celticdragonfly

Didn't we just BUY more kids' ibuprofen and tylenol? How can it be gone?

And why can't I just buy the stuff in gallon jugs with a pump dispenser? Stupid little bottles. I have two kids in that age range, and will shortly have the third - by weight she oughta be there already.

I am MAD.

Jamie started being worse this afternoon again, still definitely feverish even with ibuprofen, so as the ER had instructed, we called his regular doctor. They said bring him in now, we'll fit him in. Fortunately fordprfct could take care of Alanna and watch for Maggie's bus, so I hurried Jamie over there. Turned out he has a double ear infection - presumably on Sunday the redness and swelling weren't advanced enough for them to see. And the current antibiotic isn't doing anything on it. So he sent off a prescription to Walgreens' for a new, tougher antibiotic that he'll be on for 10 days.

He SHOULD be on it starting now, except Walgreens' once again has proved to be a haven of incompetence. I wasn't surprised they didn't have it at 5, when we were heading out to get Maggie to kids' club - too early, they get backed up this time of year, one must be patient, and all that. But tonight on the way home, they still didn't have it, at 11:30, and were claiming it was never sent in. (It always seems to be the nightshift where we have the most problems with these idiots.)

My doctor has the new computerized system where he has a tablet computer in his hands during the appointment, and sends the prescription off directly from there. I KNOW he sent it in.

And we have been going around and around with Walgreens lately. They keep doing this kind of shit. A while back, they were repeatedly insisting that my doctor had not called in the replacement prescription for my eyedrops that were thrown out accidentally - and my doctor's office kept insisting yes they HAD - turned out they HAD, but Walgreens hadn't filled it because my insurance wouldn't cover it because they'd just paid for one. Well, DUH, I'd told them it was for a prescription that had gotten thrown away and I needed a replacement, I was expecting to have to pay cash for it. And they'd never mentioned that. And we went through something similar recently when we'd changed insurances. Honestly, my insurance does NOT determine what prescription I can have, it only determines what it will pay for, and damnit, I have money to pay for the others! FILL IT!

I have NO idea why they don't have it this time, but I'm quite certain that tomorrow I will have to go round and round calling my doctor's office and dealing with this crap. And in the meantime Jamie has a nasty double ear infection that is going untreated.

And on the 28th he has the preop appointment before his surgery - and if this ear infection isn't cleared up by then, he won't be able to have the surgery. A day's delay in getting this antibiotic started could mean his surgery would be postponed for at least a month.

I AM FURIOUS.

Jamie threw up tonight in bed, while Karl was out picking up groceries. I got him through it, his bed stripped, him stripped, washed him, dressed him. It was difficult - I was really wondering "okay, where IS the line between shivering and fever seizure?" Got his sheets into the wash. Later after Karl was home, he got clean sheets onto his bed, came down, got Jamie up off the couch to get a dose of ibuprofen and a drink of water, and carried him upstairs - whereupon from the sound of it Jamie threw up on him.

Poor Karl. Poor Jamie. The kid can't keep down an ibuprofen dose and a drink of water. Honestly, I think he oughta be in a hospital bed with an I.V. in. But given that Karl spent NINE hours in the ER with him earlier, and didn't get anything more than an antibiotic prescription, I don't know anything helpful we can do on that front. It seems to us like this is the flu, take 2.

selenite seriously deserves major points as a fantastic Daddy, as he's spent HOURS and hours in the ER waiting room today with Jamie. I am really hoping we can get him a good long nap this afternoon.

To sum things up - doctor thought bacterial infection taking advantage of weakened immune system post-flu. Strep throat test - came back negative. So they drew blood and did a chest x-ray. These came back with nothing informative, apparently. Throat is a bit red, one lymph node swollen, definite significant fever. So, as selenite told me on the phone, it's pretty much "We don't know, take this, see if it helps", with a prescription for zithromax. He's dealing with paperwork and such now, after which he'll break his caffeine avoidance and desperately search for a Coke to wire himself so he can drive them home safely. Poor dear.

My temp is up to 100.4, last checked.

And you know, another poor selenite moment - this is the second time in the last year he's had to take Jamie in and gotten back a "we don't know WHAT it is" result. fordprfct and I took Jamie and Maggie in around Christmas, and got detailed information on the nasty ear infections and Maggie's sinus infection. Poor Karl keeps getting the days when it's a definite case of WTF?

Jamie has a fever again.

And... apparently now so do I. And I'm not feeling so great. Kinda weird. Gah.

Darn it, Jamie had the flu and had a course of Tamiflu. Could he be having a relapse? Having one of the drug-resistant strains? Is it something else?

Scares me. Especially since we can't treat Alanna if she gets sick, and can't treat me because I'm nursing her. And a family in the area, involved with Maggie's dance school, just had a child *die* from the flu.

So it's a boring lonely evening tonight. selenite is sick, and is feeling like a lump, and went to bed a couple of hours ago with nyquil. The kids are sick too. Maggie and Jamie aren't doing too bad, but they do have a lot of coughing. They don't seem to be running fevers anymore, though. They went to school Friday, and I may send them again tomorrow, still debating. Alanna came down sick last night, and that's been distressing - terrible barky coughs and wheezing. She was doing better this morning, but then not so great again this evening. I'm not able to get much done, because pretty much she wants to be in my arms constantly, and nursing a lot. That's good for her, though, so I'll just get through it.

Got my hair trimmed today. Kinda good for the ego. The stylist was exclaiming about how THICK my hair is, which is amazing, considering I've been in that postpartum hair-shedding phase, where I'm losing handfuls every day, and I've been feeling like it's terribly thinned out. We were discussing keeping long hair with kids, and she commented about it getting harder with age, but oh, she's a lot older than I am - I said really? I'm 38. She was 37, and shocked to hear that I'm 38. So yeah, overall good for the ego.

Also got properly sized for new nursing bras, and got one outfit for Alanna. I ordered a bunch more online. Tricky to find what I want, given the weird combo of her age and size.

selenite and I were talking about possibly getting me an mp3 player in encouragement of getting me and Alanna out on long walks, now that we're moving into fall weather here. He was offering to get me my Christmas present early. I talked about it some to fordprfct, as my gadget-go-to-guy. Sounds like I probably want to go with an iPod.

So I'm dithering, do I go for the less expensive iPod shuffle, which is easy to use, yeah, and certainly holds enough for any walk I'd take, and hey, comes in PURPLE? Or do I figure I want this to be more of a total media storage thing, picturing it plugging into a future car audio set up, using it to take TV shows with me (not that I go out that much... but it could change...), and want to be able to take everything, and see if selenite is willing to spring for an iPod classic? Shuffle would just clip to something... classic means hey, make a cozy (oh no, make me knit).

For that matter, I wonder what the software interface is like? I use iTunes on the computer, but I've never interfaced it with any actual player.

Okay, people - advise me, please? What's your two cents on the matter?