Instinks

When I was pregnant with Patrick I read an article in whatever parenting magazine that assured the neurotic new mother that they would just know when their baby was sick enough to require a visit to the doctor. Supposedly most parents have instincts that are sharp like English cheese and I think that's great (go species!) but I feel a little wistful because clearly I am evolutionarily inferior.

Wham. That is my head hitting the keyboard. Wham wham wham.

Remember that time when Caroline left her well baby appointment in an ambulance? Or the months Patrick went around looking like one of the Nazgul because a bacterial infection was slowly taking over his head? 

So yesterday Steve and I were running errands* with Caroline and Edward in tow. We went to Target. We went to the shoe store. We went to get some groceries. We bought fabric. And then, by merest chance, we happened to drive past our pediatrician's office at the exact moment that Edward coughed (as he said to me over the weekend "You and me Mommy have big coughs and we are coughing them") and I turned to Steve and said, "Hey, you know, I took him into urgent care over two weeks ago for this congestion. Should we swing in and have someone check him again?"

And Steve looked at the clock, calculated how much time we had until we needed to pick up Patrick, and said, "Yeah I guess it wouldn't hurt."

Long story short: Edward has pneumonia. Kind of a mild pneumonia, I think. A walking pneumonia but still... pneumonia. And I had sent him to sports class.

Wham.

In my defense he has no fever, no discernable wheeze, no alarming blueness... really apart from the gunk he has been a picture of health. Jeez. Pneumonia. Who knew?

+

Speaking of illness, Patrick is going to the Mayo clinic the Monday after Thanksgiving. When our pediatrician suggested this as a next step, he said that the Mayo has two big things going for it: one is that they use a team approach; and the other is that they are used to seeing zebras. Personally I think Patrick (and most likely his baby brother) has some sort of an immune problem. They get colds like other kids and then the colds morph into something swampy and never clear up without pharmaceutical assistance. But it doesn't matter what I think because we're going to the Mayo and no one there will care. Whee! Talk about relieving my anxiety about missing something in my ignorance. Someone in my comments (jokingly) suggested that I should be sure to do copious amounts of google research on all kinds of obscure conditions and bring the printouts with me - she said Mayo doctors love that sort of thing. I laughed. Can you imagine? They don't even let you schedule on your own. I had to have all of Patrick's relevant records sent from the hospital and the ENT and the pediatrician and then they called me after a doctor reviewed it all and told me what department was interested in him. So Patrick is scheduled with an infectious disease specialist who subspecializes in pediatric immune disorders and I think that pretty much covers it.

School continues to go well for him, although I discovered at conferences that he has a wee little problem with, oh you know, finishing any assignment. Fortunately (or unfortunately depending upon your point of view) his teacher is one of those warm, affirmative types who acknowledged that he needs to work a little harder but rushed to point out all of the things he is doing well. Like... socializing. At one point she told me that he is obviously very funny and she always hears peals of laughter coming from his tablemates. And she said it with the fond smile a person might give while discussing the high-spiritedness of a beloved grandchild. I was tempted to tell her that his ability to make his peers laugh in class would only please me if he was actually enrolled in clown college but... hell. I AM pleased that he is having such a good time, although I hid this fact when I returned home and threatened him with every dire repercussion I could think of if he didn't get off his lazy and start getting his schoolwork done.

So between my threats and his homebase teacher's loving acceptance of him (she has asked him to make her some curtains for her classroom - preferably tie-dyed; she's aces) and his math teacher bumping him up another math level I hope next quarter is just as laugh riotous but greatly more productive.

+

I still cannot believe that Steve surprised me on such a massive scale for my birthday. Not only am I shocked that he maintained secrecy in the face of my superhuman nosiness but I am also kinda surprised (and incredibly touched) that he bothered to go to so much trouble. Steve - and heaven knows I love him with the jawcracking force of an exploding two-ton bomb - has never been one for over-the-top romantic gestures. I asked him after the party if the first fifteen years of our relationship had merely been a prelude to this big surprise; if he had been forcing himself to stifle all that thoughtfulness under a carefully constructed veneer of (can you say self-centeredness about someone who spent two months planning your party? no? oh well) in order to deliver a bigger wallop of SURPRISE! He laughed. I still think it is likely.

Anyway, there are a lot of ways to feel loved but in my experience the surprise party was one of the most spectacular and after I arose from my sickbed I was sloshing over with a desire to reciprocate; with a yearning to convey that I am equally smooshy-mooshy about him.

