I am relieved to report that we FINALLY got Edward’s blood drawn at the lab. One thing that helped considerably is that I inadvertently activated a nurse to be our champion: she was the one who had faxed the lab orders the lab said they hadn’t received, and it raised her indignation (“I HAVE the fax RECEIPT! It SHOWS it WENT THROUGH!”). She must have turned this indignation into energy, because a few hours later I got a message from the lab, and the tone of the technician’s voice indicated a recent dressing-down and a new resolve to straighten up and fly right. They just wanted me to know that they had the lab orders, she said, and I was welcome to come in ANY TIME. I took Edward in first thing the next morning; he ended up an hour and a half late for school, but we GOT IT DONE.
I am hoping we will hear from the doctor and it will be, “Nope! Everything’s fine! Guess that last lab result was just a wonky one!” But it’s only a hope and not an expectation, because Edward has been complaining of stomachaches again. I’ve been noticing he looks a little pale. He seems more tired, and has been lying down more often. None of these things are good signs, Crohn’s-wise.
This makes me appreciate afresh Edward’s pediatric gastroenterologist, who all along has made it very clear that a sentence such as “The medication is working” needs to have “…for the time being” added to the end of it. “His labs look great!,” he’ll say, and then continue: “Looks like this medicine is really working for him right now!” At each appointment he reminds us that it’s not uncommon to have things change, and to let him know if symptoms (such as stomachaches, paleness, tiredness) return.
I was still hoping it wouldn’t be like that, though. Like, wow, year after year and Edward’s Crohn’s disease just KEEPS doing GREAT! Yay! The doctor can hardly believe it! The dose doesn’t even need to be increased due to growth, it just keeps working! It’s as if he doesn’t even HAVE Crohn’s!
Well. Anyway.
We had a near social disaster: Elizabeth said she put all the girls in her class on the invitation list for her birthday party, but I was slightly concerned—probably paranoid, but I wondered, what if she remembered ALL BUT ONE or something? I questioned her after she’d addressed all the invitations, and she was just SURE she’d remembered everyone. But I’d saved the class list we’d received for Fair Valentine’s Day Distribution, and said I’d check, Just In Case. And she HAD IN FACT FORGOTTEN JUST ONE GIRL. CAN YOU IMAGINE. BECAUSE I CAN IMAGINE, ALL TOO VIVIDLY. ALL BUT ONE! ALL BUT ONE! COMPLETELY BY ACCIDENT!!!! BUT WHAT GIRL OF ALL THE GIRLS IN THE UNIVERSE COULD BELIEVE THAT TO BE TRUE? *pant pant* Paul made her put three more invitations in her folder, JUST IN CASE there was some other issue, such as “Oh, I forgot so-and-so joined our class mid-year-after-Valentine’s-Day!” or whatever.
I am late commenting with party ideas, but I have an idea and a story to share. First, I hosted a 2-hour at home party for my 11-year-old in February and it went great. I combined an activity and goodie bag/party favor. For each attendee, I bought a wooden letter at Michael’s (already painted white) – first initial of each attended. These were about 8-10 inches tall, I think. (This also depends on reliable RSVP’). Then I bought and/or already had multi-colored sharpies in a wide variety, plus a lot of stick on jewels and dots and various other stickers. I set up a big table with all the supplies and letters and the first activity was decorating your letter. They all got totally into it and created some really cool designs. I didn’t get glitter glue or anything that didn’t dry quickly. Then at the end of the party they took them home instead of a goodie bag.
Okay – the story. One mom emailed the morning of the party to see who else was coming. She had a baseball conflict with another child and was looking for carpool options. I mentioned that if she needed to drop her child a little early that would be fine. The party started at 3. At ONE O’CLOCK, I was at Party City and I got a call on my cell from the mom who was looking for my house. Luckily she was on the wrong street so I was able to hustle home and meet her there. !!!!!!!!!! I had not yet vacuumed or finished decorating. THEN, as we were on the phone working out directions she asked if their PUPPY could also be dropped off. I explained that we had 2 big labs and wasn’t sure how they would do (I knew they would go nuts). She actually pushed a bit “Oh, she does great with our other dog!” but finally gave up after my repeated “not sure that is a great idea…”. Again, !!!!!!!
