Yo soy La Lay

adventures in family, faith, and Down syndrome

Mad vocabulary skillz

Today I took Tessa to the doctor. She has a cold and since her last cold put her in the hospital for a week, we are being more vigilant.

Yay, copays! :p

In any case, the doctor we saw was new to the practice, so I had the joy of filling her in on Tessa’s medical history. As we got to the end of the appointment, she said to me, “So, you must be in the medical field. What do you do?”

I wasn’t quite sure how she came to that conclusion. What I do is virtually the exact opposite of medicine. Do schools make people healthy?? No, no, no. Schools breed yucky little diseases and keep these doctors working! I just laughed and responded that I’m actually a teacher, then asked how she got that idea.

“Wow,” she said, “you use medical terminology very well!”

Umm, yes. I suppose that at this point, the jargon is more natural to me than the average Joe Schmoe on the street. I feel a little irked, but also a little proud, that she was impressed by my vocabulary. I don’t necessarily want any opportunities to improve it, but at least I know that if I’m ever at a cocktail party with some doctors, I can blend right in.

Who am I kidding? Me? At a cocktail party?? Not unless they are serving margaritas and Bud Light…

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Upward movement

In the Hunger Games of pinkeye, I am still winning.

However, much to the delight of my husband, I woke up this morning without a voice. Not just a little hoarseness… this is full-on, my-lips-are-moving-but-no-sound-comes-out laryngitis. So that’s fun.

I spent my day with Tessa as usual, while The Pinkeye Crew hung out at my mom’s house. John is the only one who is still technically contagious, but I’m trying not to take too many chances and am staying away as much as I can!

At the hospital, Tessa was much more herself. She was ready to talk and play and roll onto her belly… The wires weren’t quite ready for that rolling, but she was pretty amused by the tangled mess that she could create. While her personality is slow to emerge, we already feel like she might be very social and a bit dramatic. This morning, if I wasn’t standing where she could see me, she complained until I came back into sight. High maintenance. At least she’s feeling better!!

I am super thankful today for the company of one of my dearest friends, Ashley. She and I got through our first year of teaching together and have remained friends since then. Tessa adores her and so does the rest of my family! Not only did she come to see me and the girls, but once Ellie went home for a nap and Tessa was calm in her bed, Ashley took me out for a margarita. It was a much needed break!! And while it must have been hard for her to hear what I was saying 96% of the time, she’s a great conversationalist and it’s nice to have someone to vent to.

As far as an update on Tessa, she’s making upward progress! When I went back tonight to kiss her goodnight, she was on the regular flow oxygen! That’s the last level to clear before she won’t need it anymore. They took out her NG tube (feeding tube) this morning. Most importantly, her status was downgraded tonight to a regular pediatrics patient instead of a PICU (intensive care) patient. Yay!! The means she lost a couple more wires and is starting to require less monitoring. Great progress for one day!!

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Well that escalated quickly…

I love my Sunday night wind-down. The evening before the work week begins is so sacred to me that I refuse to make Sunday evening plans. Ever.

(So I guess if you have invited me to do something on a Sunday and I have declined, you now know it was for my own selfish reasons.)

Daycare bag packing. Water bottle finding. Sunday night dinner at the table together, usually take-out. Gathering up a few things to come to school with me… are my pants wrinkle free? Nope, better hang them up… Girls in bed, Ellie’s MeReader telling them a story that I can hear on the monitor… Then checking in on Facebook or Pinterest while drifting off to sleep… This is my ritual. It’s my peace before the crazy rush of a Monday. But not tonight.

Tessa has a cold, again. This one is worse than the others have been, complete with her first fever. The cough is kind of brutal, but it’s productive and I’ve had the distinct joy of pulling globs of nastiness out of her mouth for the past couple of days. She’s asleep in her car seat in her little corner of our closet now.

About three hours ago, we were driving home from a day with my family. John was talking about catching up on the DVR and I was telling him that I was looking forward to some quiet time on my long-neglected Pinterest boards. When we walked in the door, suddenly there was a crying, hangry (love that new word!) toddler with no interest in eating anything but milk. Then the other one is crying, but can’t eat without gagging on the bottle. My mom is calling to tell us that she has a fever also and then we’re trying to put the girls to bed and Tessa needs Tylenol, but it’s expired and then I’m at CVS to buy meds, but I’m stuck behind a crazy coupon lady with fourteen boxes of band aids. Back at home, Ellie is screaming about the unfairness of her bedtime and Tessa is throwing up on my shoulder and John and I are wondering how the heck our Sunday has turned into a tornado of chaos.

It is the kind of evening that makes me happy to go to work on Monday… even knowing that all day, I’ll be thinking about my little sickie.

How many days until Summer??

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