camille is getting better....

rrrrr. That's what I have to say about yesterday. I couldn't get her in to see the pediatrician because they were booked and double booked. She was wheezing and barking and struggling to breathe. I could see her nostrils flaring, and her chest was sucking in even when she exhaled. Mirielle, my second year nursing student, listened to her heart and said her heart was beating really fast...plus, Camille just couldn't keep awake. I wondered if trying to get breath was tiring her out, and I got scared. She also had a temperature of 101. I talked to the dr. office again, they could get me in at one in the afternoon....the receptionist hear Camille's coupy breathing in the background and suggested I just take her to Urgent Care. So I did...

We waited and waited and waited. Now, this waiting wasn't dreadful. No, it was actually sweet because Miss Camille was on my lap, cuddled up, no energy. She couldn't really talk because her throat was so clogged, but she could whisper a little, and she kept telling me that she liked me and liked kisses. I would kiss her forehead and she just smiled at me. Now this baby of mine is almost five years old...so this little interval of babying her was welcome, although I do not like to see her feel so awful.

So...we finally saw the doctor, who was a Physician's Assistant. He was, as Camille told Daddy later, a jerk. I need to watch what I say around her, I guess. But...he assumed I came into Urgent Care because I had medicaid. He did not say this, because if he had come out and said it I would have told him that this visit will probably cost us a few hundred because we have to pay 20% of all our bills AFTER we meet a five thousand dollar out of pocket deductible. No, he didn't say it, but he mentioned that I could have gone in to the dr. at one o'clock, as if....see, lots of people don't have insurance. Emergency room/urgent care visits are covered by medicaid. Lots of doctors don't take medicaid. So when their kids get sick....anyway, this doctor was, sorry to say, a jerk. He was condescending, and he said, "I don't even think it's croup." ha. When the nurse came in, I told on him. She pretty much agreed with me, and said she had kids in the E.R. before with croup and Camille's symptoms were quite severe. But she said, "I am just the nurse, and don't know anything.".

Camille received a breathing treatment and some prednisone to open up the airway, and we were sent on our way. We have to go to the pediatrician for a follow-up visit in a few hour....

Anyway...after we were released, we picked Samuel up at his Criminal Justice program at BOCES, and met Mirielle at the dentist...she had picked three kids up at school for me...we put Camille's carseat in Mirielle's car, and she took her home for me....after sitting there reading People magazines and watching Fox news in the dentist office for a few hours, we were off to the dr. to get Suzanne her 6th grade d-TAP shot...then to the grocery store...then, finally, home.

Home. Put away the broccoli and apples and pears and carrots and bread and yogurt and milk and ice cream....I bought a stack of .89 cent frozen dinners for the kids, put them in the cart while Margaret stood there in the aisle and did her Fake Crying, which she does when something is just so tragic. I told her Don't Worry, It's Just This Once. We don't really eat stuff like that, but the kids seem to think it is Fantastic and Amazing that I bought it for them.

Anyway, I cranked up the grill and made burgers...well, of course the grill ran out of propane after five minutes, so I had to transfer the burgers to the griddle on the stove....

Camille slept on our bedroom floor, just in case she started having trouble breathing again. She didn't. But we woke up a few times to check on her.

Charlotte Claire is home today too. She is a bit hoarse, and probably has the same germs as Camille does.

Well, now that I have spent all this time sitting here writing, I have to leave in 45 minutes. blah. I did walk this morning, a mile, up Evil Hill, with Suri AND the cat, Miss Swanson, aka Aunt Calculator. I mean, who has a cat who goes on a walk? She didn't stray more than a few feet from me the whole time. It gave just that added touch of craziness that every walk with a four and half month old puppy needs....

Anyway, I didn't get to work out yesterday. Sometimes, despite our best intentions, Life Happens. Today is another day. And I choose to be thankful today.

Oh, I heard from Benjamin yesterday!!! I won't say the exact day he leaves his little base, but he will be back to Washington State in November! Please keep him in your prayers, both he and his guys over there who he has become so close to...I don't want to be worried for him...but.