"My darling," I said last Thursday, noting the leafless trees and the herd of deer playing rugby in our front yard, "isn't this the time of year that you like to sit in the woods and threaten innocent creatures with your bow and arrows? Do you want to go down to the farm some time?"

And Steve whipped a duffel bag out of nowhere and shouted, "I was just waiting until you felt better, byyyyeeeee..." and he left so quickly that there were little clouds of dust where he had been standing, just like a roadrunner cartoon. Actually I am exaggerating. He did say that he had been waiting until I felt better and that he would like to go to the farm as soon as possible. "Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow... but I think today."

I said uh, ok, I guess, go, have fun, I will tend to the home fires and then asked when he was coming back, meaning would he be home in time for the early game on Sunday or not until the late afternoon game?

"Ummm, next Tuesday or Wednesday. I don't know. I'll call you. Love you, byyyeeeeeee."

And then he was gone and I was standing there blinking  because a week of solo parenting (and solo carpooling. solo litterboxes. solo fixing the broken security system, dealing with the tire that has a slow leak, sorting through increasingly complicated business accounting) was a little longer than I had anticipated. Silly me.

In the end Steve was gone all week and in case you are wondering the exact number of You days a surprise party buys a spouse; it is: five. After five days I was done and when Steve came home on day seven I practically threw the children at him and climbed into the bathtub, pulling all of my Agatha Christies in after me.

I'm glad he is home again and the tremendous respect I feel for those of you who regularly manage without an another adult has been renewed three-fold. Children are wonderfully wonderful but they are also bottomless gulleys of sucking need and I find unalleviated 24/7 parenting both stressful and exhausting. 

+

I mentioned that I started running again. I did. And then I started getting shin splints that hurt so much I was hobbling around the house and could barely walk, let alone run. A quick google search indicated that there are two primary causes for shin pain: running too much and bad shoes. One woman on some running board shared the fact that she always got shin splints at the beginning of the season when she accidentally ran ten miles instead of three.

Huh. You don't know me personally and I am sure that many of you frequently find yourself getting so carried away when you exercise that you inadvertently run ten miles but... that is not me. I am a two slow miles if I'm lucky kind of a runner. So, new shoes it was!

I took Patrick with me and handed him one of the cat behavior books we had gotten from the library (he is doing his science fair project on feline something or other.) The shoe guy measured my feet and asked pertinent questions about my shins while Patrick opened his book at random and started reading. He started snickering and then he burst into uncontrolled laughter. I didn't realize cat behavior was so funny so I asked what was amusing him. He said it was a list of cat New Year's resolutions.

"Oh," I said.

"What's a con-dome?" he asked.

I turned red. The shoe guy turned purple.

"What?" I said.

"Con-dome," said Patrick.

"We'll talk about it later," I said. "In the car."

"Why? What is it?" asked Patrick. "Oh and what's co-i-toos?"

I grabbed the book, glanced briefly at the cat resolutions that included a promise not to drag empty condom wrappers through the living room and tossed the book into my purse. Then I sat on my purse.

Patrick said, "HEY!"

The shoe guy said, "So! How do those feel? Good?"

I said, "I'll take them, thank you, no bag" and I walked out wearing one new shoe and one sock, clutching the box with the other shoe in my hands.

The moral of this story is:

Man, I have no idea. How a nice book on cats from the library led to Patrick embarrassing the beejeezums out of me during an otherwise harmless consultation on arch support I have no idea. Coitus! In a cat book!

PS Remind me to talk about holiday gift ideas next time. Tis the season.

PPS Pneumonia!

* No, Steve does not usually drive me around and carry my parcels. In fact I cannot remember the last time he did. However, it turns out that he WANTS TO GO BACK DOWN TO THE FARM THIS WEEKEND and he is trying to butter me up. It's sort of working.

PPPS AHEM! Human coitus. The book referenced cats tactlessly interrupting human coitus. I return to my exclamation points.

PPPPS And I am fine, in theory, discussing sex with Patrick. Just not with Patrick and the shoe guy.

Comments

[Monica C.]

Umm, yes -- coitus in a CAT book is not all that surprising! :)

[Jan]

Agree! "Cats Are Not Peas: A Calico History of Genetics," by Laura Gould, for example, a wonderful book about advances in genetics and cat coat colors, even has separate chapters on ancient and modern theories about sex.
You can slide so easily from nasty congestion to walking pneumonia. I've done it myself and not gone in right away for treatment.

[Kristi]

Ahhhhahaha!! That last bit made me giggle, what happened with the talk!? But I can't let that distract me from "bottomless gulleys of sucking need". What a quote!

[Jody]

Actually a surprisingly large number of people I know send kids to (robust activity of choice) even though the kid is coughing, and it turns out the kid has pneumonia. I mean, really surprisingly large.

I keep track, because I did it. My kids ended up in the hospital with it. I laugh now. Ha. Ha.

Nope. Still not laughing.

Curiously enough, this seems to be a toddler/preschooler phenomenon. So apparently, some non-negligible subset of toddler/preschoolers can be walking around with pneumonia and still not be slowed down enough for Mom to notice they are ill. Huh.

For how long is Steve going the next time?

[Jenn]

When I was three-ish, my parents also thought I had just a cold and it turned out that I had mild pneumonia. In fact, I was in my aunt's wedding with pneumonia. They still kind of feel like asses about that and it was 31 years ago.

[Kathleen]

This is not what Mayo will tell you. I've been afraid to suggest this to you for a long time, but I really, really think it could help them both.

http://www.amazon.com/Disease-Proof-Your-Child-Feeding-Right/dp/0312338058

[Anna]

I read all the time but this is the first time I feel like i have something helpful to say...when I had a problem with shin splints, ankle exercises helped. If you sit with your legs crossed, try 'writing' each letter of the alphabet with the foot of the top leg. You can also pick things up off the floor with your toes. Those are the ones I remember offhand....maybe they will help, even if the shoes are not exactly the right ones! :)

I love, love, love your blog. I found it years ago when my husband was diagnosed with a BT and have been hooked ever since. Thank you!

[Elle]

Yes, well, I dragged my daughter to the beach and was pissy that she was whiny when she had a BROKEN WRIST. In my defense it was neither bruised nor swollen, but still....

And cat sex? Hahahahahah!!!!!

[Nelson's Mama]

I took my daughter to the doctor on a Friday with a really high fever (104) and was told she had a virus. Spent an incredibly long weekend with her throwing up, listening to her grunt constantly and her telling me that her tummy hurt.

This Mommy found out that those can all be symptoms of pneumonia too...before it was all said and done she logged two weeks in the hospital, developed a pleural effusion and was one sick kiddo.

I learned one of my most valuable parenting lessons EVER. I trusted my instincts from that point forward; the doctor I saw on that Friday was covering for our usual pediatrician and poo-poo'd my concerns.

Never again...

[NGS]

My husband has had nothing but good things come from his trips to Mayo. Sure, we have new diagnoses, but we also know how to deal with some of his chronic health issues. Yay Mayo! (And they don't pay me to say that.) It's a strange place and the scheduling is intense, but we've had some good experiences.

[EW]

A few years ago I got a book for my aunt called Dog Love, based on good Amazon reviews. My aunt, the former nun, adores her doggies, so I thought I was covered. Until I saw the chapter on bestiality in an otherwise staid tome. Yeah. It is still hidden on my shelves someplace.

[Colleen]

On the subject of knowing when your child is sick: when my first-born son was 13 days old, my husband noticed that his forehead was a little warm. Huh. We figured we must have overbundled him, as all the parenting books warned us not to do, so we took off his swaddling blanket and then, on a whim, borrowed a baby thermometer from a neighbor. Temp: 102 degrees. Still clueless, I thought "guess he's got a little cold or something, but I'm sure we shouldn't bother the pediatrician at 8pm at night." I was all for giving him a little infant Tylenol and putting him to bed, but thankfully it doesn't give dosing amounts for 2-week-old children, so I had to call the pediatrician after all--who rushed us to her clinic and did a spinal tap, fully expecting that she was looking at a case of encephalitis. The spinal tap was negative, so she bundled the baby back up, handed him over to us, and said, "RUN, don't walk, to the ER at the regional hospital. He's been admitted over the phone and they will put him on IV antibiotics IMMEDIATELY. Every minute counts."

In the end, he was treated for a urinary tract infection and was sent home, perfectly healthy, a few days later. I realize that we were incredibly naive new parents, and very sleep-deprived, but to this day I shudder whenever I think how close we were to just putting him to bed and "seeing how he looks in the morning."

[winecat]

Oh pneumonia, I'm an adult and a few years ago I was walking around with it thinking I had strep throat. My doctor walked into the room asked why I was there and then promptly told me I had walking pneumonia. I guess that explains the raging sore throat????

[quirkfarms]

TRY RUBBING ARNICA GEL ON THOSE SHINS. LOVE THE BLOG! GOOD LUCK AT MAYO'S.

[Shawna]

I just signed on for at least a week of solo parenting in April while my husbad (get this) goes to PLAY HOCKEY with his cousins IN GENEVA!

He'd suggested his dad could help me with kid pick-ups from daycare since I don't get off work early enough... and an hour later had talked his dad into going to Geneva with him!

!!!

[Ali]

This is definitely a 'zebra,' but people who are carriers of the cystic fibrosis gene can sometimes have problems with chronic sinus infections/general snottiness. Could be worth asking about!

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2000/10/001009104808.htm

[Cris]

I always get shin splints when I start walking/running again. What's worked really well the last couple of times is putting one foot on the opposite knee and then pulling back on the toes of that foot very firmly and counting to 10 or 15. Do it about three times and then do the other foot. I do it when I wake up and right before going to bed. As long as I do it regularly there's no pain.

"Bottomless gulleys of sucking need" is my new favorite phrase.

[ivfcycler]

zebras? ... or hippogriffs??

[SarahB]

Ah, the usual peals of laughter, this time waking my husband as I nurse our child at 3 am. Smartphones are a gift to new moms.

Best of luck on the medical issues!

[mizasiwa]

bottomless pit of need - i second that! poor Edward - I really hope that you find the end of the 'sick' we had three - four years of that and were hoping it was going to end only for my sister in law to give us all the 'black plague' before hoping on plane back to cypress. myself the kids husband and in laws have spent the last three months or is it four (?) pivoting between congestion/pneumonia/tonsilitus and ear infections - SO.MUCH.OF.FUN!!! I think Steve needs to do more than just carry bags - id be thinking much bigger!! ;-) so glad you enjoyed your birthday like that - its nice to be surprised every 15 years or so!!

[Sara]

Mayo is a truly amazing place...it really is. I went as an adult for a variety of issues that had been going on for a long time (they pointed out since birth to my mother's abject horror). I spent about a week (yipes), but came out with a LOT of information that has been quite helpful. Everyone was very nice and very efficient. At least for me, I got a schedule printed my first day. They do bloodwork, urine, etc. once (right at the beginning)and all your tests are ordered from that so you don't have to do it multiple times during your visit. If you have to stay overnight (hopefully not?) there are hotels that are attached by hamster track (probably not what architects call them) and make it easy to get to appointments and also to take a break between things.

Anyway, good luck! I saw someone in that department and we still email regularly when things come up. I'm due for my 1 year follow-up/check-up last December (whoops), but have really been amazed at how good everyone I encountered was in explaining what was going on and what to do about it.

[Candy Tenpas]

Three out of the four of us in our family all had pneumonia a few summers ago. We were the healthiest-looking sick people you have ever seen. Particularly my husband who had NO symptoms other than complaining of a tightness in his chest. I sent him off to Urgent Care where I could wrangle him an appt only because two of us had been diagnosed with pneumonia the week prior. He came home with a cloudy chest X-ray and antibiotics.

[Amy]

The pneumonia thing is easy to miss. Last year Nick (who was 2 at the time) ended up in the hospital for a week with pneumonia - I just thought he had a bad cold. Nick always seems to be sick with something - right now we have him on a nebulizer for twice daily steroid breathing treatments - the goal is to keep colds out of his lungs. Or something like that.

I'm glad you had a great party, and I hope your boys feel better soon. BTW, how is Caroline?

[JoAnn]

I second Cris - I used to get shin splints all the time until I started stretching my calf muscles really well before running - I do it while standing, but it's the same thing - sticking my let out, toes pointed up, and pulling on the toes so the calf stretches. Cured them. And good luck at Mayo!

[Slim]

Well, I (evidently) like to take my kid to the playground when he has undiagnosed pneumonia, but you do it your way.

How is the shoe guy supposed to learn about sex if you won't talk about it? Huh?

[Erin]

The pneumonia thing happened with my son as well. I took him in because he was wheezing a little and wham. Walking pneumonia. He had been at gymnastics the day before. He was 3. Now we're on our second round of antibiotics (cefdinir followed by augmentin) for a sinus infection that simply will not go away :(. I see an ENT visit in our very near future. Any insights on Patrick's experience with the ENT would be appreciated.

[Tine]

Zebras indeed!

I've not been to Mayo, but 10 years ago had a truly bizarre medical issue. Pulmonary endometriosis. I coughed up blood every time I got my period. Scared the freakin' crap out of me. And although several docs here in the TC examined me, ran tests, and nodded and smiled, they clearly thought I was making stuff up. When I stumbled on an article on the topic written by a Mayo pulmonologist, I e-mailed him. The guy replied right away. He answered all my questions, assured me I wasn't crazy, and offered to take me as a patient. Amazing.

I never did go (got PG, and the problem resolved), but I did learn something: Got a strange, intractable health problem? Skip the regular docs and get thee to Mayo.

[Olivia]

Yeah, I would not have expected coitus and condoms in a book about cats.

As for taking kids to the doctor, I worry that I am becoming the kind of parent who takes her kid in at the slightest sniffle. Fortunately, she doesn't get a lot of sniffles, so when I do take her and it's just a cold it's only 3 times a year or so.

[Angela]

I second the suggestion of tracing the alphabet in the air with your foot prior to running. I always get shin splints when I start running after taking a break, and if I do that prior to every run, I don't have problems. Another thing that can help is icing your shins after a run. I have two ice packs that slip into a holder that has velcro so you can attach it to your body. I ice them once I get out of the shower, while I dry my hair. You can also use packs of frozen veggies in a pinch. :-)

I always love seeing a new post from you! Hope the boys are feeling better soon!

[Jan]

I missed your PPPS. Human coitus. Um, yeah, no, wouldn't have expected.

[Christa]

So our four year old is embarrasingly adept at pulling up his own show on Netflix streaming. He's been watching an anime-style show about three kids on a quest. Anyway, Netflix is so helpful that it likes to suggest other things you might like to watch based on what you do watch. Imagine my husband's surprise when he hears "I seemed to have lost my panties" coming from the TV while our 4 year old is watching "cartoons." Apparently he got bored watching his age appropriate cartoon and was just scrolling through the smorgasboard of options Netflix suggests and happend upon ADULT anime. Now its not porn, but its somewhere between PG-13 and R. Can you say parental controls? Just one of many areas we need to get our act together on.

Don't even get me started on song lyrics. I'm no prude, but I really don't want to have to explain to my 10 year old what "your sex is on fire" means. I thought NPR would be safe in the car, but I've been burned there too. Argh!

[Denise]

@ Tine: OMG. Pulmonary endometriosis? Is that a thing? Sounds like a horror show.

Last year I had hip pain that got worse whenever I had my period. The ortho said, "I don't know nothin' 'bout no reproductive system." The gyn said, "I don't know nothin' 'bout no skeletal system." I can just imagine what you had to endure...

[Andrea]

I had that pneumonia once. It was a cold that just wouldn't go away. In retrospect, I did feel kind of off, but I didn't expect it would lead to x-rays, a CT scan, and a close, months-long relationship with a pulmonologist who thought I was superwoman for holding up so well. The good news is I felt amazing after a round of antibiotics. And it was the H1N1 year, so maybe that was it. I'm sure Edward will feel better in days, now that you've figured it out.

[Niki]

Oh, man, it's so hard to know when to take them to the doctor. My daughter has a cough, but...cough is a normal viral infection symptom. At what point does the cough become pneumonia? And apparently viral bronchitis doesn't get treated but bacterial does? (I'm sitting on a prescription of antibiotics for my own cough because I don't trust my doctor to have considered that difference.)

I was going to wait out my daughter's cough, but after all your stories of pneumonia I'm seriously reconsidering that plan. Eek!

And thanks for the laugh on the cat-coitus story. I am pretty comfortable discussing sex but I'm pretty sure that I would have been just as embarrassed and shoeless as you were. Eek!

Oh, and you mentioned the understanding teacher. Isn't that such a double-edged sword? My stepson has such a hard time getting any of his work done. I really think he has some processing issues and learning delays, but the district refuses to test him because his grades are fine. His grades are fine because his teacher is understanding and gives him lots of second choices, augh. Sadly, he does not entertain his cohort and decorate his classroom (you have such a creative son).

[Krissa]

Shin splints - You don't have to get the "barefoot" shoes for this, but try for a mid-foot strike, rather than a heel strike. It'll take some getting used to, but your shin splints will go away.
YouTube abounds with video examples, and rabid "your shoes are KILLING YOU!!!!" barefoot runners, but ignore them and just look at the running style.

[Kate]

I have a great deal of trouble finishing things - especially uninteresting stuff, like housework and school projects - and it wasn't until I was in my late 20s that I learned it could be a symptom of ADHD. All that time I thought I was just lazy or lacking in work ethic -- but then I happened to get on an antidepressant that also helps ADHD and WOW! It was like a whole new world. Maybe I'm not a lazy bum after all!

[Alchemilla]

If I run on tarmac I get shooting pains in my shin and thigh bones (that can go on for days). If I run on grass, sand or even on a rough stony but unmade-up track, I get no pain.

Looking forward to your Christmas present post - I am floundering & in dire need of inspiration.

x

[Catherine]

Oh, I just took my son to the pediatrician and sheephishly admitted that the only reason I was there was that I had kept him home from school because he was coughing but he really felt fine and I just wanted her to give him the ok to go back to school without infecting anyone. So yeah, pneumonia.

[victoria]

Thank you for this post! I am sorry your children are sickly but so glad you posted. I was worried your birthday bug had really knocked out out.

[victoria]

Kate -- what was the drug? I ask because I've always thought I maight have the same thing.

[Deanna]

This stretch will fix you shin splints! I swear!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pj2r4VtyRD4

[plantingoaks]

First, I love that you designate weekend times by 'the early game' and 'the afternoon game'. We do similar in the fall.

Second, from my sister's experience with shin splints (I myself religiously abstain from running), I think there is a significant physiological/genetic component. i.e. Mrs. crazy McRunsAlot may need 10 miles to trigger them, but two might be enough for you. Sister's solutions were lots of stretching, icing, and those funny bands that go under your kneecap.

Finally, walking pneumonia seems to be much more common / less serious symptomatically than the name implies. I seem to remember my mother being very surprised when my sister was diagnosed with it in her mid-teens. All involved parties including the sufferer just thought it was a lingering cold. Conclusion: you get no bad mother points for missing it.

[Kate]

victoria -- Formerly Wellbutrin, now Pristiq. The Wellbutrin was like magic -- I woke up one morning at 7, had no desire to go back to sleep, and *wanted* to get up and do the laundry. I got so much done that day. Once the dose balanced out I was not quite so productive but far more normal. I recently had my antidepressants poop out on me so I got switched to Pristiq, which seems to do a similar job.

[Leah]

You're such a kickass writer. I am psychic for your blog: I can always tell just before a page loads when there is going to be a new post. I just wish it happened more often (but understand parenting 3, sometimes solo, is fairly preoccupying).

P.S. I am that kind of runner too. My sister, who is a more serious runner, swears by those "barefoot" shoes that have a separate pocket for each toe, but apparently you have to learn a whole new style of running to use them.

[Brainy girl]

I myself was just diagnosed with pneumonia two days ago, to my complete shock. I felt perfectly fine, except for an insane cough that had not let up for two weeks and a very tight chest. Two days of antibiotics and things haven't much changed, but I'm hopeful!! No way would I feel guilty about "missing" this in a child - kids get coughs all the time, and with no fever or other obvious symptoms, well, you're just not going to know.

[Tine]

@Denise: It is indeed a thing. That has happened to about 100 people in all of recorded medical history. Of course I'd get the super-freaky thing no one had ever heard of! And yes, it was a horror show. I can't tell you how glad I am that it resolved on its own.

[Amy]

It is SO hard to know what really needs medical attention and what doesn't. My poor little kiddo was dragged on 4 flights this past week with an ear infection. She only complained on the first flight, then insisted that her ears were fine on all the others. One night while on solid earth she complained her ear hurt and she also had a fever. I almost took her to the ER because I didn't want her to suffer through flying with a possible ear infection, but she seemed fine the next day, so I didn't take her in. Once we were back home from all our travels she was still feeling pretty crappy with a cough and a fever, I took her to the dr, who ended up sending us home with antibiotics for her ear. Of course.

[Shandra]

I've had walking pneumonia and it's easy to miss! Honest!

My parental miss was that my child stepped up complaints of a stomach ache at school. Because he'd been complaining about the work I thought he was maybe a little nervous about reading? my special snowflake?

40 hrs later he had a very emergency appendectomy.

[Anne]

"Children are wonderfully wonderful but they are also bottomless gulleys of sucking need and I find unalleviated 24/7 parenting both stressful and exhausting."

Perfectly said.

[Hannah]

As an aside to one of the asides in your email, if you have tire pressure sensors on your car, they can fail, leading to slow leaks. After a lot of frustration at tire stores, we finally figured this out. Also, they told us that it is "normal" for your tires to lose between 8-10 psi per month. So maybe just keep a pump handy in the garage and if they lose more than that then get worried?

I ain't weighing in on the running. My body refuses to stand for it, so I've replaced it with beer. Stellar!