I'm off to NYC for Harry Potter tomorrow! Ended up changing my flight to leave earlier to avoid a snow storm coming in, but that means I can no longer work the half day I was planning on. Just continuing my trend of never working a full, productive week at a time it feels like. I know I'm sick of it, so I feel like my boss must be too, but he doesn't seem concerned.
I am looking forward to having some time to wander in the city now though! Hopefully the weather isn't too horrible and we can actually walk around. Originally we were going to get there just in time to check in to the hotel and go to bed. Now we'll have all afternoon/evening to hang out.
DD finished reading the first Harry Potter book Sunday morning. At 8:30 I got "mommy I finished Harry, can we go get the 2nd book from the library now". She was talking about reading it at school and was told she can't read books like that because they are too advance. She checked out 2 level readers from the school library and now wants to boycott the school library since she can't get which books she wants to read.
Our school library is the same way. They have special areas for kindergarten and 1st grade, so my kids bring home really dumb picture books every week. It drives me insane!
k3am - they offer us versed before the IV, and even IV placement after full sedation - do you have that option? My two that have to get IVs more are fine, but I would knock middle out first no question. Hope it goes smoothly!!
2chatter, their standard is nothing before the IV and they wouldn't budge. I finally had a breakdown over it a last year (after TWO blown veins and some screaming that would terrify grown men) and they'll accomodate gas or versed before the IV, but only on specific/rare days because they need a PICU anathesiologist there for the length of the sedation, vs. one who just pops his head in, sedates, leaves, and comes back later.
My almost 6 year old is one of the few kids I know that can give me a pro/con list when debating IV only vs. use of gas or versed first.
For things like this and her surgeries, I very much wish we were treated at a children's hospital, but in general, I don't have any big complaints. (I think things could be easier on the kids, but the care that we get there is good)
Post by greenmonkey1 on Feb 11, 2019 14:01:41 GMT -5
Weekend was good, but as always could have been longer.
Started off today catching MIL lying about me in an email to her brother. There is no reason for the lie other than to make me look bad. DH and I already know MIL speaks ill of us (and probably more me since I am the inlaw) to the extended family, but we've never had it done functionally in front of us. What to do. If I or DH don't call it out I feel like I'm/we're just rolling over. But...MIL will likely turn anything into how wonderful she is and how evil we are. And I just don't need any more drama than we already have with her.
We’ve had some luck with our pediatrician writing orders (and socializing them in advance) for things that are out of the norm. DD ended up having conscious sedation oral surgery — but that was not even on the menu at first and not even after the first convo. He’s a bulldog and says things like “I understand your treatment plan and also the underlying standard of care....who benefits from a child in pain when this is ultimately a staffing question?” And it works. May be worth a Hail Mary.
DS at 6 tried to decline versed because he was worried that the surgeon would do the wrong arm without him awake and with it enough to tell them. They let him write “wrong arm” on his hand.
Don’t feel like you are missing anything - almost zero child life specialists have been helpful in the three hospitals at which we have had them. I think they are paid to drink Starbucks and be annoying while adding virtually no value.
Don’t feel like you are missing anything - almost zero child life specialists have been helpful in the three hospitals at which we have had them. I think they are paid to drink Starbucks and be annoying while adding virtually no value.
I had to LOL at this, because I work in HR for a hospital system, and we have child life specialists at our children's hospital. If you asked the manager over those employees, you would think they save the world, but really they just seem like glorified child activity coordinators. When DS was in the hospital for the severe confusional migraine a couple years ago, all the child life specialist did was find out what kinds things he liked to do, and then wheeled in a game system for him to use. Yeah, we shouldn't need to pay someone $50,000 to do that.
covergirl82 - one asked DD what she liked and about all these things then said “I have Peppa Pig”. DD was 10. I was like .... really? DD was more upset because they sent her in to distract her and DD was like “why did we talk about Fuller House and all that if she only has a preschool show!?!” DD is very small for her age but I am super up front that she’s not a baby.
I could go on - pretty low effort level from all but one we have encountered.
Yes the main thing for the kids hospital is that everything and person there is appropriate to treat children. We had to literally take an ambulance to another hospital when DS had bronchiolitis because they have no pediatric nurses there.
