17/31 for 21 Hilarity Ensues

Venting (like my last post) can be terrifically cathartic.  So can everything getting worse, causing you to wistfully long for the misery that was Wednesday.  I'm weirdly chipper today though and damn if I have the faintest idea as to why.

~  I worked VERY late last night so had a fleeting feeling of job satisfaction.  Or at least I no longer felt like my voicemail could explode, sending bits of shrapnel into my eyes. 

~ Then I got up early to get some time in before a slew of appointments only to have Matt call me as I'm parking (after a 45 minute drive, mind you) to tell me he completely threw out his back and I had to come home.  He then made a series of sad, sad phone calls, checking on my rescue effort drive.  I nobly refrained from comparing his backpain to childbirth.  Best part of being the girl in this coupling is that I will always have the trumpcard - but figured silence was the better part of valor.  Aren't I nice?  The best call of the bunch was #4 or 5, when he announced he'd managed to get off the floor - only because all three dogs got inside and were trying to play with him.  Our dogs resemble the pack in A Christmas Story a lot more than Lassie - imagine a football pile with slobbery tongues, twice the legs, and no personal boundaries.

~ On my way home I got a ticket. WELL, OF COURSE I did.  The cop said my registration was 21 days past due - I imagine my expression read something along the lines of, "21 days?  That's it?  Whaddya say we meet back here in four months when it's REALLY late?"   He asked if there was any reason for the oversight.  "Yes, yes there is.  How much time do you have?  Can I direct you to my blogger account?  That provides a detailed account of our current train-wreckedness".   Instead I just pointed to the empty car seat/booster - "Two kids".   He didn't think I was very funny, but he didn't cite me for being uninsured (which I'm NOT, just for the record), despite not being able to find an insurance card that didn't pre-date said children.

~ I got home, dug out some meds leftover from my C-section for Matt (did not refrain from getting in little dig about childbirth), helped him to bed, and took my girl to her 3 year check up....

~ wherein we received referrals for a sleep study, neck Xray, new orthotics, new labs, maybe a new GI guy if her, um, issues don't resolve, and an ENT because she failed her 3 year old hearing test (surprise!), and a specialty pediatric dentist.  If her mommy is really really creative and pushy, four of these items can be addressed in ONE visit while sedated (after the requisite co-pay sucking office visits where they'll confirm they need step 2 done under sedation.  Oops, that may sound a bit cynical.).  Our ped wasn't sure if the AAI film needed to be done upright which might rule out sedation - but the chances of them getting a clear shot of Tigger if she's awake are minuscule.  (Though I just googled and it doesn't look like they normally sedate, so who knows?).

She'll have to be sedated anyway for an ABR for her hearing which is really, really just awesome.  Did not see that one coming.  She passed her newborn screening, she's only had one ear infection (and I thought that diagnosis was questionable), and her ears looked clear today so it's not a temporary cold/fluid thing.  I might be jumping the gun a bit - she might get into a testing room & love the toys & lights - but the nerd in me thinks the wires attached to her brain would produce more definitive results.  We talked about her hearing at her IEP but since she hasn't been prone to ear infections, and she reacts to what's going on... I don't know.  I'm assuming any issues are on the mild side (jinx), but what if they're just mild enough to hear the garage door but not the difference between 'eat' and 'ear'?  What if her speech issues are hearing related and not (just) developmental?  Right now, definitive results sound good.

~  Funny was the pediatrician & nurse reacting to the omnipresent teeth grinding - it barely registers with me any more.  She has refused to let our family DDS look inside her mouth, so if we do have to go the sedation route it would be nice for someone to get a look inside and tell us how much damage all that grinding is doing.

~ After the appointment we stopped in a sandwich shop where my girl raced for a table, all by herself.  She seemed  like such a big girl and was so content, I let her sit there by herself while I waited in line  (I was only 6' away).  She busied herself flirting with the guys one table over - young too-cool hipster types - who could not have been cuter with her, smiling and waving back. 

~ It seems I've done a lot of whining this month and not so much awareness and advocacy.  So let me point out that sandwiched between appointments and medical referrals, bad backs and mommy tracks is a beautiful little girl who can make even the hipster dudes tear themselves away from their iphones and smile.  Who could resist this face?  We are sosososososoSO very lucky. 

From July'11