Thursday, October 9, 2008

A Card and a Hat Trick...

...is my offering for tonight. The card I made on Tuesday and just haven't had time to post yet. It is a card that will be in this month's Christmas card class, and here it is:


Not a complex design, but sometimes the prettiest ones are monochromatic (except for the Chocolate Chip) and simply designed.

This one really showcases how easy it is to use the scalloped edge punch. You can see how nicely the two edges line up, which is made super simple by the little "hash marks" on the base of the punch. You basically just center your cardstock, note which marks you are in between, then punch your center first. Move to the side and punch it out, and repeat on the other side. If you follow this pattern every time your scallops will line up no matter how many layers you add.

And, for the hat trick. This morning at 6 a.m. Little Miss came to my bedroom to tell me that her throat hurt. I gave her some tylenol, checked her temperature, which was normal, and let her sleep with me until time to get up for school. Checked her out again, she said she felt fine, no temp, so I took her to school. Today happened to be field trip day and I had agreed to drive her and one of her friends to tour the HEB. Now, everything was fine when we got there, but then I noticed that she was being very quiet, which is not Little Miss' style at all. By the time we got to the chocolate milk portion of the tour, and she said "I don't want any, I just want to go home" I knew I had a sick kiddo on my hands.

We leave right away, with me having to turn over the other little girl to the teacher (I still feel so bad about that!) and came home to call the doctor who agreed to see us in just a couple of hours. I go to feel my little one's head to find that she is burning up, which was confirmed with a temp of 103.6. Off to the doctor where she was diagnosed with "viral pharyngitis", which is basically a really bad sore throat that is not strep. I figure, good enough, we'll just weather this storm and everything will be ok.

I get her home, and within a couple hours she has vomited multiple times, is running a horrific fever, and now starts telling me that her tummy hurts "really, really bad". Now, let me tell you the good thing about being a paramedic: you are equipped to handle emergencies. You know how to remove yourself from a situation and systematically break it down bit by bit until you come to a "working diagnosis" and go from there. You know the thing about "good things", though? There is always a "bad thing" to go with it.

The bad thing about being a paramedic who happens to have a sick child with fever, vomiting, and really bad belly pain is you remember every single kid you ever took to the hospital to get their appendix yanked out. I made a quick, cursory call to my pediatrician in an attempt to hear, "I think this is just part of her viral course, just keep pushing clear fluids and wait it out." What I got instead was, "If it were my kiddo I would already be out the door on the way to the hospital".

You don't have to tell me twice.

We get to Dell Children's and get through triage and into the back where we are put into a very nice, private room so that Little Miss can be evaluated by the doc. We are met by a doctor that we are familiar with, not necessarily in a good way, who proceeds to roll her eyes when I tell her about the progression of today, and then tell me how kids who "really have something wrong with their belly" won't do this or that or the other. Then we are told that "I've seen 50 kids today with this same thing." Let me tell you something. I don't give a rat's patootie about the other 50 kids. I'm not a bad person for saying that, either. I care about the one kid that I brought in for an evaluation that my husband is going to end up paying for because we know how "great" our insurance is. After a couple of hours we are sent home with the doc trying to save a bit of her name by saying how "I'm not saying it couldn't be appendicitis, I just don't think it is" and telling me to watch her for the next 12-24 hours.

Like any mother would need to be told that.

So I bring my one kiddo home, where she immediately spikes her temp back up into the 103 range again. Let's just say that I plan on giving Dr. Crocker a nice little email sometime tomorrow, once I can see my doctor again and make sure that Little Miss is ok. And, God forbid, if another ER trip is in her immediate future, I will travel in another direction with her so that she doesn't get blown off like she did tonight.

OK, I am climbing down off the soap box to get back to my sleeping baby. I hope everyone has a good night, that everyone's kids are happy and healthy, and that the sun will shine a bit brighter on us tomorrow!

Until next time....

Kim

3 comments:

Jannie Funster said...

103.6 ! I know how terrifying it is to watch that thermometer climb like that, my girl had pneumonia 3 years ago.

Poor baby. I hope she sleeps well all night for you.

I don't blame you for wanting to write that email. Sheesh.

--Jannie, who found you on Blogger via the "Austin" tag.

Lydia Fiedler said...

Oh my GOSH. What a terrible doc!!! I am amazed at the restraint it probably took not to do a WWF move when she said she'd seen 50 other kids like that. Sheesh! You guys sure have been through it in the last month or so. I pray she's better today.

PS - I had my appendix out right before Halloween when I was ten, and I STILL dressed up like a princess and handed out candy. I need to tell her to milk that for all the chocolate milk she can get!! Oops -did I say that out loud??

Rose said...

I absolutely HATE know-it-all doctors. HATE THEM. Anyway, I hope she's feeling better by today. And that you were able to get some answers. Argh. . I'm so angry for you!! Anyway, hugs to Miss A. Let's get together this coming week for some stamping!!!