Friday, May 18, 2007

Magic Window

I took Wednesday afternoon off from work to do some work on the old house. Yes, we are STILL moving. I've managed to get all of the bedrooms cleared out and cleaned, and both bathrooms. The family room is nearly empty, as is the kitchen. Still have the livingroom and diningroom to go. The piano mover is now scheduled and it looks like we really will be out of that house by the end of the month.

But I digress.

Wednesday, I had just arrived at the old house and rolled up my sleeves when Z-boy's teacher called. Z was holding his head and saying his ear hurt. And he just wasn't acting like himself.

We'd had a big swim Monday after school, and Tuesday he'd casually mentioned that his ear was hurting a little - the same way you'd say, oh, your knee itched. No big deal. But apparently by after-lunch on Wednesday, he was a hurtin' boy. So I said I'd be right there and went to collect him.

Getting into the car, I asked if this was go-home-and-lie-down pain or go-to-the-doctor pain. Z-boy said he wanted the doctor, so I called and they said come now, we'll get you in. Must have been a slow day at the doctor's office because we'd JUST sat down in the waiting room when they called his name.

No fever, but a raging case of swimmer's ear. We got a prescription and a bottle of Motrin and headed home. As long as he's doped up on Motrin, he feels pretty good, but the second it starts to wear off, he's a quivering mass of boy tears. That must be some infection!

He went to bed early, as did we, and by 9:30, everyone was sound asleep. But I kept waking. Pipes hammered quietly in the walls and I knew there was water running somewhere. So I investigated and found the front lawn sprinkler twirling like mad in the moonlight. I shut it off and stumbled back to bed. Two hours later, Z-boy crawled into bed next to me. He then proceeded to toss and turn and smack me with his arm for the next 4 hours, finally coming awake crying at 4am. I got up with him, gave him some more Motrin and we sat down in the family room and watched TV together. Darling Man woke up at 5:30 (late for him) and was shocked to find us already up. I stayed home with the boy until Darling Man could get back from work, then I went in to my job.

I really shouldn't have been driving. I was so tired, I felt drunk. I literally staggered down the hall to my office, sat down, did the necessary stuff, then drove home again. At 4pm, I fell into bed and slept until nearly 8pm, when Darling Man came to get me for the boy.

I came downstairs, dosed Z-boy with drops and Motrin and brought him back upstairs with me. DM was sleeping on a blow-up mattress downstairs, so we had the upstairs to ourselves. I put the boy into our bed and went back down to get ice for his ear, which he'd requested. I wrapped the pack and he gingerly put his ear on it as I laid down next to him.

Where we live, there are lots of trees. Since we're in town now, it never gets totally dark and our back windows face town, so the sky always has a dim glow to it, making the trees appear to be silhouette art. So we laid in bed and looked out the back window and found figures in the shadows. Wolves and rabbits gossiped, giant oppossums conversed with elephants. The figures got names and worries and stories. We looked for lemurs.

Finally, his breathing evened out and got deeper, and we slept while the lives in the shadows continued into the night.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yikes, Honey!! I hope your sweet little man is better soon!

It's like reliving teething, isn't it!

Oh, BTW, remember what happened to me after I was up all night with my little one? Yep. Crunch the car. Please be careful!!

Anonymous said...

Man...it never rains but it pours eh..soo much to do and no time to do it all...it will all work out... hope Z-boy is better soon and you guys can all catch up on some sleep.

Mel said...

I love the way you wrote this.
I had swimmer's ear when I was seven, and I still cringe at the remembered pain of it. Poor Z-boy. Hug him for me!

Me said...

i had to google 'swimmer's ears' to see what it was.
Poor Z-boy.
Hugs to him!

Me said...

Also: I echo mel, I love the way you let us in with your writing :)

Knock knock - it's cancer! said...

What is swimmer's ear? I hear a lot about it, is it actually from swimming?!

Poor boy...hope he's better very soon.

Hugs,

Michelle

BlondeBlogger said...

Ooooh, poor little guy!! A good friend of mine used to get that swimmer's ear when we were growing up and I remember her screaming in pain. :(

Hope he feels better soon!

Stepping Over the Junk said...

I think I have had swimmer's ear for months now...ugh...it's horrible.

I can't leave a comment on the Saturday post? Is that on purpose? (just pointing out in case it is a mistake)