Oct 23 2007
My Earlobes are on Fire…
… and other random stuff.
The fact that my earlobes feel like they’re on fire really isn’t the point of this post. In fact, I don’t actually KNOW what the point of this post is yet. I’m making it up as I go along. But it’s definitely not that my earlobes are on fire.
See, I’m allergic to nickel, which means I’m also allergic to white gold (which is “white” because they mix gold with nickel). Since I look terrible in yellow-gold, I’m pretty much a silver or platinum kind of gal. ANYWAY. I’m wearing white-gold earrings because they said that the posts were stainless steel…
And yet, my earlobes feel like they’re on fire. Which, again, is NOT the point of this post.
Thanks to all who have written to make sure I haven’t fallen off the face of the planet. As it turns out, I haven’t. Though I suspect it might have been easier.
I have sick kids. Last week, Fluffy and Fuzzles were sick. This week, Scooby and Fuzzles are sick. Sigh. My poor babies. Fluffy is all well now, and Scooby will be all well soon. But things are never quite that easy for Fuzzles. Life has just been harder for my Fuzzles than it ever was for my other kiddos.
As you’ll recall, he was my baby who was born early, though not remarkably early, and he was sick from the start, though not remarkably sick. A few months later, all of my kids had a cold. Fuzzles got it, and it turned into RSV and bronchiolitis, for which he was hospitalized for about a week. Then a few months later, all of my kids got a stomach flu. Fuzzles got it too, and it turned into severe dehydration which landed him, once again, in the hospital for a couple of days. These are the two most extreme examples, but the point is that when everyone else gets sick, Fuzzles gets sicker.
On top of that, Fuzzles is very behind developmentally. He’s nearly 14 months old, but he’s wearing 6 month old clothing. He’s not walking at all, and, most alarming of all, he’s not talking. He’s months and months overdue for his first words. He’s not even close—he’s not even sort of saying words. An exam shows possible hearing loss, possibly (but hopefully not) permanent, and he’s slated to see a pediatric ENT this week. I just pray that we’ll have ANSWERS this week. Or at least some idea of what’s going on with him.
So, that’s that story. And could explain some of my absence, and much of my exhaustion, which sounds really selfish, so I apologize for sounding selfish. Or something.
Tonight I taught a class on budgeting and savvy shopping. See, in my REAL life—the one where I’m not called “Brillig”—I’m quite an expert at all of that. But it was a last minute request, because the person who was teaching a different class had to cancel at the last minute, so I subbed in with my class. It went well, but required hours of last-minute preparation. I’m glad it’s over.
And yesterday, my sweet mother-in-law, who I love as my own, had a mastectomy after having recently been diagnosed with breast cancer. The whole family was in a bit of shock—the women in her family die of heart disease and diabetes. No one knows of one single instance of cancer. So this was a big surprise. Hubby and the kids and I will take dinner in to her tomorrow and spend the evening chatting with her and my father-in-law. Apparently the recovery from a mastectomy is brutal. She’s in her early sixties and still teaches first grade full time. It’s hard on her and her students for her to be gone for so long. But the good news is that apparently everything went very well and she’s going to be just fine.
My parents are well. And frickin’ cute. They’re on a mission in Spain and they’re doing some amazing stuff. I had let contact between us slip, and I finally managed to resume it this weekend. I love being able to email them and know that by the time I wake up the next day, there will be a beautiful, exciting, adventure-filled email waiting for me.
And this post still doesn’t have a point.
Anyway, I’m off. And I’m going.
Oh, and California is on fire and New Orleans is under water again. I need to remember to be less whiney. Lots of people are suffering a lot more than you or I right now.
The end.
