Seriously?!

So, Staci, one of my best friends from forever, calls me out of the blue on Saturday. "What are you up to?" she asks. I reply, "Oh, I'm just driving down K-10 in my camisole and underwear, how about you?" I'm sure you can imagine her response! Well, it's just been one of those kind of weeks.

It started out strange last Saturday. During dinner we were all conversing as we usually do, when Riley turned his head to the right and Corey and I immediately looked at each other and said, "Did you see that?" Riley had two large bumps protuding from the left side of his neck that seemed to appear out of nowhere. They were not there when he laid down for his nap a couple hours earlier, now they are there looking like a couple of rubber bouncy balls laying beneath his skin. I feel them, ask him a million questions, then run to my trusty computer. Of course, all of the most terrifying possibilities jump out at me: blood clot, aneurysm, non-Hodgkins lymphoma -- aaaahhhhh! So, by now it is 7:00 and Corey and I have been going back and forth about what to do. We finally decide that I will take him to the ER just to be safe. Just where I wanted to be on a Saturday night after a home KU Football game! On the way there I called my mom, who is always so calm and the voice of reason. Thank you for that mom as I am the complete opposite! Anyhow, fortunately, the drunks had not started to filter into the emergency room just yet, so it wasn't quite the crazy scene I was anxiously anticipating = ) After completing some paperwork and getting shuffled from room to room, we got settled into "the coolest room ever!" -- Riley's words. A bed with rails that can move up and down, his own remote, cartoons on TV, a chair that spins = good times for a 3 yr old! On top of that he got to pee in a cup -- fun! -- and since they ended up not needing the sample, he got to bring it home to show Gage and Daddy -- bonus! It ended up that he actually had a pretty severe double ear infection and the bumps were his lymph nodes that had swollen up in response to the infection. They prescribed some anti-biotics and he has been getting much better. Thank goodness that is all that it was. Also, thank goodness that Riley has dubbed the ER "AWESOME!" as I am sure we will make many more trips there in the future!

A couple days later, Riley started to complain that his tummy hurt. Well, lo and behold, the vomiting was not far behind. Ugh! But honestly, if all flu episodes were like this one, I wouldn't freak so badly about the dreaded virus. Don't get me wrong, he was pretty darn sick for about 6-7 hours, but after that, it was like the illness was gone as quickly as it had arrived. After testing the waters and allowing him some small portions of crackers and pedialyte for a couple hours, I finally caved to his requests for pancakes and he was scarfing them down like he hadn't eaten in days! So glad he wasn't down and out for too long!

So, that was Wednesday. We were a little too hopeful that Gage had survived this spout without catching the bug. Well, we found out that we weren't that lucky at almost the worst possible time and place. This Saturday morning we headed over to Monkey Bizness in Olathe to celebrate our friend Taryn's 3rd birthday. We had been there just under an hour when Gage said he didn't want to go down the slide again with Riley and me, so he just sat at the bottom and waited. I didn't think much of it as he had woken up bright and early at 5:15 that morning and just figured he was extra tired as it was getting close to lunch and nap time. Oh, if only that were so! When we got to the bottom, Gage asked, "Momma, hold me." Well, you just can't deny a request so sweet, so I scooped him up and sat down on a bench with him. He snuggled his head tightly into my chest and then ....... yep, you guessed it! -- he blew chunks all over me. Yuck!!! Thankfully, I guess, the vomit was mostly on me and Gage and less than a silver dollar size actually fell to the floor. After what seemed like an eternity of parents and children staring at us while slowly backing away, one gentleman was kind enough to bring a trash can over to us and beckon some workers to bring us some paper towels and trash bags.

So, from here, I stripped down poor little Gage and tried to wipe myself as clean as I could. I hurried the boys out to the van for our 40 minute drive home. Now, I am still covered in puke at this point and totally wreak. Thankfully, while dressing in the morning, I had put on a camisole under the shirt I was wearing. So, I peeled off the saturated top shirt and put it in the trash bag. Next, I scanned the parking lot and everything looked clear, so I took off my jeans and put them in the trash bag as well. Ok, so far so good. I now strap in the boys and get Gage set up with the trash bag and a towel in case he needs to let loose again. We are now on our way home.

I call Corey and explain the fun to him, and being the great hubby that he is tells me he'll get everything ready at home for our little sicko. Next I call my mom, who once again calms me down and helps me laugh at my unfortunate situation. After I hang up with her is when I get the call from Staci. After talking to her for a while, Gage has another episode, so I need to pull over and attend to him. Thankfully we were close to home and were now on a back county road so we didn't have to deal with traffic. We take care of business and are on our way again.

Unfortunately, we were on our way a little too fast. The next thing you know I am getting pulled over by a Sheriff's deputy. Are you kidding me?! Luckily, the boys had brought their blankies with them for the car ride that morning, so I covered up my bottom half with Riley's and proceeded to plead my case. The fellow did not seem very sympathetic to say the least. After questioning me if we were in a life-threatening situation, or en route to the hospital, then checking my license and insurance (which seemed to take forever) the not overly kind deputy finally came back to my window. I wanted to say but didn't, "Seriously, you know I have a vomiting sick kid in here, aaaannnnd my entire van, as well as my child and I smell like a puke bucket, did you really need to take that long?!" However, in the end, he did let me off with a warning and a stearn, "Slow it down ma'am, slow it down." Good grief!

Anyhow, after a couple of hours, Gage's flu disappeared just like Riley's did and he was out running around in the yard by the end of the day. Good times, good times. Let's hope this next week is much less eventful on the health front!