Friday, January 11, 2008

Ping-pong


I know, this is one of the lamest illios ever! It is actually my rough sharpie hand sketch and I just had not time to do one in illustrator so , this is it. You get to see what is usually given to the kids to color on.

(Ooo, and just up front.....we are home....the Ethan update is just a little further down.)

Back to the business at hand...It has been brought to my attention that it is national delurking week. Well, well.....interesting!
I always wonder who all my readers are, I see the hits and then the comments, and there is a pretty significant difference in the numbers!

I was going to write a post like this one, I thought Angella was pretty smart and witty with it, but I am too beat to come up with anything like that.

So rather than beg you to delurk I decided to flip the tables and sneak stealthily around and find out who my lurkers are.....tee, hee, hee, hello reader in Honduras, and you over there in Russia and the whole group in South Africa too, I know you are there!
Oh, it's not like I can see where you live, I just see what city my hits come from. This is something I have never ever paid attention to before, all I have noticed is when someone else came on while I am on, but that is it.
I was actually quite surprised to see that I have a global reading, I am sure a lot of it is just random hits, you know the kind where you click, scroll and click away to move on to the next in a search for something that grabs your interest, but hey it was fun to watch!

So now if you feel inclined go ahead and say hi, and tell me what your favourite weekend pass time is, or if you are new how you found me, through someone or random. Or say whatever you want, I jsut want to know who you are, now that I know where you are. I feel so sneaky. :)
Now for what we have all been waiting for, the update on poor little Ethan. What an ordeal!!!!
Last night after seeing the doctor and being told that Ethan was to be admitted in the morning we got to thinking that it was rather strange. Usually if it is serious you go straigt to the hospital, you don't sleep on it first then go in.
We were told to meet the doctor back at the clinic this morning for the paperwork and then head straight to the hospital.
So we got up early, packed a lunch----you never know how things go when you are in the hospital-- and headed back to the clinic to meet with the doctor at 9:15 am.
I was very frustrated with the doctor last night, all he did was take a listen to Ethan's breathing and say "he has pneumonia and you must go to hospital." I tried to get more out of him but his English was so poor and his second, or I should say first language was not french so we where out of luck.
Off we went to the hospital....parking was another story all together, but lets skip that one.
We soon found out that "go to hospital" does not mean that we were admitted, though I had asked the doctor and he had said we were.
What it meant was that he had referred us to his friend who also spoke no English but has a medical office in a wing of the hospital. We waited and waited, ate some lunch, waited some more while other patients trickled in and then the new doctor finally came in.
He saw the kids and actually did check ups, throat swabs and looked in their ears, good thing cause Ethan also had an ear infection. He didn't rule out pneumonia, but thinks it could just be a cold. Then he sent us for blood work and an x-ray. Then referred us back to the first doc for follow up.
Now what I do not get is why the doctor last night didn't look in Ethan's mouth or ears and just send us for the x-ray and blood work.
These two doctors referred to each other as friends and were definitely from the same community. I felt passed around like an old pig skin or a little white ball in a ping-pong round and was really miffed, this way they could both make a buck and help each other out.
I even had to get the receptionist to clarify from the paper work what was happening because once again I could not understand the doctor. Either he speaks almost no English or maybe just a dialect I don't know. It was frustrating!
Off to the blood work. Poor Ethan, the techs couldn't get a needle into his arm so they cut his thumb and drew two vials of blood, drop by drip down a little trough into the tube. He cried and thrashed and it took three of us to pin him down. I cried too since it took forever to draw the blood. He was so exhausted and worked up afterwords he threw up all over himself and me and the floor.
We took a little break before heading for radiology were he would once again get pinned down only this time without me in the room.
As we sat waiting our turn I rocked and sang to him his favourite song, 'Praise the Saviour', I didn't care if people stared or were annoyed, it is what works to calm him down, it will even put him to sleep. I think the young man on the stretcher next to us was ok with it, he smile as we left....or maybe he was just glad he didn't have to listen to me anymore.
Next stop was the pharmacy. Penicillin for Ethan's ear infection, saline spray for his nose, benelyn for the cough. Kaitlyn has impetigo in her nose again and a little cold too so she gets cream and cough meds too.
Kids! Now we wait three days for all the test results. I am just glad to be back home!
I feel kinda rotten though for complainting, my regular, not so winey post shall resume tomorrow.....decluttering in progress.
Anyway, about feeling rotten, I know that some of you with kids have been through so much more and far more serious times with your kids and you are so strong about it. I really admire this!
I want to thank you all for your prayers and comments, I appreciate them more than caramel fudge gooey cakes.....and I really appreciate those!
Really from heart, I thank you, your insight and encouragement mean so much to me!

12 comments:

Angella said...

Poor little dude!!

Isn't it neat to see where everyone is from?

:)

Karen MEG said...

Glad to hear that it's likely not pneumonia. Poor little thing getting blood drawn... I've always hated that, even as an adult!
It is pretty neat to see where everyone is popping in from, isn't it?
Wishing you a healthy household fast!

Jovi said...

hmmm, the doc thing really doesn't sound too great, but i am so glad to hear he's not in the hospital! the blood draw sounds pretty awful, tho...

Anonymous said...

Sorry the children were sick but glad it wasn't more serious. I try to read your blog weekly to catch up on your family as we miss you here in Edmonton. Next time you are in town please come see our new house and show us how big Kaitlyn and Ethan are. Also showed Renata your art work to inspire her. Maureen Santin

Anonymous said...

Oh Anna.... how utterly awful. I don't even know what to say except it has to get better! Hang in there. You rock.

The Chatty Housewife said...

What a horrible hospital experience. I would complain, but that would probably get you no where. I guess you can try and refuse them if you get them in the future.

I am glad you got it all figured out and that prayers were answered re: Ethan possibly having pneumonia. The cold will be much easier on him and his poor winter immune system.

Hugs and prayers.

~*This Mama*~ said...

Hi hi!
Don't you know where I'm from....ya'll? hahah.

Anyway...Let's see...not sure how I came about your blog the first go round, but I love your art and your pictures and posts so much I have you on my "Fizzle" so whenever you update it tells me and I just pop right over! =)

Oh, I also enjoy all of the compliments you give me...but I would come back even if you didn't give me those. haha. ;-)

Glad Ethan is not laid up in the hospital. Gaah, that is horrible to have to deal with. Poor widdle guy.

Kamis Khlopchyk said...

Oh man, that sure was an ordeal. Do you have a pediatrician in the city?

Let me know, I know of some good ones... you need a doctor you can understand!

I hope he's better soon and I thought of you guys all day yesterday hoping things were going well. Home is best!

tracey.becker1@gmail.com said...

Whew! What an episode! I'm glad it's not pneumonia. I just had a visit to the emergency room with my 5 year old, and sang "You are my Sunshine" in a quavering voice over and over and over... luckily, our hospital has private e.r. rooms, so no one was witness to my singing abilities...

It's cool to see where people click from, isn't it? I love it when there are visits from really different places!

Anonymous said...

Ugh, a bit of a drama but I'm glad he and Kaitlyn are on the mend. I'm pleased it's not really serious. Been praying for you heaps!

Family Adventure said...

Those two docs...that seemed a little strange to me?! Where are you in the city??

I hope Ethan feels better soon. And Kaitlyn, too. There's nothing worse than sick children. Feel free to vent all you want here - it takes a lot of energy to take care of wee sick ones, I've been there.

Hang in there and keep us posted!

Heidi

Anonymous said...

ugh ... so sorry to hear! just catching up ... hope things have improved. sick kids plus husband out of town ... sympathies.