Croaky and Cranky

So I almost died last night.

Well, not really... but I got your attention, right?! :) Seriously, though. I felt like I was gonna die, or at least faint and I wonder if that feels like dying...

I feel I must prepare you. This is one of those poor me posts that will cause you to roll your eyes and think, get over it, already! So, if you're not feeling particularly sympathetic right now, well then I recommend a good venting post for you too! Oh, and you might as well stop right here...

Okay, now that I have one person still with me... :)

Every night for the past week I've hacked and coughed and coughed and hacked and... well, you get the idea. I think of it as my very own "Fur-Ball Curse." Yeah, that's right. Mine! It must only happen to me. What I really mean is PITY ME, people! Haha.

Must be allergies. Or asthma. Or both. Or some crazy mutiny going on in my bronchioles. Last night was so bad Craig nearly ran me out of the house - to the ER. I started having an asthma attack, but of course, I was not the only one having issues. Cohen and I formed our own duet and nearly brought down the house :) with his hair-raising treble and my raspy, barely-breathing bass!

Why is it that when you're a mommy, you can't just be sick by yourself? Why is it that somebody else has to have something wrong with him (or her), too?

It's not fair! WWAAAAHHHH!

I would have loved a soothing back massage, or some hot chicken noodle soup (if I could get it down, anyways), but no! No, no, no! Mr. Cohen had to have daddy's attention all to himself. Yeah, so okay. He was really hungry and I'm not exactly a fountain of milk anymore, or so we think. And he won't take a bottle, STILL, which has led to bouts of incessant screaming that persist from 10pm till about 2 in the morning. Poor guy! His pediatrician says I might need to get medicine to make my milk stick around. Yep, need to schedule that appointment. Tomorrow. But right now I feel helpless and tired and very, very frustrated! I miss being able to comfort him with my seemingly endless supply of milk.

I would have loved, loved, LOVED to sleep in today, but we were up at the crack of dawn and out the door by 8am, on our way to an ophthalmology appointment for Cohen. A THREE HOUR LONG adventure - YAY for us! At least Craig kept Jenna and Hannah at home. There was no way I could handle Miss Thang (x 2) for that long in a controlled environment! I was also not in the best of moods, I'll admit. My mommy empathy (and patience) was not really kickin' in like it normally does - darn that poor me syndrome! Boy was I lookin' glam in my workout pants (who am I kidding?) and t-shirt with my hair pulled back and big ol' bags under my eyes.

At least we learned some much-needed info at the doctor's office (and by the way, this doctor is really good, so that helped the fact that half my day was sucked away by this appointment). The doctor confirmed what we've suspected - Cohen has Nystagmus. He ordered a full MRI because Nystagmus has to do with brain abnormality (I'm trying not to look into this too much yet - no reason to panic or dwell). We also discovered that Cohen is farsighted. This means that his eyes have not caught up to his developmental age/level. So guess what? Our little six month old guy will be sporting snazzy glasses soon. We're going to try them on tomorrow, so I will post a picture. I heard they're not very aesthetically pleasing, but functional. That's okay - for now. We can get cool ones later, right? Doc also mentioned surgeries, but he added that the glasses might correct the issues enough to avoid that. We shall see. And hope. And pray! (Of course)

The fun didn't stop there! Jenna had a GI appointment at 3 (that's the digestion doc!). I think I remember everything he said, but I was seriously dragging by then! He referred Jenna for a modified barium swallow study. That will happen next Thursday at noon, and - oh-the-fun! - Jenna cannot eat for six hours beforehand. Try explaining that to a child who lives in a me-me-me world right now! In addition to the swallow study, he also referred her to the same developmental specialist who saw Cohen. This city sure has a tight-knit network of doctors, considering how big it is! The developmental specialist does behavioral and outpatient therapy. HOORAY! More therapy! :) But, oh yeah...MORE appointments :(

So basically, I took the kids to two appointments today and walked away with... let's see... SIX MORE, including the follow-ups! I feel like one of those cartoon characters whose heads spin and spin and spin until they pop their lid and steam comes out! Or like the classic cartoon goofs who run off the edge of the cliff cuz someone is on their tail and then hang in mid-air, their legs a circular blur as they run-run-run, until they look down and - oops! - they realize there's nothing beneath them and they stop. Well in cartoonland, this means gravity will magically reinstate itself, and SPLAT!!! The point? As long as I keep going, I'm okay. I'm afraid to stop and think about it all because when I stop to think about things, I start to plummet. And, well, no SPLAT yet, but hopefully, if that day ever comes, I'll morph back into myself again like they do! ;)

Not that I want to WHINE even more, but, well...I counted the number of health-related appointments we have had over the past two months on my calendar and came up with a whopping 18!!! Not including Jenna's hospital stay. When will the madness stop?! That's 18 co-pays. Not to mention prescription co-pays. And if I have to wait for over an hour in one more doctor's office I'll scream! Oh, that's right... how many did I say we had coming up?! :/ Well, I'm going to stop thinking about it. Now. Right now.

And shamefully go watch tonight's episode of American Idol on my DVR. Right after I get the kids ready for bed. Yep, and feed Cohen. And darnit, my curse is coming on in full-force :( *sigh*

*cough, cough*

Think of me fondly when your head hits your pillow... wishing you all the blissful hours of sleep you can possibly get! Enjoy them for me, too!

A girl's gotta vent once in a while! Right?! Ummm, right?

Hello?!