all in the family

This morning I dropped Tommy off at a friend's house. At 6:30 in the morning.

Yesterday Johnny saw his ENT again. He has almost constant sinus infections despite his lack of adenoids and a rotating cast of antibiotics. Most of the options at this point are pretty invasive and so rather than proceed with the next surgery on the list, the doctor ordered a CT scan. I've had a few of these in my day, perhaps you have too. Not such a big deal, just hold very still for five minutes. Now do you begin to see the dilemma? Johnny is never, ever still for five minutes while conscious, ever. So they sedate the wiggly little ones. This involves IV lines and recovery time. The procedure was fine and quick but he slept and slept. When he finally woke up he drank the obligatory juice to prove he was alright and off we went. Here is where I demonstrated a severe lack of judgement. He was begging to go to "'Donalds". The poor child hadn't eaten a thing all day and had been confined to a bed even though he wanted to run and climb. We met Tommy and his friend (thoughtfully delivered by the early morning friend's sainted mother who had also taken my child to school this morning) at Burger King. I ordered a little food for the two of us and sat down with our group. Johnny jumped up out of his chair and immediately face-planted onto the hard tile floor. It didn't get better. All he wanted to do was play in the climbing structure but he just couldn't get his feet to obey. I helped him through once and it was awful. He couldn't keep his balance at all. After about 10 minutes I was finished. I took him home, his lunch untouched. Tommy went home with his friend. His mother kept him for the rest of the afternoon because she wanted to give me a break. I hope karma rains down good things on her for weeks to come. I put Johnny to bed and he was asleep before I left the room. I dozed for an hour or so. When Tommy's piano teacher came later in the afternoon (after he had been thoughtfully delivered to my front door) she brought us dinner. Just to be nice, not because she was aware that anything different had taken place today. Her son has a surgery in the morning and she brought us dinner. How did I get so lucky? My life is filled with people who are willing , able and even happy to help. People who texted to check on him and more who would have been more than willing had I asked. We have no official family here in Kansas, but that's only on paper.

He just woke up, he feels much better. So do I.


Thanks, everyone.