On Sunday morning my 8 year old woke up complaining of pain in her neck on one side. It hurt to turn to the side and was sore. I made the assumption that she slept wrong and kept an eye on her throughout the day. I made a rice sock to apply heat and gave her ibprofen. She was fine.
She woke up the next morning and complained of neck stiffness and a headache and that she didn't feel well in general. I went into high alert. My husband was hospitalized with meningitis eight years ago and I was told by doctors that if he did survive he would probably have significant brain damage because his encephalitis was so severe. By the grace of GOD, he recovered with no negative side effects but I definitely suffer from meningitis-related PTSD. Consequently, I have become an expert on all things meningitis.
Stiff necks and headaches together can throw me into a near panic. My daughter laid in bed and I took her temperature, which was normal. "Do your eyes hurt to look at the light?" "No." I had her curl her knees to her chest. "Does that hurt your back?" "No." I examined her body for a rash and there was none. Still, I wanted to have a doctor put his/her eyes on her.
I called and made an appointment for first thing that morning. I made her breakfast and got her to drink some fluid. She was acting lethargic and not herself. I loaded her into the car and off we went to the pediatrician's office.
I went to the front desk and checked her in and the lady at the front was being a huge bee-otch. "We JUST switched insurance carriers and I haven't received our new card yet." She looked at me like I had three heads, "Do you have a policy number?" "No." She was annoyed, "How do you expect us to see your daughter today?" I expected to punch her right in the face, but I didn't. "Surely, you guys take money. Cash, check, credit cards?" She huffed, "Well, it's going to be $60." I gave her the money and as soon as I did, she said, "Tests will be extra." She needed to get that extra jab in, I guess. I don't know what crawled up her butt. I do not have patience for rude people. It literally took everything I had in me not to throw my pen at her. I would be aiming for the eye region, in case you were wondering.
They called my daughter back and she sat down. All of a sudden she felt a lot better. At home she was like this:
As soon as we got into the doctors office:
You have got to be shitting me... I thought to myself. I just paid $60 and I am here to tell a PHYSICIAN that there is legitimately something wrong with you and suddenly you are laying belly down and turning circles on the spinning stool? I was highly irritated. "I'm taking you to school immediately follow this event." She smiled at me, "Okay."
The 20 year old doctor came in and looked her over and we decided that she was going to live and we were just going to watch her neck. As annoyed as I was with her, I was happy that she "magically" improved.
Otherwise, life has been uneventful. We watched the Superbowl on Sunday. It was a joy to watch the Patriots win the Super Bowl. Again.
My husband has been talking about it endlessly, which is weird because he doesn't really like foot ball. Tonight we were sitting on the couch and he asked if I saw the picture of the Patriot's coach kissing his daughter. I hadn't but here it is:
He was ranting and raving that it's weird to kiss family members on the lips. I sat there silently. "Oh my God! I kiss my family members on the lips." He looked at me weird. "Who?" I went through the list, "Definitely my grand mom AND my two sisters." I thought for a moment. "Do I kiss my mom and dad on the lips? I don't recall but it's a strong possibility. I might even kiss my brother on the lips." He gawked. "You do not do that. He would not find that acceptable." I thought back again for a minute. "It's definitely possible, now that I think about it...there may be some cousins that I kiss on the lips."
I do kiss family on my lips. I kissed my grandfather on the lips. I kiss the kids on the lips. It never occurred to me that it was weird at all. It is so second nature that I don't know who I kiss on the lips and who I don't. I told my husband that I was going to do a test. I am going to attempt to kiss all of my relatives on the lips, that is the only way that I'm going to get an accurate list of who I kiss and who I don't. He made a gagging sound, "That is disgusting, keep your lips away from me." My oldest daughter piped up, "Just don't get measles or cancer or anything gross like that." Cancer from kissing? Get this kid in biology class, STAT.
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