Super fun times! It seems that these posts just get more and more negative. On Friday (seven days ago now), I kept Arley home from school because his cough was really bad, and I was keeping Carmie home anyway because she was still so sick and had lost so much weight. I determined that I wasn't going to wait for her stool sample results and was going to demand antibiotics (luckily, as I have just called them and they still don't have the results!!). So I took Carmie to the doctor and I took Arley too, and after waiting for 45 minutes in the waiting room (really fun with two kids), we got in to see the doctor, who weighed Carmie and thought he'd better call the paediatrician, who of course told him to put her on antibiotics (I hate doctors!) And then he told me, "Oh, by the way, your son has croup". But he wouldn't give me a prescription for Arley because it wasn't his appointment, he told me I had to go out and sign him up for his own appointment. I was so mad, I practically begged him, but the doctor said it wasn't fair for everyone else in the waiting room (who I am sure would have gladly given an extra five minutes of waiting to get my two out of their hair!). Anyway, it was a no go, so I booked Arley in for a 4 o'clock appointment, and then walked the kids across the arcade to the pharmacy. They told me it was a 20 minute wait, so I took the kids to a cafe, and all Carmie wanted was a milkshake. So, I let the kids split a milkshake, against my better judgement. I then took them back to the pharmacy, but there was another 20 minute wait, which was really fun with Arley tantrumming and screaming because I wouldn't let him eat the laxatives that he was pulling off the shelves and throwing on the floor. Poor Carmie was as white as a ghost and wilting over against the wall. I finally got her medication, and had the bright idea of going back across to the medical clinic to see if the doctor could see Arley, and they told me that if I wanted to wait 15 minutes, they could get him in next. So I did. 25 minutes later I was walking out of the jerk doctor's office with a script for Arley. So then I had to go back to the pharmacy with two sick children and wait for Arley's medicine, all the while feeling guilty that I had sent Arley to school all week even though he had been sick too. I finally got the kids home (it was a three hour doctor's visit, and the clinic is literally five minutes away!), and I got Arley medicated and in bed. Then I put Carmie on the couch to rest, gave her a dose of medicine, and she threw up copious amounts of food and milkshake, all over our sofa, from one end to the other. As I said, super fun times.
Now that Carmie is over her tummy bug, whatever it was, she is eating unbelievable amounts of food. I am trying to tell myself that it is just because she is making up for lost calories and nutrition, but it seems quite abnormal. She will eat two eggs, a potato, vegetarian bacon, cheese and buttered toast for breakfast, followed by a cookie and an apple, and then beg for more buttered toast. She has been eating about 10 slices of buttered toast a day. We have finally told her no more buttered toast, except for as a part of a meal. It almost seems like she has lost the ability to feel full. We are a little worried about her food intake, because it really is astronomical, but it is hard to do any research when they can't even tell me what was wrong with her in the first place. In the meantime, we are at least trying to steer her on a path of choosing healthy foods, but she really wants to eat buttered toast and buttered pasta, and eggs, all day long. She is eating about three times the amount of food as she did before she got sick.
Carmie started to get better after 24 hours, and had one day where she was feeling well enough to go to the park with her dad and Arley. And then on Monday she came down with Arley's virus and croup. So she missed school on Tuesday again, and then I sent her off to school for the rest of the week, full of steroids and with my fingers crossed. And now I am sick as a dog with the virus. I figure it is my punishment for sending Arley to school sick, and Carmie this week too. She is still miserable there, and I am hoping it is just from being so sick and not having her energy levels up and missing me too much, because if her dislike of her school continues much longer I am not sure what I am going to do. And Arley is being a little two year old monster lately. I have to forgive him, as he is only two and obviously going through a lot, but he is really pushing the limits.
The photos below are super smiley and happy, so I guess we have had some nice times too. Before Carmie got sick again with croup, I took the kids for a library visit, which they loved. They were so well behaved that I decided to walk them across the road to the bakery for a treat, and they sat like little messy grown ups and ate their sticky finger bun. It gave me hope that it is possible for these little guys to leave the house without much drama, and for us to enjoy ourselves.
A rare sight, Arley sitting with Dad, so I had to take a photo!
