Tuesday, August 26, 2008

It was the Suckiest of Times...and the suckiest of times


Ah. Is there any sweeter pleasure for a busy mom than a houseful of sleeping children and a husband who's off at the gym? I'm in front of the computer, Tainted Love turned up too loud. At last, a break from Mommy and Wife.

This summer has sucked. No money, no air conditioning, and a house full of children. They don't care. They have watched enough cartoons to get me thrown into the Dr. Sears/Supernanny rehab center. The yard-- I'll get into THAT monstrosity in another post-- is entirely dirt. Cadillac only works on it if I start working on it and he feels guilty. Plus, no money. Did I say that?



But really, it hasn't entirely. That's because we have...a pool. Pools make things more bearable. Even when they're 4 foot lap pools, a rip in the side that appeared after the house closing, surrounded by a deck that the previous owners put a cosmetic wash on that splinters all over us and gives my baby a dreadful rash. And the fence around it is falling down from termites.

Summer has never sucked more than these past three weeks. All the kids have been sick. One at a time, beginning every Saturday and lasting through Thursday. Friday is a respite, then the next one goes. Fever, sore throat, cough, stuffy nose.

There's nothing worse than seeing your child suffer, especially your two-year-old who has just been potty-trained (big Hoo-rah for that, BTW!!) She cannot breathe, it's hot, she can't nap but she can't stay awake. She lies on the couch in a horrible half-state, melting Otter Pop in hand, eyes watering, croaking, "I not sick. I go Chuckie Cheese."

And who the hell gets sick in summer? It's against nature.

I count my blessings, though. They are sick, but it will pass. It is nothing like the sickness of Cadillac's sister, who had an undiagnosed kidney reflux problem when she was Kaiya's age. Her doc kept telling MIL that it was a urinary tract infection, again and again, inserting painful catheters and doing nothing to help, until at last her kidneys failed. She has had two transplants and is on dialysis. Cadillac is supposed to give her a kidney, but he's not completely compatible and she doesn't think it will take.

While other people survive only a couple of years on dialysis, Cadillac's sis has survived for many. She teaches full time and earned a Master's in chemistry AND ushers at baseball games. Oh, and she lives by herself in the Midwest. I think MIL still feels guilty that she couldn't diagnose this disease on her own. So if you ever start feeling sorry for yourself-- like the time Cadillac got hit by a car running a red light and he did a header over it and had to have metal put in his neck-- you can count on MIL to tell you that your troubles really pale in comparison. Which is true, though hard to swallow at times. Cadillac's neck healed. His sister's kidney did not.

No comments: