The Week I Needed an Insta-Care in my Back Yard

This week actually took place a month ago but I just had to get it down because it was so crazy!  This will be a day by day play by play.

Saturday- Jared woke up with his left big toe huge and swollen.  He couldn't walk on it and it looked really bad so I took him to the Insta-Care that morning.  They thought that it was an infection around his toe nail so they gave him an antibiotic and told us to see a podiatrist ASAP.

Sunday- His toe was still terrible looking.

Monday- Took Jared to see a podiatrist who recommended that we remove the entire toe nail.  This is normally an office procedure but Jared obviously couldn't handle that so we set up a hospital sedation for Friday to take care of it.

Tuesday- A quiet day.  We LOVE quiet days!

Wednesday- The kids had been at school for just over an hour when Jeff came running into the house asking for help.  He had been at the school for a meeting and ended up bringing Alyssa home.  She was having a severe dizzy episode.  It started just after getting to school and she hoped that it would pass.  After an hour she still felt terrible and headed down to the office and found Jeff there.  Just as he got her into the car she started vomiting.  I am glad that he was there!  We got her into bed and cleaned up but she was still so dizzy.  She couldn't even close her eyes because that made it worse.  She vomited several more times and after a couple of hours she was able to sleep.  She felt much better after sleeping.  She hadn't had a dizzy spell this bad since June as she was still recovering from surgery.  After talking to her neurologist, we all decided that her body wasn't quite ready for full school days yet.  Since allowing her to sleep longer and getting her to school in time for 2nd period, her dizzy spells have been much milder.

Since Alyssa was feeling better we decided to go to our ward's end of summer picnic.  It was a lovely evening and we were enjoying getting to know more people in our new ward.  Jared was having so much fun with all of the kids and was so happy.  Unfortunately the fun didn't last as Jared came running up to us crying that his wrist was hurting.  He was in a bounce house and I don't know what happened but he was hurting.  He was inconsolable so we loaded up and headed home.  He was still hurting so much and since he has a history of bones breaking easily, we finally decided that we better get him to the ER for x-rays.  So he and I spent the evening in the ER!  Luckily, nothing was broken but it was very sprained.

Thursday- Alyssa had a dentist appointment to pull four baby teeth that were not coming out on their own.  She has never had a problem at the dentist's office and I figured that we would be in and out quickly.  It ended up being quite the ordeal.  I think that there must have been some post traumatic stress disorder as a result of this last surgery because she did not handle things well at all.  It took some convincing to just get her in the chair.  Then she refused to use the laughing gas which she has always used before.  Then she wouldn't open her mouth for the numbing gel.  After an hour of convincing we finally got her to at least try the numbing gel.  The assistant put a small bit in and then Alyssa completely lost it!  She went crazy and could not handle the feeling of being even a little bit numb.  I have seen plenty of tantrums because of a child not wanting to cooperate but this was beyond a normal tantrum.  This was terror!  I am wondering if subconsciously, the feeling of being numb reminded her of how she felt after her surgery.  She wasn't able to move her right side at all at first and it felt very different.  She doesn't remember much of the first few days because she was so drugged, but I am sure that her body remembers.

She finally calmed down and we asked her what she would like to do.  She decided that she wanted the dentist to just pull them and get it over with.  So she opened her mouth and the dentist had all four teeth out in less then two minutes!  No numbing or anything!  The dentist thought for sure that it wouldn't work, but he was the first to admit that he has been wrong before.  For Alyssa, the feeling of being numb was worse than just pulling them!  How crazy!  Two hours after arriving at the dentist's office we finally walked out with four teeth successfully pulled.  I WAS EXHAUSTED!  It is terrible watching your children hurt and having no way of taking it away!

Friday- Jared and I had to be at the hospital at 6:30 AM for his toe nail removal.  Things went smoothly and the toe nail was successfully removed.  The thing that upset him the most was having to keep the bandage on it for several hours.

Saturday- Jared seemed a little off all day but I assumed that it was a result of the sedation from the day before.

Sunday- We ended up bringing Jared home early from church and he started running a fever.  When I was putting him to bed I noticed a rash on his face and neck.

Monday (Labor Day)- Jared's rash was everywhere and he still had a fever.  Back to the Insta-Care we went since it was a holiday.  He was having an allergic reaction to the antibiotic he was taking for his toe!  I am allergic to the same antibiotic so I knew how miserable it was.  Poor boy.  He spent the rest of the day laying down and was so grumpy and miserable.  We had all of our friends from BYU and their families over for a barbecue that evening and our normally happy, social Jared spent the entire evening in bed.  Luckily, by Wednesday he was on the mend and back to school.

What a crazy week!  After two trips to the instacare, a trip to the ER, an adventure at the dentist's office and a hospital sedation, I needed a week to recover!  Life is rarely dull around our house!