What with this being Thanksgiving week and all, I had a couple of the usual gratitude posts halfway planned out in my head. Then a couple of things happened:
1. I delayed my move to Denver from December to March.
Various reasons both financial and schedule-related motivated this decision. They include:
- a family wedding in San Antonio in March
- the dubiousness of that original plan to move the day after Christmas, anyway, with two kids and all their stuff
- my house still sitting on the market, for sale or rent.
Clearly, waiting a few more months while Mr. Asthma Mom works in Denver and lives with his folks reduces the possibility of our having to pay the mortgage here at the same time we pay for housing there. So waiting may save my back account, if not my sanity.
2. AG got sick.
This isn’t news, right? Kids get sick all the time, and fighting asthma as AG does can up the frequency of illness. She’s always been my sicker child, and this weekend she battled a stomach thing, making me wonder if her GI problems have come back. Way, way back when AG was four and she finally stabilized enough to breathe well throughout the night on a fairly regular basis, she started having stomach symptoms every month. I won’t go into the obvious detail here on a Monday morning, except to say that she and I traded the middle-of-the-night nebulizer routine for the grosser, messier bucket one.
For months.
Some testing with the pediatrician, observation, and finally an endoscopy and the addition of a pediatric gastroenterologist revealed gastritis, or inflammation of her stomach lining. Weirdly, the scope photos showed no signs of damage on her esophagus, which would indicate reflux. And lots of asthma patients have reflux, but not AG.
Basically, she had reflux-like damage to her stomach but nowhere else, and doctors don’t know why any more than they know why she has asthma. To our great relief, though, putting her on a daily reflux prescription for six months and eliminating rough foods like popcorn and nuts and inflammatory foods like tomato sauce cleared up her symptoms quickly.
Gastritis recurs in some patients, though, and AG appears to be one of them. It’s happened once before and could be again now, something I won’t know unless she has another weekend like the last one. Unfortunately, that means waiting.
Which I hate.
I can deal with the asthma and even the gastritis because I don’t actually have to experience the symptoms that my daughter does. Of course she has the very worst part of the whole experience. But waiting for her to wake up with nausea and vomiting again?
That keeps me from sleeping even on the good nights, and I’m tired.
And:
1. So very, very tired.
2. So pulled in a hundred different directions because my daughters, absent Mr. Asthma Mom since August although they’ll see him at Christmas, need me more than ever.
3. So hating this housing market. HATE.
4. So wary of a recurrence of AG’s stomach problems, if only because another night/day of vomit like last weekend is probably the least fun thing I can think of.
And on and on and on.
I’m trying to feel grateful. I really am. Because, hey:
1. At least gastritis is easy to fix, and I have the health insurance to get the right medication for AG, should she need it.
2. At least Mr. Asthma Mom can stay with his folks in Denver, so we don’t have to pay for a place for him to live in Denver right now.
3. At least I telecommute at the moment even though I don’t want to over the long term, making the single parent/scheduling thing easier.
4. At least we’re not one of those families living with unemployment during the holidays.
5. At least I am, in fact, moving to Colorado in March.
I’d think of more, but I haven’t slept much lately.
1. I’m sorry for the delayed move, even though it sounds like a good move financially.
2. I’m so sorry AG got sick
3. I’m really sorry that you’re sleep deprived
It sounds like you’re feeling stressy as well and understandably so. Here’s hoping that things settle for you soon.
Okay, well that just put my complaining about 3am cat fights into a little perspective… I hope she’s feeling better soon!
Oh boy do I hear ya on that sleep deprived issue! For me it’s anxiety coupled with menopause.
I remember the days of getting up with the barf bucket in the middle of the night. Once one of my kids ran into our bedroom, yelled “Momm…….” and proceeded to barf all over our bed. No time for the bucket. Well, guess what – I got the stomach flu too – duhhh.
Hope things turn out for your little one. Gastritis is nasty.
I also was going to do a grateful blog, but ended up with another complaining one. I’m so glad for blogger friends – they are there when we need them.
Hugs.
Thanks, guys. She IS feeling much better–we’ll see how long it lasts. (fingers crossed)
Also, I slept and that helps. Also, I’m watching Stephen Colbert sing “You’re so high” in falsetto to Willie Nelson on my DVR right now, and that really helps.
Oh lady! That’s a lot on your plate right now! I hope AG feels better soon and everything falls into place with your move!