Thursday, May 08, 2008

Doctor Visits, Squared*

Today I feel like I have a half day because at 3:00, Nicole is coming home and I am going to the doctor. I have never been so excited to sit in a waiting room flipping through magazines until after the girls were born. This is free time, in a way, and then I get to be the one who walks through the door at dinnertime and have two happy babies crawl over to me with big smiles on their faces (I hope).

I’m afraid my doctor is going to lecture me because I have failed to get an MRI to rule out bigger issues in the mystery of my one-sided hearing loss; I have not seen a throat specialist for my thyroid and I have neglected to have the dermatologist check out a semi-suspicious mark on me. It is on my ass, so can you blame me for not wanting to rush to the dermatologist, take off my clothes and roll over so my ass can be inspected? Part of me doesn’t want to do these things because sometimes I prefer to live in the safe darkness rather than in reality. The other part just doesn’t have the time to go to these appointments. Having Nicole take off from work every time I have to go to the doctor is not a good use of her time. And my mother, who would be the perfect babysitting candidate, is notoriously not reliable for these sort of things.

Today I am taking Avery to the doctor. She has a fever, as she has for a couple of days. Today it is in the 103 range, which makes her very mellow. I still wonder if it is teething-related, but who knows. She also has a weird finger issue. Last weekend in Target she was sitting in the cart and I accidentally jammed (in a semi-minor way) her little finger when rounding a corner. I feel awful about it. She cried like crazy at first, but then was fine. Now there is a little bump on her finger. She can bend it and it doesn’t seem to cause her pain, but there is that bump. Is the fever related to that? I have no idea. So off we go to the doctor today, in the rain, to check out that bump and the fever.

Avery just wants to be held and cuddled and that is impossible with two children. I want so badly to just lay around all day with Avery, napping with her and feeding her and cuddling her. But there is no way I can do that.

What I really want to write about is Mother’s Day. Not from the perspective of My First Mother’s Day, but from the perspective of a daughter with a rather complex relationship with her own mother. But that will have to wait till after Avery’s appointment.

On a side note, did anyone see Kathie Lee interview Heather Dooce Armstrong on yesterdays’ Today Show? Wow, what a hypocrite KL is. It really reinforced that I don’t really respect Kathie Lee. And I think I will officially stop watching her, as much as I love to watch her to complain about her. The things KL said were offensive and disrespectful, I think, to Heather and to all bloggers.

And by the way, to the blogger who thinks she saw me on the street: Did you really call out my name? I do sort of recall thinking I heard someone call my name and then thinking that's crazy. Do you remember where we were and when? I can tell you if it was us!

Pictured above, yesterday in the spirit of enjoying the weather I strolled the girls down to the waterfront. There is a park there, with a wide, open lawn. I thought I would let them crawl around and enjoy the fresh air. Alas, we got there and the entire lawn was covered in goose poop. Oh well. And I am so pale. SO pale. And since I promised Nicole I would never tan again (a bargain/promise we made when I got pregnant) I feel this pressure to remain pale. But oh how I want to have a golden tan.

*Updated to add: We are back from Avery's doctor visit. it seems that she may have roseola. Symptoms include a fever that lasts for several days and swollen lymph nodes in the back of her head. When the fever breaks, she will devlop a rash al over her little body. So we are in a bit of wait-and-see.

4 comments:

suz said...

We had the 4 day fever too, thought it might be roseola but the rash never came and the fever went away after day 4 - but not until after a doctor's visit and check of ears, throat, and urine (via catheter, horrible) showed nothing.

I'm with you on the Kathie Lee thing, I don't like her one bit but it seemed to me she was basing her opinion more on ignorance than some strong objection with a reasonable foundation. I didn't even get the impression that she had ever read dooce's site. All KL did for me was make me decide I never want to take a cruise.

Anonymous said...

ooh i hope the Aviator feels better soon. is it contagious - will Maddie get it too for sure? i kind of think of my twins like one biological organism - i mean, what are the chances, really, of one getting sick EVER and not the other?

hope your Dr visit goes well. have you tried tanning lotion? the more expensive ones are pretty good - not orangey like they used to be. but then again, who the hell has time to put lotion over the whole body? i'm lucky if i remember and have time to put it on my face.

judy said...

You know, I don't think that KLG or HDA had much to say in that segment. The whole thing was awkward and forced.

Blue Pearl said...

No, I didn't call out your name --- just waved. Whoever it was (you?) did not wave back, but definitely saw the wave from me. She (you?) looked puzzled and a little hassled. I was rushing to Children's Hospital on 165th and Broadway --- had just gotten off the subway at 168th. I doubt you live up there, but maybe you were going to clinic? Anyway, as an update: Gold Star's baby going home from NICU today. You one time reassured her about the cysts seen on u/s --- all is well.
Hope you can post your thoughts about Mother's Day.