Our daughter Shea has mononucleosis.  She was diagnosed last week and the pediatrician (who is simply the best pediatrician we've ever had, period) told her she needed to rest and take it easy. She has been, but all week long she's been complaining that she doesn't feel ill and that she's sure she doesn't have mono.  It's been a trying week for me, having to keep her relatively inactive. Today, I was getting ready to take the dogs for a walk and Shea asked if she could come with ...

I'm having a hard time sleeping again. Ever since dad died I haven't been able to sleep for more than a couple of hours at a time.  I'll wake up at regular intervals during the night and it'll be hellish trying to get back to sleep again.  I'm starting to yearn for that deep REM sleep that everyone around me seems to have no trouble achieving.  I'm jealous that Dave can just drop off to sleep and manage to stay asleep all through the night.  I'm on Elavil at night, but...

I'm frustrated to the point of anger with the military medical system. I called YESTERDAY to see if I could get a blood or urine test ordered for Jake so we could put this 'does he have diabetes' thing to rest. I hadn't recieved a reply 26 hours later, so I called back.  I didn't understand what was so fekkin' difficult to understand about my request that it took over 24 hours. After 30 mins on the phone and three people later, I'm no further forward.  ALL I WANT IS TO BE ...

I, like a lot of other mothers, am able to instinctively know when there's something not right with my child.  I knew that Jake had ADD before he was diagnosed.  I knew that he had broken his arm despite the triage nurse telling me there wasn't anything wrong with him (I made her apologize to him for making him wait to see the doctor when he was in pain with a fractured radius and ulna).  I just KNOW when there's something not right with any of my kids. My mothering instinct is...

I took Shea to the doctor yesterday because I thought she had strep throat. She does. But according to the doctor who just called with the results of her blood tests, she also has mononucleosis. I'd already disinfected the house with Lysol after her rapid strep test came back positive.  Now, however...she's not allowed to engage in any kind of contact sports or roughhouse with her brothers for 8 weeks.  Mono causes the spleen to become temporarily enlarged and therefore easier...

Yesterday I went to the dentist to get a broken tooth yanked out and a my new partial fitted. As usual, the extraction didn't got exactly as planned.  First, what was left of the tooth broke off, so the dentist had to cut my gum to get at the root.  Even then the little bugger didn't want to come out so he had to break out the drill and remove the bone that was holding the root in.....and it STILL wouldn't come out, so he had to use an instrument called an 'elevator' and try to leve...

I'm sick. I've been peeing fire for over a week now.  I went to the doctor last Friday, but they failed to spot that my urine sample wasn't the cleanest of catches and sent me home telling me there wasn't anything wrong with me. Saturday evening Ii started feeling off color. Sunday I was dragging ass.  Sunday night I was on call and had to go sit vigilance with a patient (sat next to his bed and half-dozed my way through the night, listening for his breathing to change or to c...

As most of you know, I've had problems with my left shoulder ever since 2003.  It got dislocated in an MVA, and since then has dislocated totally 3 times and partially so many times I've lost count.  It bothers me every now and then, and despite my repeated visits to my family doctor nothing was ever suggested (apart from a sling and rest) as a remedy. Yesterday I was mopping the kitchen floor.  I was barefoot - as I usually am in the summer - and I was quite happy swabbing awa...

I've lost weight. I dunno how much because I refuse to weigh myself.  All I know is that pants that I couldn't wear two weeks ago because they were too snug are now fitting perfectly and pants that fit perfectly are now loose. It's the swimming that's doing it, I think.  I'm swimming a few laps pretty much every day, and I'm walking 3/4 mile with the dogs in the evening (and sometimes the mornings too).  I know that the walking is speeding up my metabolism, which is always g...

I have an abcessed tooth again.  I'm going to see the dentist this afternoon, and I think that rather than have a root canal done I'm going to have him yank it out.  There's a reason for my decision to have it pulled. First of all, I'm already missing a pre molar and a molar, thanks to the accident.  I asked about getting a partial to replace those teeth, but my last dentist said that he wasn't prepared to make me a partial until I had at least 3 teeth missing.  If I ge...

I'm trying to be healthier.  I'm not unhappy with my size per se, I'm unhappy because I'm out of shape.  The surgery kicked my ass and I'm in terrible shape. So, in addition to the bellydancing, I've been riding my bike and watching what I eat. I usually buy food for the family every 2 weeks on or around military paydays.  I've done that for years, ever since we got married.  This past payday, though...I decided to do things a little differently. Instead of buying 2 ...

I went to see my doctor last week to have him look at my shoulder. Whilst he was examining it, he started coughing.  He couldn't stop coughing, actually, and he had to excuse himself and leave the room. When he came back he was teary eyed and hoarse, and I asked him if he had a cold. "A cold?" he said "I was diagnosed with pneumonia yesterday". "and you're working?  Why??"  He just shrugged, and changed the subject. On Saturday I started to feel like I was ...

It's happened again. Just when I think that I've put it all behind me, I'm reminded once again of the car accident I had. The force of the impact dislocated both my shoulders.  The left one gives me trouble every so often - it likes to slide partially out and irritate the big bundle or nerves that supplies feeling to my arm and hand.  You know the pain you get when you hit your funny bone?  It's like that, except it's all the way from my armpit to my fingertips.  It...

In the past year I've gained 20 lbs.  I've gone from 123 to 143, and whilst some of the weight gain was needed (I looked a little gaunt at 120-ish) and I got my curves back, I now feel like I've gained too much.  None of my pants fit.  I went and bought new ones when I gained weight, and now they don't fit.  A juniors size 11 is snug on me, and I don't like it.  I liked being soft and womanly looking, but I don't like that my belly jiggles when I walk and I also don'...