Not Much

Not much new has been going on around here except for school.

Nate FINALLY begins his new speech appointments with the Public School. This saga all started back in December at his 3 year old check up. His doctor expressed concern with his speech, calling it a Speech Articulation Delay. She gave me a referral to go to the hospital's speech department. We had some insurance issues going on, but had finally got them all resolved and Nate in to see the speech therapist around the beginning of March. At the same time, I had made an appointment for Nate for the Public School Board, knowing that the insurance would not pay for continual visits. That appointment was set up for the end of April, almost 2 months later.

Well when the end of April finally rolled around, we were very disappointed to find out that the appointment Nate had was just a "screening" to see if he needed to be evaluated further, and even more disappointed to find out that that appointed wouldn't be until more than likely August.

We got a call at the beginning of August to go get Nate evaluated. Yes, even after "screening" him and being told that yes, he does have a speech problem, they have to "evaluate" him. I'm not sure why they couldn't evaluate at the screening, but what can you expect from a government-run program? Anyway, we got a call a day or two later saying that Nate indeed did qualify to get speech therapy and that after school started he would get called for an appointment. Last week Ray went in for an appointment for, get this, to be told that Nate would get started with appointments. Sheesh. They could have just saved some money and told us this back in April. So 6 months after I made the first phone call my poor boy is FINALLY getting started. The only good thing I can say is that thank goodness I don't have to pay for it.

Is this just a foretelling of a future with government health care? Can you imagine waiting 6 months to see a doctor? Scary.

First Day of School

The day went very smooth and both kids had a great time and I was told Nate was VERY, VERY good. He was the best behaved kid in the class. Honestly, there isn't much to say, so I will just post some pics from the morning.

Bad Blogger.....What Else is New?

Yes, I know I am a VERY bad blogger. However, in my defense, things have been extremely busy! I have been getting the kids ready for school next week, getting ready for some crazy finals in my Microbiology lecture and lab classes, getting things ready for me for nursing school, going away on a last minute trip to see Ray's brother, John and our sister-in-law Wendi, and our nephews Isaac and Elijah (well it was last minute for me since Ray was planning on going alone with the kids). There will be a blog this week with some pics as Wednesday will be Nate's first day of school, EVER!

Anyway, while next week my schedule will lighten up some, I will still be busy getting the house in some sort of order before I start school, finishing up some last minute shopping for nursing school, and helping Ray get the work paperwork caught up so that when August 24th comes around, there is less on his plate.

Look for another blog around Wednesday or Thursday!

Update!

I am FINALLY feeling better. My only complaint is I still have a cough and its very annoying, and my voice is still a little hoarse. Other than that, it seems like all is well.

Yesterday I took Grace to get a haircut. My plan was to get it significantly shorter, but to keep it slightly past her shoulders. Ray and I had discussed the option of Grace donating her hair, but at Locks of Love, you need a minimun of 10 inches to donate, and that would have made Grace's hair VERY short. However, when I started talking with the haircutter, she suggested we go a little bit shorter and Grace could donate her hair. I told her I thought it needed to be 10 inches, and she advised me that Pantene had a program (Pantene Beautiful Lengths) and they only needed 8 inches. It was going to be a little bit shorter than we had planned, but Grace really wanted to donate her hair, and I really wanted her to do it as well, so we went ahead and got a shorter than expected haircut. The concensus from everyone i

s that it is GREAT!

I'll post some better pictures later when I upload them to my computer. For now, you can see this one:

Almost Better

I am feeling a lot better than I did. My headaches are gone, aches are gone, fever is gone, everything is just about gone except feeling a little tired and unmotivated, and a cough that just won't quit. Hopefully, I will feel 100% soon, but I am very glad I am no longer feeling as horrible as I did for so long. I can't believe I ran a fever for just about a week straight!! Yuck. On top of that, I was in bed for 9 or 10 days. I hope to never have to feel that bad again (or to have any loved ones feel like that either!)!!

Fortunately, no one in my house had picked up my nasty flu turned pneumonia junk. However, poor Ray came down with a doozie of a cold that had his head all congested and making him feel like crud. He did such a good job taking care of me, I feel so bad he feels bad now. I'm just glad he didn't get the flu! I think he is feeling better today than he has, so thats a good sign.

Not So On The Mend.......

