Much ado about nothing

Three youngest cousins; Grace was the only one feeling well

Oliver and I were gone for 10 hours today, but not much was accomplished since the anesthesiologist didn't like the sound of his lungs. They had me give him a nebulizer treatment to see if that would do the trick, but the verdict was the surgery needs to be rescheduled due to wheezing. The good news was that the surgeon was pleased with the effects of the testosterone shots. He thinks that they not only enlarged but also straightened his penis. He says that even if the volume goes down some in light of delaying the surgery, we do not

Grace and Julianna are only 6 weeks apart in age. Grace is the youngest.

need to give him any more shots. I will be praying all the more fervently that it will only take one surgery (Ian's took two and Dr. Canning presumes Oliver's will probably take two) because if Paul is working in another state in August (such as FL) then we won't be returning to CHOP for the second stage surgery. At least six months have to pass between surgeries. And even if we are still in or near PA, we have no idea what health insurance we'll have after June.

Here are some random observations and lessons learned today:

Paul and Oliver napping on Saturday

 1. If I leave the house before Paul gets up, the bed will not be made. If I find an unmade bed at 5pm, I find myself compelled to make it even though it's getting closer to the time we'll be going to bed.

2. It is very hard to wipe your baby's nose while driving a car.

3. Although MapQuest says it takes 2hr and 45 minutes from our house to CHOP, you should allow for at least 3hr and 45 minutes because the traffic on 76 in Philadelphia often moves at a pace around 5mph. We were 25 minutes late today even though I allowed 3hr 10 min.

Oliver loves to climb into the dishwasher or dryer.

4. Don't pay your parking at the machine located near the elevators. I was charged $9.50 even though I had my slip validated. If I hadn't used the machine (I thought it was mandatory to use them), I would only have paid $3 for parking.

5. If you get off the turnpike and get back on, your total toll bill will be higher even though you are on the toll road the same amount of miles. On the way down we never got off and it cost $7.80, but on the way back I stopped for a VERY, VERY late lunch and the two separate toll charges added up to $8.45 for our return trip.

My laundry buddy!

6. If your child is scheduled to have surgery in the near future, do NOT let them be around sick children. I am embarrassed to admit the thought NEVER crossed my mind while I saw my nieces and nephews (and brother-in-law) dropping like flies. I only connected the dots after Oliver got sick. The trip today cost us $71.66 and was unpleasant for both of us. Oliver hates being in a car seat and he was in one for seven hours today. He also was not very happy at the hospital because he was HUNGRY. I am not a fan of being in the car that long either. I'm pooped.  I am definitely not up for mother of the year this year that is for sure!

7. Oliver hates having a nebulizer treatment. Ian and Nadia have never had one. I hope it's a long time before Oliver ever has another one as it was sheer torture for both of us.

8. If a child is scheduled for surgery and develops a cough, I will just call and tell them the surgery needs to be postponed. That was my gut instinct last week. Had I gone with that, we wouldn't have gone through all we did today.

9. I should have brought a stroller. I had no problems until I went to get lunch with Oliver. I thought I'd be alone when I got my lunch. I walked into the cafeteria, picked up a jug of milk, and couldn't envision how I was going to carry a tray with food and drinks while holding a 23 pound child who would be grabbing at whatever I was holding. I only bought the milk.

10. I don't function well if my lunch is delayed a few hours. I had planned to grab lunch while he was in the operating room. No food or drink is allowed in the surgery reception area or the pre-op area, which is where we were until 1pm. As soon as they said his surgery was cancelled, I put on our jackets and headed toward the cafeteria to buy my hungry baby and I some food and drink. I had an English muffin and banana at 6:30am but nothing to drink because I didn't want to have to go to the bathroom on the way there. Oliver hadn't had anything since his 7am apple juice. As mentioned above, I only bought milk for Oliver's sippy cup. I headed out to the parking garage and overpaid for my parking ticket and then proceeded to drive around level B of the parking garage a few times until the neurons in my brain finally grasped the concept that we would be there ALL day if we kept this up. I was just not functioning well. Thankfully I did manage to find a way out of that garage, but I didn't know how to find a place to eat, and Oliver fell asleep and I didn't want to wake him up so I wanted a drive-thru. Eventually I just took a random exit off of the turnpike. I accidently drove past a Dunkin Donuts (with a drive-thru) which I would have preferred had I actually seen it, but I ended up going inside a gas station that had a Subway inside. I got Oliver a pack of peanut butter crackers and myself a meatball sub.

11. I am sick of fast food right now. We had more than usual in MD (Chic-Fil-A, pizza twice, McDonald's) and then on Saturday I made fish sticks and fries at home because I was feeling so lousy, and we had more of those yesterday. After more fast food today, I need a long break from any pizza, burgers, fries, nuggets, fish sticks, etc.

12. The next time Oliver and I make the trek to Philadelphia, I must bring WAY more toys for him to play with in the car.

13. Getting worried about something in the future is really pointless. All those nerves I had about his surgery today were over nothing.

14. You can be in a hospital for 2.5 hours before they decide a surgery can't  be completed. We spent 95 minutes in the waiting room and one hour in a pre-op room. He was weighed and measured shortly after we arrived, and then nothing else happened for almost 90 minutes. This was a challenging time because he made it very clear to me that he wanted his sippy cup ASAP. Then he was changed into a hospital gown, blood pressure taken, etc. The next thing would have been to give him the Versed, but that is when the plans were changed to the nebulizer treatment and then the surgery was cancelled.

15. I am really, really ready to get back into a routine. Our last "normal" day was December 23. I need to get back in gear with my routines (Motivated Mom chores and such) and home schooling. I haven't been reading to the kids from our chapter book (in part because my throat is too sore), and I miss it! We are in the middle of a Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle book, and then we already have four books sitting on the counter waiting to be read (The Magician's Nephew, Voyage with the Vikings, Attack at the Arena, and Peril in the Palace) that Nadia received for Christmas.

16. It is a very bad idea to leave the house without any cough drops when you have a bad cold. Ouch!

17. Daddies are great at playing with kids but not so great at accomplishing other tasks at the same time. I had repeatedly asked for ONE thing to be accomplished today in my absence - Nadia's room to be cleaned by Nadia and Daddy. It didn't happen. Well she and I will have to tackle it tomorrow or a bunch of her stuff is going to end up in the basement.

18. Paul asked me to pick up McD's for dinner for Nadia, Ian, and himself on the way home. I wasn't hungry due to my really late lunch at Subway. I learned that McD bags aren't very strong as it broke and the contents spilled all over the floor of the garage. Yes, that pretty much was how my day went today.

19. I brought the iPad with me as I planned to use it during the hours Oliver and I were separated during his surgery and the beginning part of his post-op recovery. I found out when I got home that this did not go over well with Paul, Nadia, or Ian. I will bring a book or my Kindle next time!