It has been a doozy of a season. October was a blur of costumes and trips. November was Day of the Dead and the emotions that go with that. In between we realized we had to move (an unreasonable rent hike was to blame), so we spent all free time looking for something affordable (in SoCal - ha!). We found a place and packed and moved just before Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving happened. Mia's death day, Ripley's birthday, Z's birthday. Also, Z got attacked by a dog, rushed to Rady's Children's Hospital in an ambulance and all stitched up kinda attack. We attended to those stitches and dressings during winter break. Family visits. Christmas. Oh, I got super ill (my dad called it Bronchitis, but I just called it "bad cold with a cough that needed meds). Quiet New Years (even though a car accident took out the local transformer and we - along with 2000 others - were out of power for most of the night). I am sure there was other stuff to, that have blurred into the whirlwind, but those were the highlights.
I thought maybe we had come into the light. School started Wed, schedules were falling back into place. Then last night sobered me again. I woke up to the sound of Rip sobbing. I thought bad dream, so I took the time to wake her (which took a lot of time) and then lead her to the bathroom before she went back to sleep. As soon as she tried to stand she cried out and crumpled on the floor. The whole time yelling, it hurts, it hurts! Immediately I thought, growing pains (she's been eating non-stop the last week). So I carried her to the bathroom, woke up D for Tylenol, and carried her back to bed.
She slept for a bit, but woke up several more times during the night sobbing about the pain. I cradled her and soothed and massaged and didn't sleep; because that's what moms do. When she woke in the morning I thought the worst was over, then she tried to stand again, and fell, again, and screamed in pain. Time for the doc.
I carried her from the car, across the parking lot, to the second floor into the pediatric wing (where the nurse informed me that she now weighs 50 pounds). The doc dismissed my growing pain diagnosis right away and sent us down to x-rays. Rip was super excited about the wheel chair and figured it out pretty quick. She led the way to Radiology (while I was internally freaking out over seeing her not being able to walk).
Like most doc visits, nothing was conclusive. The x-rays were clear (to which D said: "Good, no tumors" - another internal freakout by me). We came home and had a Netflix binge. It was the longest I've seen her lay still, ever. By the end of the night she could stand on her own without crying. Walking is still hobbling, but her spirits are high. All I can do is see what happens tonight, and tomorrow.
So my hair is probably a little bit whiter after today. By the time she's 18? I'm gonna look like Storm from the XMen. It's a look. I'll rock it.