So I wasn't going to go back the NP unless I was feeling a lot worse, and quite frankly, I don't know how much worse I can feel. But, I was hacking up a storm and wanted to see if she can give me a better cough medicine than what she had given me because I wasn't getting any relief in the coughing department what-so-ever. So after I went to school to take my midterm that I didn't study for, and because of email problems was not able to make any arrangements for retaking the test with my professor, I went to the walk-in clinic to see the NP. She went ahead and listened to my lungs again, and this time she said my right lung sounded diminished, which meant I could have pneumonia. She ordered a chest xray, and I went so late this afternoon, I was told it would probably be tomorrow before the radiologist called the NP. However, by the time I got home from picking up my prescriptions, the NP called and told me I did indeed have pneumonia.

Yuck.

I have to take this time to to thank Ray and his mom. They have been an INCREDIBLE help to me during this time, and I don't know what I would do without them. Mom had taken the kids out of the house several times, and even had a few sleepovers. Ray has been my "caretaker" (I called him my nurse, but he HATES that, lol). He has woken me up every few hours to give me my meds, he's helped get me whatever I need, he's done laundry, he's cleaned up, he's drove me around today like crazy. Thank you both very much for your help. I'd be lost without it.

I hope to report soon that I am better. I start my new antibiotic today, and the NP said I should feel better after 5 days. I'll keep you posted.

On the Mend....

Or so I thought. I had a pretty decent day. I had alternated taking Advil and Tylenol every 2 hours and felt pretty decent except for feeling beat down. My headache was really controlled and I think it almost went away completely. Then I made a fatal mistake. I decided not to take my 5pm dose of meds since I thought I was on the up swing.

Not the best idea in the world.

By 9 pm I was in a world of trouble. Fever spiked. Severe shivering (and by severe, I'm talking it looked like I was having a seizure-- I had on pants and socks, a shirt and a long sleeved shirt, and was under a sheet and three blankets and was still cold). Headache returned. Achiness back. Add to the my cough got worse and as I hacked away, my headache only tripled in pain. I felt nauseous, and light headed, and just completely horrible.

Problem is, how am I supposed to know I'm better yet if I'm always taking medicine? I could be taking medicine for like 15 years and not know if my fever is gone yet, you know?

Not sure what to do with that department. But for now, I guess I'll keep taking my meds every 2 hours.

I went to the dr yesterday. Well, it was a walk in clinic and there was a Nurse Practitioner there, but whatever.....she's been trained to figure stuff out. Since I want to be a nurse myself, I'm a little partial to NP's. Anyway, she said its more than likely the Flu, which was what I kinda figured out on my own. Ray asked me to ask her if it was H1N1, aka Swine Flu. She said she didn't think so because it would be more severe and I would be completely knocked down. Then today, I was IM'ing with my best friend who moved far away from south Florida for a fancy job at the CDC. She's gone through some extensive information sessions on H1N1 due to her job there, and half jokingly said I probably had it. I told her what the NP said, about it being more severe, and she explained to me in all this fancy talk that thats not necessarily true and asked if I got my mouth swabbed. I said no, and she said that since people have been recovering pretty well, they're not getting swabbed as much because of the expense. Whatever. I don't really care what kind of Flu I have, I just want it to go away. Influenza A, Influenza B, makes no difference, just hurry up and go.

Now I sit here, wide awake, awaiting for my Advil PM that I took an hour ago to kick in. I'm hot, but then I take the blankets off and I'm chilly. It's crazy. My head is killing me, and I have to be back up in an hour to take more meds. Fun.

Ray says I might have to go back to the dr on Monday. Bleh. I really don't like going. Unless they can magically make me feel better or give me some super narcotics to take away this headache, I'm not sure what the point is. Yeah, I know asking for narcotics sounds bad, but remember, I don't even like to take meds in the first place. I just want some relief.

Anyone got any relief?

Still Sick

I couldn't sleep because of some crazy shivering I was going through a couple of hours ago. My fever is back up again, too. I've been controlling it with meds, but since I was asleep, I didn't take anymore since I went to bed, and thus my fever returned. I hope I feel better soon......I'm supposed to be studying for a big midterm on Tuesday. My headache still has not gone away, either. Also, the weird thing is that when my fever is up, I am nauseous, lightheaded and dizzy. Blah. This is beginning day 4 now. Perhaps I should go to the dr. I usually hate going because when I do, nothing is wrong. Then I'm afraid that if I don't go something IS wrong. Ha! Such a terrible predicament.

