where wildly different is perfectly normal
Enough is enough
Enough is enough

Enough is enough

Mid-week one of my dearest friends posted on Facebook that she needed one of these signs:

Keep calm and carry onShe is one of the calmest, most centered people I know and had a soul-snapping week. Anyone mind sharing just what the holy hell has been going on the last two weeks? Everyone, everyone I know has had a frakked fortnight.

Since this is my little piece of internets real estate, I’m going to see if I can remember just what hit me. Then maybe, when I think I’m having a bad day, I can check back here and bitch-slap myself back to reality.

  • Tom was out of town most of the last two weeks.
  • A had a GI specialist appointment.
  • A had an xray.
  • A had an ultrasound.
  • A had a barium enema/xray.
  • I got the pleasure of collecting stool samples.
  • 3rd grade curriculum night taught me that A’s first book report will be on a picture book (!), and that my science-fanatic son will see his beloved science alternating with social studies, on roughly a four-week swap.
  • A had a vision exam
  • A got glasses to prevent his eyes from tiring out so much.
  • A needs more vision therapy.
  • A gets to go get his hearing checked this Tuesday, missing yet another day of school, to see if he has Central Auditory Processing Disorder, something I have suspected for four years. If they tell me they could have tested him four years ago, expect to see a mushroom cloud as my head explodes.
  • I got to hold A down while he got a flu shot…then J sat totally still.
  • I handed over a kidney to the nice folks at Costco.
  • I went to a presentation by Dr. Linda Silverman, who has pioneered the study of Visual-Spatial Learners, of which A is the poster child. I can’t thank Tiffani enough for offering up her daughter to watch the boys, and at their house. They had a great time there.
  • Raging PMS from hell. I think I could have ripped the heads off bunnies while drop-kicking puppies into the path of an oncoming truck, then gone out for ice cream.
  • I’m doing a 2 week detox. This means no caffeine (though my acupuncturist gave me a pass on this one after I had a five day headache that ibuprofin couldn’t touch), no red meat or common allergens, no alcohol. Right now I’m living off rice, quinoa, and air. It also means I drink vanilla-flavored sand 1-3 times a day. On the bright side, I’m rarely hungry anymore (I’m almost done with this nightmare), and I can tell I’ve lost a few pounds. On the seriously dark side, I damned near grabbed the chalice out of the pastor’s hand this morning for seconds.
  • While I have been able to stay on top of emails for the most part, my feed reader is mocking me at 308, and chances are I’ll MAAR those in the morning…just like I’ve been MAARing them nearly every other day.
  • I’m having an existential crisis: what am I supposed to do with my life? I turn 36 on Wednesday and I’m sure this is a common question. I also thought I’d have it figured out by the time the boys started school. I was wrong. I do not like being wrong.
  • The mental stress of all of this and the home-based business I have is taking a toll. Chances are extremely good that I will drop this business so I can focus on my family’s needs. A is going to need more help and I suspect he’s picking up on my anxiety and frustration. I need to be able to focus and learn more so I can help and advocate for him.
  • I’ve been on the verge of tears for nearly the entire two weeks.

So. Nutshell. I hope the worst is behind me, I’m not sure I can take a whole lot more. A and I go back to the GI specialist on Thursday and hopefully we’ll have some answers. And answers on the hearing. And and and.

I just want a glass of wine and some chocolate.

Instead I get vanilla-flavored sand and air.

Poop.

Oh. And to whoever came here on the search terms “barium poo won’t flush” and “should I bring a picture of my son’s poo”…thank you. Hope you found your answers and are sticking here for the laughs.

Excuse me…I must go hose down the fighting dogs separate the boys from killing each other.

7 Comments

  1. Just keep reminding yourself “this too shall pass”. Eventually. The question is how much sanity will be left by the time it does.

    I hope you get the answers you and A need and deserve soon.

    PS By vision therapy do you mean eye exercises? If so, Itai does them on our home computer. He bitches and moans a lot, but they work and it’s a damn site easier than shlepping to the optometrist’s office every other day like my parents had to do for me.

  2. karen (Forgiven and Loved)

    Crap. Why didn’t anyone tell me about the scheduling for this fortnight upheaval of my personal world???? Here I mucked up the whole thing and had mine in May. Crap….actually, it’s SEPTEMBER now….4 months later. And I’m not sure my upheaval is over. (sigh)
    Give me one of those puppies to kick. There is a truck coming down my street as I type this. GIVE IT TO ME NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Whaddya think?

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

%d