuse to medicate him so they said they are going to try methods that don't involve that. I am a bit stressed over that but I know it will help him. I am just scared to death. I really don't believe he has a learning disability but more of a processing disability. It registers and he understands. He recites everything she's been teaching but he just can't write it down in the proper way. Oh and he now sings his version of the Star Spangled Banner each nite in the bathtub. You should hear it...it's absolutely priceless. I still love Mrs. Jones to death. She is going to be the teacher that made a significant difference in his life.

Taylor is doing fantastic in school. She is keeping all her grades up and I am very proud of her. I got her a math tutor and that is going well. So yea, I'm happy to say that both my kids are making outstanding progress this year. Finally!

Chance is busy with the fall flower season. We are both running ragged and working many late nites. He did have some time to start our Christmas shopping in September so that is really cool. His online store is going well. Now that he has switched it to football memorabilia, that is selling much better. The jersey's are moving. He just added hats and visors. Eventually he will expand more. We aren't making millions but it's a start. Every little bit helps. Even though we have that and my new teaching salary, somehow we still are broke all the time. They always say most people live beyond their means....yes we do much of the time. I think this new income is keeping us level! LOL

We are also trying to be as green as we can. We are both concerned about our environment and this global warming issue. We have changed all the light bulbs, bought some new energy efficient appliances, replaced our windows to energy efficient and replaced our heating/air conditioning unit to energy efficient too. Our electric bill was over $100 less each month this summer even with the pool running. That was awesome! Chance wants me to try to find recycled paper towels. We could do alot more than we currently are, but we keep trying to find one little thing at a time to help. After some time, it will add up.

Well, I'm getting tired and I need to get my clothes out of the washer and hang them up. I will try to write again sooner. Chara, I am waiting on that baby boy. I hope you are walking lots each day. Oh and isn't it spicy foods that helps induce labor???? Try that too!

Love to everyone.
B