Thursday, November 26, 2009

just tell GOD your plans

today is thanksgiving....we will not be gathering with all of the relatives to give thanks...we will be at home with the 2 kids, 2 dogs, 2 cats, 2 fish. not because that is our plan but because that's what has been planned for us. this is when i think of the quote, "just tell GOD your plans, if you want to make him laugh!"

bif and i had a fun little getaway to new york city last weekend. after a busy weekend, bif left for a sales meeting....a sales meeting scheduled every year at this time.....6 hours away.

after a sunday filled with phone calls to the doctor...the plan was to take grace, our daughter, to the doctor, first thing monday morning!
and after my husband left on his 6 hour drive, my son left on his school bus, we were off to the doctor....oh, wait...it would take some time to wake my exhausted daughter.......after many attempts, she pushed herself to get out of bed.

one way to decipher just how sick your teen is......if they can't bare to have the radio on in the car! not even with the volume very low....it must be off! that is a tell tale sign........another is...when a fourteen year old girl doesn't even want to brush her "bed head"!

after the doctor confirming mononucleosis, "mono", we were off to get this girl back to bed. then my mission began...i had to bring the doctor's note to school, bring the prescription for antibiotics to the drug store, buy lots of juice, popsicles and ice cream and pick the up the filled prescription, hurry it home to fill in to the patient....to get her feeling just a bit better...or as good as she can feel for now.

sleep is the major cure for this exhaustion based sickness....and sleep we all will get...tonight, my son and i will also get to sleep early after a weekend of late nights...

checking on grace many times before my bedtime, she was in alot of discomfort.....hardly swallowing her juice...and getting to sleep off and on.

i worried and went to sleep. i woke up to her crying my name. i went in to be with her, she wanted me to rest beside her. she was scared....as was i.

a bit later, after a foggy sleep, she was having some difficulty breathing since her tonsils and glands were so enlarged! it was then that i knew i had to call the doctor "on call". he agreed that this was something of a real concern and suggested i take my patient to the emergency room. i called my husband to wake him in his hotel room to let him know the plan....and to share my worry....and to think through what to do about our sleeping son.

it was almost 4 o'clock in the morning....why wake him? would it be alarming to wake him and let him know his sister had to go to emergency? would it be upsetting to be woken up and left alone to wonder? would it complicate the plans to leave immediately? the answer was yes, yes and yes.

we left for the emergency room, quietly and inwardly worrying about our sweet daughter, so scared and sick and hurting. the doctors checked her and helped her swelling temporarily....they wanted us to continue to the children's hospital at yale...they were concerned for such distress and swelling.

off we went...oh wait...we needed to fill the gas tank after such a hectic weekend. better than running on fumes....the way my body felt at 4 in the morning.

at children's hospital, we had doctors waiting and prepared to see our patient....with many doctors in to assess her, grace and i were relieved to know they would take care of her and send us home.....

after seeing doctors and residents and doctors assistants, nurses and nurse practitioners and security guards and valet parking attendants, one nicer than the next...... we were sent home...both of us relieved.

while we were at the hospital, we both gave thanks that we were there for just a temporary illness and we were thankful for all of the skilled professionals that were there to take care....all with a smile and kind words to us both.

my husband called to check in, once we were home and had some words of wisdom to share (never welcomed when he is long distance suggesting).......he quickly realized that...

this was the third tuesday before thanksgiving that i had been to the emergency room with a child while the husband was at his sales meeting 6 hours away...."murphy's law" goes into effect when mr. murphy is away....once again.......2 broken arms and one mono...other broken bones were just during run of the mill business travel.

our thanksgiving plans have changed again....we're pretty adaptable....we'll stay home and watch the parade and some movies and maybe even order out! while grace sleeps.......she doen't eat turkey anyway!

just tell "GOD" your plans and make him laugh! no matter what, we still give thanks .....for family and friends....and everyone else who get us through the "murphy's law" moments.