DS has always gotten gas anesthesia before he gets an IV. The other times he had IVs removed and replaced I think one time he had the blocker and the other time Grandpa was supposed to be assisting, but wasn't really helping as well as he thought he could.
But yeah the child life specialist was absent for many days, and I think brought a t-shirt at some point in time. Thanks..... We got more present type stuff from the parent volunteers for mended little hearts.
DH is in Chicago for the week. I am so excited about not hanging out with him and reading in bed! Twice monthly travel down from full time is not as advantageous as I hoped. Pretty much means more cooking, cleaning, entertaining him and less sex because we could do it any day but don’t and his drive is super low. There’s no “you’re only here two nights!!” To push him.
Tonight the kids and I are picking up Panda Express. We will have an early dinner and pile in my bed and read our own books. Seriously, cannot wait.
Post by sandandsea on Feb 11, 2019 17:06:37 GMT -5
Saturday we had basketball in the morning and then went to lunch. After lunch I took ds1 to cub scouts and was going to meet dh and DS 2 afterwards for church. DS2 hit his head after lunch by falling out of a booth. He’s 2 so unfortunately this isn’t uncommon. He had his nap and was fine, then fell asleep again (unusual) and then threw up (not good).
So dh calls as we are getting ready to leave cub scouts and we all end up at urgent care. Thankfully he seems fine and it wasn’t crazy busy but it was stressful.
This week dh is out of town for work until Wednesday night and I’m volunteering at school Thursday and we head out for ski week Friday night. I’m ready for a break. I just wish skiing didn’t have to be so cold.
Child life at our hospital doesn't work weekends. So... M-F, they can play in the toy room, go outside, etc. Saturday and Sunday? Can't do anything. No toys, no outside, nada. Not that there was anyone actively staffed in any of those areas M-F.. they just legally couldn't open those areas unless they had someone from CL on duty.
There's just so much bureaucracy and red tape that the people who want to get the job done have to jump through that it makes it really hard to deal with. Which is totally a side effect of a lawsuit happy society, but man it blows.
Work Rant: God people can be so pushy. An old guy walks in ands asks where to get tax forms. I tell him the library can assist him in printing them off. He then asks me to print them for him, and I tell him no. He gets irate and dad walks up and deals with him and he still is irate. We tried to explain with the new laws and forms it just isn't printing off a page or two and if he really wanted us to do it then we would charge him a copy/time charge and he goes into batshit crazy mode. He finally leaves after ranting on how unhelpful we are and all he has is retirement, timber harvest, capital gains, sch. A, rental, etc. So he not only need the 1040 and schedules but about a dozen forms. Hopefully he is nicer to the library staff. Our normal policy when people come in asking for forms is to send them 2 blocks down to the public library where they have free computer/printing access and free tax help 2 days a week.
186momx, Where do you work that people would come in and ask for the docs but not have them there? I work in banking and we get those requests all the time. We also refer them to the library but will print things for people in certain situations.
DH’s flight cancelled. He got home at the kids’ bedtime. No solo reading, I am still up so no early bedtime and I am trying really hard to be OK that he now plans to travel next week - when I have quite a bit going on that now will simply not happen.
Yesterday was a snow day but daycare was open! My 3 year old went in and I took my big kids skiing. Our whole trip for 8 hours was $75. We’ve got our routine down pretty easy now and they carry their own stuff and we know where easy cubbies are, easiest place to get to the bathrooms etc. It went so well and both my kids did a black diamond twice!
It’s another snow day and my friend brought her two kids over. They easily entertain all of mine and it’s kind of making things easier.
I’m goinf to be swamped when I get back to work though.
I thought we had turned a corner with DD. Her meltdowns were becoming less frequent and less severe. But over the past 2 days we’ve had some doozies. Sunday she couldn’t find her favorite pair of basketball shorts, and screamed for 45 minutes because the other options were unacceptable. This is one of the reasons I won’t coach her anymore. I needed to go to the game - if she does this when I’m not coaching, she simply won’t go.
Then last night it started at 4pm and ended at 7 - and it was over homework. And her bag. And her coat. And dinner. And a shower.
She’s in therapy - individual and group. I got her tested for PANDAS, but no results yet. Also the infectious disease expert locally is booking into June.
It's another snow day here, thankfully DH could take off, as the university is still open and I am absolutely buried in stuff. I also made it to my 7:30am meeting, walking through all of the 6 inches of snow, which doesn't seem like enough to need to close schools and daycares yet again. This is snow day 6 or 7 this year....
