This week's calendar was full of activites for me. I had meetings every day of the week but today. Lots and lots to do. Monday started with the first of what I presume will be many couples counseling sessions. Yeah, I have taken the plunge into actually not only expecting better but helping that to happen. I am not going to go into too much detail (at least not right now), but I will say that I learned the biggest obstacle I we have to overcome may be the "I love you, BUT" thing. And that's enough of that.
While we were there, mom received a call that Grace was sick at school and needed to be brought home. I had never seen Grace the way she was acting. She simply couldn't keep her eyes open. But I ventured out the door anyway at 5:00 that evening to play bingo with mom and some of the bunco girls. (I won $50 too, by the way)
When I returned home I was told that Mak was running a fever of 101.9 and had just gone to sleep. She had been playing with her left ear quite a bit during the day so I knew that if she woke again I was going to the ER. I think I left about twenty minutes after I had made that decision.
I took mom with us because I hate sitting in the ER by myself with one of the girls. We arrived there around 10:30 and it was after one in the morning when we made it home. The place was packed; it was like a scene from a tv show.
At one point I snuck outside to smoke a cigarette and call Da Man to check on Grace. When I walked back through the waiting room I was shocked. There were two grown women bent over in pain, sobbing. And I know there had to be at least six kids all under the age of five in the waiting area. One little girl vomited all over her mom as I was walking through. I stopped and asked the mom if she needed anything and was told that they had informed her it would be two to four hours (hours) until they were even taken back to a room. I was horrified by that, so I walked back to Mak's room and carried a barf pan and some washcloths to the mom. I couldn't believe the place was that crazy. But seeing as how it took almost three hours for Mak to be seen by a medical professional for a simple ear infection, I shouldn't have been surprised at the state of the waiting room.
From the time I returned home Tuesday morning until now, I have not had the time chance to spend any real time by myself. The girls have had raging fevers since Monday night. The highest temp was Mak's last night when it peaked at 104.4 degrees. The week was blanketed with the anxiousness of today being Grace's fifth birthday. I didn't want to see her sick on her birthday.
She had missed school all week. The doctor told me on Tuesday that it seemed to be viral but, when she awoke yesterday morning with her third temp above 103, I was finally given an antibiotic for her. Last night was a horrible night for me. I had to call my mom to my place to help with the girls because we were all three crying in the bathroom during their bath.
Grace began to scream out of nowhere that her ear hurt, growing hysterical. When she reached the point of hysteria, Mak began. I had reached my emotional low and began crying too. I was working on almost no sleep and was...well...done.
Every four hours last night Grace would wake up and scream that her ear hurt.
This post is being interrupted by the shrill cries of one Mak. More later I am sure, if I ever find the time.