Memorial Day Weekend

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.....

We started the long weekend off on a bad foot. I picked K up from preschool and her teacher told me K was complaining of pain in her right ear. I said I'd keep an eye on her and didn't think too much of it. She had just gotten over a cold, so I thought maybe her sinuses were clogged, but she'd be okay. During our 10 minute ride home, she was grabbing at her ear and crying, and as soon as we walked in the door, she told me "no story today. I'm going to bed." and she put herself down for a nap. Never seen that before!! Nap time is usually a battle, so I knew something was definately wrong. I called the pediatrician while she was napping and got a recording that they were at lunch until 1:30. Kept getting the same message until 2:30 when someone finally answered the phone (I was a bit annoyed). When I explained our situation, the receptionist told me they were actually closed for the day (now I'm very annoyed...closed at 2:3o on a Wednesday afternoon???). She recommended motrin and a warm face cloth on her ear, see how she does, then call in the morning. After I hung up, K was up from her nap, but still groggy, refusing a snack (also never happens) and in pain. I knew we were in for it that night if I didn't get her to see a dr. soon, so I took her to Afterhours Pediatrics. They open at 5pm and we were one of the first patients to be seen. Sure enough, she had an ear infection, so they gave us some antibiotics, ear drops for pain, and we were on our way. I thought we were in the clear and caught it in time, but that night I went to check on her and I swear my hand felt like it touched fire when I pressed it against her cheek. I took her temp....104.3. I gave her motrin and she went right back to sleep. Next morning was more of the same, 104 fever, no appetite, extremely lethargic. Bryan came home from work early and couldn't get over how out of it she was. She'd fall asleep on the couch, in a chair, etc. Day 3 and the fever continues...the dr. recommended alternating tylenol and motrin every 3 hrs. to get the fever under control, but it didn't work at all. K vomits all over the couch (still can't get the stench out...). Refusing to drink now and hasn't urinated in 7 hours, so I call the dr. again and they tell me if I don't get her to pee and/or her temp. down within an hour, I have to take her to the ER. I strip her down, get her in a cool tub (want to talk about screaming bloody murder!!), force gatorade down her throat with a syringe every few minutes and get her to pee. Her temp. goes down to 102, so we don't have to go to the ER...but it took until Sunday for her fever to break...4 days of hell for all of us. The amazing thing is once her temp. was back to normal, so was she! Like nothing had happened! Since she recovered, we took her to Cocoa beach with some friends and had a great day at the beach! You couldn't ask for better weather and it really wasn't too crowded. The water was nice and cool, but currents were extremely strong, so I didn't last long in the water.

On Monday, we took Katelyn to Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure. Two VERY cool parks and K was allowed to go on just about everything. They were pretty strict about me going on rides, but that was fine. We had a blast!!

So the weekend started off on a bad note, but we ended up having a great weekend together. I've attached some pics of us at Universal (highly recommend it!!).