Post by supertrooper1 on Feb 12, 2019 9:52:40 GMT -5
Snow day here too. I measured 10 inches yesterday while playing outside with DS. We got another 2 inches or so overnight and it's still snowing. I made it to work, but the roads were very slick.
Post by traveltheworld on Feb 12, 2019 13:53:13 GMT -5
mae0111, hang in there! You are doing all you can, so give yourself credit for that.
I'm basically just here to vent. My cold has gotten worst. I can't keep my eyes opened and I'm going through a tissue every 5 minutes. I just want to crawl into bed and sleep, but can't as I have so much to do. On top of that, DH is gone for the week and DS is sick and resting at home. I'm really hoping that DD doesn't catch the cold. I have to get on a plane in 2 days, so that'll be great.
One positive - I started listening to podcasts on my commute and it's making my long commutes in this horrible winter weather more bearable. Anyone else listens to podcasts and have any good recommendations?
mae0111, hang in there! You are doing all you can, so give yourself credit for that.
I'm basically just here to vent. My cold has gotten worst. I can't keep my eyes opened and I'm going through a tissue every 5 minutes. I just want to crawl into bed and sleep, but can't as I have so much to do. On top of that, DH is gone for the week and DS is sick and resting at home. I'm really hoping that DD doesn't catch the cold. I have to get on a plane in 2 days, so that'll be great.
One positive - I started listening to podcasts on my commute and it's making my long commutes in this horrible winter weather more bearable. Anyone else listens to podcasts and have any good recommendations?
I thought we had turned a corner with DD. Her meltdowns were becoming less frequent and less severe. But over the past 2 days we’ve had some doozies. Sunday she couldn’t find her favorite pair of basketball shorts, and screamed for 45 minutes because the other options were unacceptable. This is one of the reasons I won’t coach her anymore. I needed to go to the game - if she does this when I’m not coaching, she simply won’t go.
Then last night it started at 4pm and ended at 7 - and it was over homework. And her bag. And her coat. And dinner. And a shower.
She’s in therapy - individual and group. I got her tested for PANDAS, but no results yet. Also the infectious disease expert locally is booking into June.
I’m just so tired.
My DD had PANDAS in 1st grade. It was horrible and what you're describing sounds familiar. I hope they can figure it out soon! It's so hard. How old is she?
"Hello babies. Welcome to Earth. It's hot in the summer and cold in the winter. It's round and wet and crowded. On the outside, babies, you've got a hundred years here. There's only one rule that I know of, babies-"God damn it, you've got to be kind.”
erbear - she is 9, but this has been going on for a while. Lots of strep before a tonsillectomy last year. I did get the bloodwork results - all normal. I’m disappointed because I don’t have an answer, but relieved because I know it’s not always an easy path to recovery.
So is it anxiety? A good intolerance? Lyme? PANDAS and more tests needed? Just general brattiness that we have to break through? We don’t know...
I’d like to hear about your experience, if you wouldn’t mind sharing.
erbear - she is 9, but this has been going on for a while. Lots of strep before a tonsillectomy last year. I did get the bloodwork results - all normal. I’m disappointed because I don’t have an answer, but relieved because I know it’s not always an easy path to recovery.
So is it anxiety? A good intolerance? Lyme? PANDAS and more tests needed? Just general brattiness that we have to break through? We don’t know...
I’d like to hear about your experience, if you wouldn’t mind sharing.
Did they run a strep titer? That's how we finally figured out what was going on. She had the classic switch flip. One day she was fine. The next, she was a mess. Screaming, crying, major separation anxiety, shaking, not eating, not sleeping, talking about wanting to die. It was horrible. I took her to the doctor about 3 times - the doc finally said that this was the only thing she could still consider and ran the titer. Sure enough, strep 6-8 weeks before. She went on the antibiotic - it took about a month to get her back to close to normal.
I will say that 9 is hard. It's been a really tough year for us, but she looks very different than with the PANDAS.
"Hello babies. Welcome to Earth. It's hot in the summer and cold in the winter. It's round and wet and crowded. On the outside, babies, you've got a hundred years here. There's only one rule that I know of, babies-"God damn it, you've got to be kind.”