By the way, its funny how I can go from shivering so bad I can barely breathe, to sweating like I'm running in 100 degree heat.

I really hope no one else gets sick. This is pretty stinky.

I think I will try to go back to sleep now.

Blah

Tonight I feel blah. I started coughing, and then I started a fever, albeit a low grade one, but for me, whose base temp NEVER reaches 98, I got really warm feeling inside, and started the shivers. I think I had about 3 blankets on and my hands were still like ice. I had some serious chills. I went to bed with out taking any medicine, because if you know me, I am stubborn like that. I HATE taking medicine. I will try to live out a migraine until the migraine wins and I succumb to taking tylenol, advil or excedrin. I went to bed at 10:30pm (we were in the middle of a thunderstorm, so it was so soothing to watch the lightning and listen to the thunder roar as I faded into a slumber). It is now 1:30am and I can't sleep. I took my temperature, and it was 101 point something. Ok, time to take some meds. I am achy, and coughy, and headachy (yes, these are words!) but no longer cold. I think I will try to retreat back to bed and watch some TV until I fade out again. I can't even remember the last time I had a fever over 100, much less at 101 point something. Hopefully it will not return, and hopefully the advil will work (and tylenol, too in a couple of hours).

I feel really blah!

Whoa.....

It's hot out! Apparently, it feels like 108. That's pretty hot y'all!

Happy Father's Day to My Wonderful Hubby!

Happy Father's Day to my best friend. I am a very blessed woman to have a husband like you and I am so grateful that our children have such a wonderful dad. Thanks for being such a great man. I love you!

My Big Girl

Last night, my big girl, who in just two and a half months will turn 7, took her first shower. I told her we'd have to get ready for a bath, and she asked if she could try taking a shower instead. My little angel is growing TOO FAST!

From the Mouths of Babes

Mom: "Nate, what do you want to be when you grow up?"

Nate: "Nobody. I want to be me."

Mom: "Nate, you don't want to be a real firefighter and drive a real firetruck?"

Nate: "No, I want to be little forever."


Ah.....if only they could really stay little forever.

Yesterday

Yesterday, Ray wanted to work on organizing the kids' toys and relocating them from the living room toy bin into the new cubicles in their room. While we were in the midst of said project when some kid decided it would be really cool to pull the fire alarm in my building. Well, besides the fact that the alarm outside is REALLY loud, we have an alarm inside our house that was even louder (and its not a smoke detector, its like a little speaker)! I seriously had to plug my ears with my fingers. After Ray went outside to make sure there wasn't really a fire, he came back and covered up the alarm so it wouldn't make us deaf. Finally after about 10-15 minutes, the fire department showed up to shut it off. The meter room happens to be right next to my back porch, so I saw the fire fighters pass by and thought, "I need to get Nate and go see the fire trucks before they leave!" So I yelled for Nate, and Ray, Grace, Nate and I all went outside to see the fire truck. Just as we got there, a Lieutenant walked up behind us and said hi to Nate and then asked if Nate wanted to go in the fire truck. But, just as he said that, they got a call and had to go. It was very cool of him to offer, though. Nate was just glad to see yet another fire truck.

Bad, Bad Blogger

Sorry. Again. As usual, I am so busy, and I often forget to update this. Ray and I took the kids to see the movie UP yesterday and we would highly recommend the movie to any one of any age to see it. It was a very good movie. I do think it moved a little slowly at times for Nate, since a few minutes before the end he asked me, "Mommy, how long does it take?" I interpreted that as, "Man, is this thing over yet?" Nate liked the movie, though, despite wanting it to be over. Hey, its hard for a three and a half year old to sit anywhere for over 10 minutes straight, let alone an hour and a half.

Today, I got to take the kids on a tour of the fire station. They had such a great time, thanks to my friend Tessa who had plans to go with a play group and got me in after some cancellations opened up. In case you don't already know this, Nate is obsessed with fire trucks. He probably is either playing with his fire truck, or pretending he is a fire fighter and making fire truck siren noises about 75% of the day, so this we a delight for him. Grace was super excited, too. I took some pics and I promise to have those up in a few days.