Too much information

We are a little behind in the blog-o-sphereum. To think, we were feeling relieved at the time of my last entry about Cian. We had a solid diagnosis, and we were ready to deal with whatever we needed to in order to get him well. Little did we know, the worst was yet to come. When we researched this evil HSP disease, many of the internet sites the pediatric hospitalist told us not to google said "symptoms can include: vomiting, joint pain, abdominal pain, hives, diarrhea, nausea and swollen testicles." We weren't prepared for the fact that in Cian's case - symptoms will include vomiting, joint pain, abdominal pain, hives, diarrhea, nausea and swollen testicles. C'mon....the kid hasn't been through enough? He has to go get swollen balls on top of looking like he has leprosy? We hauled him to the E/R again in a state of panic and were again stuck with another lively neighbor in the next bed over. This poor ol guy sounded like he died, like, five years ago and was somehow living again and currently drowning in his own mucus. He kept bellowing "owwwwwwwww, you're hurting me!" and the RN would say "David, I haven't done anything yet. Can you stop squeezing my hand and just hold the side of the bed?" and then another "owwwwwwwww, you're hurting me!!!" You get the jist. We tried hard to occupy Cian when ol David next door was informed he was getting a catheter. As you can imagine, David took this information well. We were bracing for impact when a nurse informed us we were going to the second floor. Cian was delighted to hear the news that he'd be traveling in his bed. You could almost see in his eyes the moment he realized THIS RIG ROLLS! And we were all relieved to be away from poor ol dead-five-years-ago-David. What Cian didn't know was that he was headed to the second floor for a thorough ultrasounding of his "boys." The first few minutes of this experience, he was wide-eyed and cracking up. But for the next 20 minutes or so he just stared at me in dis-belief like, how could you let this strange woman manhandle my junk mom?!? Post-ultrasound all seemed to be in order, again just the illness "running it's course." Relief again. I thought CJ was going either pass out or burst out laughing when Ms. Zero Personality Ultrasounding Lady (in the worst outfit I have ever seen concocted) asked CJ "does his left testicle usually hang lower than his right?" He mustered a straight face, and said to her "you know, I honestly don't know." Is that bad? Should you know these things? Is it like not knowing your kid has a birthmark? Well, at least now we know...I guess. To look on the bright side, when I consult my new online "doctor" via the 500 internet sites I surf on this topic, Cian has now gone through - almost in order- all the symptoms this disease brings with it. I have stopped reading about it for now, sometimes too much information can just be scary. I lay in bed at night and worry endlessly. Was his pee brown? Does he have a fever? Is the rash getting worse? What if they are wrong, and it is something else? We have started getting him out again, going to the park. We just tell parents that stare at him "he doesn't have chicken pox...he is not contagious" or give them the stink eye and say loudly "Cian, we have get you home and put you back in your bubble," depending on our mood.

CJ took a big chunk of time off from work to make sure Cian could stay home and get rest, and it has given him a few more opportunities to keep the Red Bird coming along. CJ was able to put the tail panel back together with tail lights and some trim. He finished straightening the grills and painted the light buckets and then reinstalled them. The much-discussed paint job took me a week and a half to be able to see her in the light of day, and she looks beautiful. What CJ was able to do on the side yard of our house that people typically pay thousands for is pretty amazing. I was worried our neighbors would be upset with the green and lopsided E-Z-Up encroaching into their yard covering our car, then the loving-hands-at-home viscoine tent erected around the E-Z-Up. How middle america can you get? But they didn't care one bit - Rich next door was actually sorry it came down because he was contemplating painting his old Fiat sitting in his garage. We've already broken in the new paint job when the ghetto E-Z-Up collapsed on top of the car after a big rainstorm and scratched the trunk. Then when CJ reinstalled the grills he scratched it again. Those were a couple of "tense" evenings. You cannot even see them, but CJ knows they are there. He pressure washed the rims to see how bad they were, at this point everything is about recycling and cleaning up what we have. We did drop a what seemed like a bunch of dough on weatherstripping and gaskets. I hate spending money on the stuff you "can't see" like this. It is like remodeling a house. A foundation? Do we really need it? I was hoping for a hot tub!

We also spent a ridiculous amount of money on Christmas presents for the kids. It is likely an even bigger waste of money since Cian's favorite toy right now is a small piece of rope that has kept him busy for about 3 days. And Hannah wrote a letter to Santa to simply tell him he was the "best man ever" and didn't ask for anything. Don't get me wrong, my kids are wanton hoarders of plastic, battery-operated everything, but they discard that crap in moments to play with the boxes from my midnight online shopping for days. They decorate them, drag them around the house. I should have just bought each of them a case of copy paper from Office Depot and called it a day. Then we could buy stuff for the car we need - like headliner, door panels and getting the seats reupholstered! Kids. Everyone tells you they drain your bank accounts and your emotions. But you don't believe them til it happens to you. Again, a lot like remodeling a house. You will spend twice as much, and it will take twice as long. Been there, done that. And everyone told me it would happen, and we still walked straight into the fire.

So, CJ is at home for two weeks with the kids for the winter break. The progress on the Red Bird will likely slow. His intake of Red Stripe will likely increase. Day one of the hostage takeover begins tomorrow. I will pray for you Colin. I will pray for you safely from my desk.

Merry Christmas everyone.