In my experience, this means your daughter will love her daughter beyond all reason and want to have her over all the time.
The mother will only get worse.
WHAT? I mean two hours early is bad, but inviting the dog too? I’ve got a 12 YO so I’ve seen a lot of party BS and that takes the cake. I’m sitting here mouth agape.
Ugh, that mother is unbelievable! But I absolutely do believe you that people exist who view other parents as a free babysitting service–or how else to explain the “only one child was invited but the parent brought the other(s) as well” phenomenon. But wanting to drop off the puppy crosses the line into breathtaking chutzpah.
OK, i DO NOT HAVE ENOUGH EXCLAMATION POINTS OR ALL CAPS to properly convey:
1. my anxiety and heart palpitations about the nearly forgetting JUST ONE GIRL OMG OMG OMMGGGGGG
2. Beth’s story above OMG OMG OMGG!!! WHO DOES THAAATTT!!
However that idea with the letters is BRILLIANT and I would have gone absolutely nuts over it as a kid. (And let’s be honest, probably still would.)
Sorry to hear Edward’s Crohn’s treatment is possibly needing adjustment. :( Hopefully it’s nothing! Or else a quick tweak (like, oh, just up the dose by 1/2! done!)
So I am a nurse, and a nurse who has done her job and had someone else drop the ball is a force to be reckoned with. I am a relatively mild-mannered person in “real life,” but at work (I work in the NICU.), I can easily become a mama bear protecting her cubs (and their families). One of the most important parts of a nurse’s role, in my opinion, is to be an advocate for her patients, and I would have reacted exactly the same way Edward’s nurse did. Glad that you had such a strong advocate to fight for him!
Oh, smart thinking, Paul, adding those extra three into the backpack! Way to ‘Dad!’ Close call! But Crisis Averted, it sounds like to me. WHEW! The Internet breathes a huge sigh of relief!
My son has epilepsy and his doctor always says the best dose of medicine is the lowest one that works. So as he gets bigger (he’s almost 10) he has these breakthrough seizures and then the doctor says well, we better up the dosage! and then he’s fine again, for a while, and then he has another seizure and we up it again. It’s so nervewracking and I hate it BUT I’m glad to know that he really is getting the lowest dose that works. I feel the same as you though, every time I think well, maybe this is the magic amount and maybe it won’t matter because maybe it will go away! Anyways, I hope if an adjustment is necessary, that it’s simple and works for you guys.
Oh, I’m so glad that the nurse took care of that stupid lab, and also that Edward has a good medical team who IS staying on top of what sounds like, unfortunately, the likelier course of this condition (i.e., needing regular monitoring and adjusting). I actually kind of HOPE that his labs come back a little wonky and his doctor adjusts his meds because then hopefully his current symptoms will go away and he’ll feel better! Although, that assumes that a medication adjustment is simple and straightforward, which I now realize isn’t necessarily going to be the case… so let’s just say I have my fingers crossed that he feels better soon and without major effort to get him there.
At about that age, I was part of a group of 6 girls. One of the girls had a Disney party or something, and her mom said she could only bring 4 friends. I’m the one who got left out. It still stings to this day.
that girl’s mom sucks. who does that???? If it is absolutely out of the question to bring all five friends, then only bring one or two! who doesn’t understand that?
Thank goodness you had that class list!!!!!!!! WHEW!
I think it’s so thoughtful of you to double check that none of the girls in the class would be left out. Because yes, that would be SO AWFUL to be that girl. Paul’s idea to send extra invitations is also good. My kids’ school sends out a class list so parents can email each other (or text–info is shared voluntarily, and some don’t share phone numbers) so that’s helpful for invitation purposes. The school doesn’t allow kids to pass out party invitations at school in case not everyone is invited, so I always do evites. That way I can assuage my paranoia that my son will neglect to give the invitations out to everyone, or that the other kids will forget to give them to their parents.
Not that this is at all related to this post, but I was listening to a podcast today, and they mentioned that the guest they were speaking to had just written a book about “the elderly and romance” called The Japanese Lover. I don’t know anything about it other than that, but your recent posts about romance over 40 came to mind!