January 6, 2011

Happy Holidaze

I love the Holidays. Seriously who doesn’t love a surprise?

Connor had a couple of wrestling match two days before the school break. He is new to wrestling and the first match was against the other team’s captain. He managed to get both crushed and a muscle strain in short order. For the match the next day the flu that was getting around got him and while he was winning for the first two periods he ran out of gas and lost on points.

Then he through-up for hours.

Apparently throwing up all the fluids you have had leads to dehydration. That, the muscle strain and the possible bug de-jour help spill keynotes. The next day he was too dizzy to do much of anything but he had a performing arts recital that night an managed to pull it off. Helpfully he didn’t have to stand up a whole lot on stage. The next day Kimball took him to see the doctor who then decided he should be taken to the ER for further testing.

They hung two litters of saline and ran a host of blood tests. Somewhere else in the ER the cops had someone they wanted to book later so they put the place was in lockdown. Naturally Connor’s hoodie wearing friends managed to just walk right in for a visit eliminating the possibility that the cops had one of them.

They brought him sugar free Reeses cups and some other get well gifts in the kind of poor taste that only hooded teenage boys can think of and left. The Reeses were vile and we contemplated keeping them and force feeding them to the guys who bought them. However that would have been a violation of the Geneva Convention so we tossed them out when he was released.

That was Friday night. Blair was scheduled into the same hospital Monday morning for a spinal surgery. He had been dealing with pain and decreased movement for a while. The common perception was it was some kind of muscle issue since it was manifesting itself as leg pain and stiffness. Finally some doctor called for an MRI and found he had a herniated disk, probably for some time.

We (a word that hear means I) had scheduled the surgery for the start of the Christmas break to minimize the time away from school. The date was set to do the surgery and get a follow visit around the  doctor’s time off. I hadn’t taken into consideration that Kimball had a final exam that same morning and was in hot water for that.

Blair and Mom both got thorough the morning as did I. In the process I learned something beyond the knowledge that you get one whole dollar off parking if you get the surgery desk to validate your parking ticket.

Meanwhile Delaney’s meters were tossing off errors and her iron levels were tanking like bank stock prices following a burst housing bubble. So while the boys were going in and out of the hospital she was at Quest every few days getting progressively more specific blood test drawn. Blood draws, just what a kid who test her blood all day anyway wants to do. The good news is that we were able to rule out a number of concerns and she doesn’t hate eating baby spinach in a salad.

I still love the holidays but come to think of it I can do without the surprises.

4 comments :

  1. Oh my word, Bennet! I am so, so sorry! How is everyone doing now? Are you all coming out of the daze haze?

    Despite it all, you keep your humor and can make me smile while telling these very heart breaking details. I feel guilty doing so.

    I hope everyone is recovering.

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  2. Wow Bennet! is all I have to say. You have been nusy. Hope things are turning around for you and the kiddos. Oh and the sugar-free Reeses - they would totally be qualified for torture, those things are nasty.

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  3. Geez, Bennet. You guys have been put through the freaking ringer! I'm glad you are all on the mend. (( hugs ))

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  4. Bennet, this sounds like a crazy busy time. I hope the various aches and strains all fixup just fine, here's to an excellent 2011 for all of us.

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