A busy week . . .

This week had so much happening that this post will be chronological.

Monday:
Mackenzie had a consultation with our local ENT, Dr. Burchett. He is really a great surgeon and fantastic with kids. During the exam, she did anything he asked. She held her ears angled for him and gave him the second ear before he asked. Apparently with all of the ear infections she's had (5 in the last 4 months), she knows how the exam goes and does it like a pro. Her ears looked good for the first time in months, but he recommended that she have ear tubes in both ears because of her history. They had a cancellation for Thursday so we took it.
Also, we found out from the NRMP (National Residency Matching Program) that James matched for his residency, but we had to wait until Thursday to find out where. That evening I stayed at the library til it closed studying for my commercial law test and went to bed around 1 am.

Tuesday:
I had a huge commercial law test this day at noon and had planned to wake up at 6:30 to study before I got kids out the door. Jay came into our room around 3 am saying he had the hiccups and so he climbed into our bed to sleep. At 6 am I was woken by Jay puking right next to my head in our bed. He then told me he had hiccuped in his bed too earlier and I learned that he meant puked. Fun! We cleaned him and our bed and James went to lecture at 7 am. Jay hadn't puked again at that point so I thought he just ate too much for dinner. 10 minutes before his bus was supposed to come, he puked again so I kept him home from school. I had class at 9 I needed to go to and needed to take Mackenzie to daycare. James' phone was off at the hospital but he finally got home from lecture about 8:40. Luckily he took the day off to take care of Jay and I rushed off to take Mackenzie into daycare. By then it was 9:10 so I skipped my first class to study for my test. Took my test at noon and got home around 5:20. Jay didn't puke again after 9 am, but around 6pm Mackenzie got really agitated and then puked several times in a row. Not a good thing since she was supposed to have surgery Thursday.

Wednesday:
James stayed home again with Mackenzie to let her rest. She didn't puke after 5 am and so recovered quickly. The rest of that day went pretty quickly between classes and such. Thankfully she recovered early enough that it was more than 24 hours before surgery was scheduled so we kept that appointment.

Thursday:
Woke up at 5:30 to get Mackenzie to the hospital by 6:30. My amazing friend Melissa came over at 6:15 to stay with Jay and get him on the bus for school. I am so grateful for amazing friends! After checking in, we were called back about 7:20. Once they were ready they gave her a syringe of Tylenol and Versed (a drug for inducing sedation and relaxation). Instead of relaxing, she got goofy loopy, giggly, and couldn't sit still. She handled it well but didn't seem to like how she felt. She wasn't very pleased when they took her away.
Dr. Burchett came and talked to us when he was done. He said that her tympanic membrane was thickened indicating chronic ear infections, probably more than we've known she had, and that it was inflamed again and beginning to get infected. So it is a really good thing we had this done. She just got off her last round of antibiotics 15 days earlier and they were already getting infected again. He said she did fine and would be in recovery til she was more coherent.
About 9:30 am, after recovery, she was brought back. Clear down the hall we heard her yelling ma-ma. They said as soon as she was coherent she started asking for me, made me feel good. She launched into my arms as soon as she saw me and proceeded to repeat ma-ma getting more hysterical by the word. It was like she was trying to tell me what happened but didn't have any words. She calmed down quickly after they gave her a cup of apple juice although she didn't let go of it until it was gone. She recovered quickly and we were home by 10:20.
I already missed my first class by then but left and made it to my second at 10:30. James stayed home all day with her. She is such a daddy's girl! At noon, James was notified by the NRMP that he matched to University of Missouri-Columbia Rusk Rehabilitation in Columbia, MO, to complete his Physiatry Residency starting July 2011. We are really excited and it is a fantastic program. He's been interested in this program since we moved here so it will work out. Columbia is only 1 1/2 hours south of Kirksville but much larger and better weather too. I really enjoy the city so I'm excited for that. Also I will have the chance to keep going with my education. University of Missouri-Columbia (Mizzou) is one of only a few programs that offer a doctorate in accounting. So I could get a PhD (master's not required) or pursue my master's instead. I want to teach eventually at the college level so I'm not sure what to do. I think what I will do will depend on my GMAT scores I'm taking this fall.
That night we had dinner with some great friends to celebrate and played some board games.

Friday:
We dropped Mackenzie off at Terri's for daycare at 8 am. Then went and dropped James off at his orthodontist appointment and then I took Jay to his vision appointment with Dr. Hawkins. James appointment went fast and he walked over to join Jay and me. We found out that Jay's left eye is extremely lazy to the point that his brain is almost completely ignoring it. So Jay will get to have his right eye patched from 5 to bed every week day and all day Saturday and Sunday for the next month. Then we will go in for a follow-up to see if it has improved any. Dr. Hawkins said that there is a good chance that we can retrain his brain to use that eye.
After we put the eye patch on, Jay was really upset. He kept saying that he couldn't see. Poor kid couldn't walk straight and kept running into things. He did good with his first patch though so hopefully he will leave them on and this will work.

That brings us to the point of writing this post. I am now going to go rent a movie, put my kids to bed, and enjoy a quiet night with my amazingly supportive and wonderful husband.