December is a busy month

Like most of the rest of the world, December is a busy month for our family. It started off with Raymond and me being sick. Let's start with me since I was easy. I finally went to my PCP and got some good medication to knock out whatever was ailing me before. Raymond was on antibiotics, which cleared his ear infection. Well a week later he gets another one (with fevers as high as 103.6). Then we were put on the same antibiotic he finished the week prior (Omnicef). Why? I don't know. I fought for a different antibiotic, but was shut down. Then we end up at an urgent care place in Atlanta because he still has fevers and his ear hurts. We get a new antibiotic (Bactrim) and he actually starts to feel better. Then this morning Jen notices what she thinks is a rash, but isn't sure. I pick him up from day care and sure enough he has a rash all over his trunk. He's not itchy or having trouble with it. I call the pediatrician and get the nurse on call. Why I don't get a doctor I don't know. I have no problem with nurses answering questions, but she wasn't much help. All she says is that we need to bring Raymond into the office to see if it's really a rash (seriously? I am a health care professional). Would I be able to get a new medicine for his ear infection called in since he still has that? No, not until he's seen by the pediatrician. I bring him into the office the next day and yep, he is allergic to sulfa drugs and still has an ear infection. Finally we get put on Zithromax and this seems to be working. Our doctor actually commented that she didn't know why the fill in doctor we saw last week put him on the same antibiotic he just finished. I obviously agreed with her. At least now he is feeling better.

We actually also got an ENT referral by our pediatrician (finally!). I had already made an appointment with one recommended by a coworker who just had her son's tubes put in, but the gesture was nice. The appointment went well and Raymond will be getting tubes next week. Hopefully this will help him not get as many ear infections. It's kind of ridiculous that it's taken this long.

On top of all the sicknesses, we had some holiday parties to go to. The first was my work party which was held at a colleague's house in Fairhope. We got a baby sitter for the kids, even though they were invited to the party because it was going to be too late for them anyway. And I knew I wouldn't have had as much fun if I had to be constantly saying, "Beka, don't touch that. Raymond, put that down." etc. We had a good time chatting and eating with some of my coworkers. It was nice to see people outside of the work environment. We also had a holiday party for Jen's work. They did a dirty Santa gift exchange. I spent almost the entire time hanging out with the host's husband in his bonus room watching football. Seeings as we were the only 2 guys at the party, there wasn't much of a choice, but I genuinely liked him and I hope we can find some time to get together again.

We also went to my in-laws house in Atlanta to have an early Christmas with the family. Jen's brother and sister-in-law came down from Rochester to visit. It was nice to have everyone together, especially because it's such a rare occurrence. However, there was some drama before we left home. Well, I get home from work and let the dogs out like I always do. They make a bee-line for the fence, where they had been apparently digging a hole for a while. Biding their time until they could make their escape. Well, they get out, I run outside after them, calling their names the whole time. Of course they don't come immediately back. I go out in the car to look for them with 2 starving children in tow and I can't find them anywhere. Oh, I think I forgot to mention that they were supposed to go to the doggy hotel for boarding that evening after they went outside because we were leaving early the next morning for ATL. Yeah, seriously messed up. So they don't come back until 5 hours later, which is much too late to take them to the doggy hotel. I seriously didn't think they were going to come back, but when I went to take out the trash, they were in the garage waiting for me. So we ended up having to bring them in the morning and leaving much later than we wanted to for the family Christmas. Which sucked. But all in all, it was a good weekend. I got some really nice gifts, including an awesome new watch. All the kids got together to buy one big gift this year for Jen's parents. We decided on a new flat screen HD TV. We needed to bring them into the 21st century. When I walked in carrying the TV, the look on Debbie and Corny's face was priceless. It was surprise, disbelief, and joy all at once. Seeing that is what Christmas is all about. Of course, Beka and Raymond made out like bandits, and that's even before Christmas morning!

We also went to Bellingrath Gardens which is a local attraction that, during Christmas, transforms the gardens into a light show. So we took the kids, with some of our friends and their 3 year old, to see all the Christmas lights. We went last year, but I thought it would be different. It wasn't, but it was still fun to go and see the kids' reaction to all the lights. Also, there is going to be a surprise visit on Christmas eve from Gramma and Grampa for the kids. The kids don't know that they'll be coming, so it'll be nice to see how they react.

Work for me is going well. I have submitted a paper for publication, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it will be accepted. I am also working on submitting a couple abstracts for the CPNP annual meeting that discusses some research I am working on. I always look forward to that meeting every year, not only because I get to see friends I only really see at the meeting, but because I actually get a chance to learn something.

Anyway, that'll be it for me. Have a great new year!

It's definitely not seasonal allergies

I feel like some updates are in order. I have been working and enjoying my new job. I thought I would miss teaching, and I do, but not as much as I thought. I have a lot more time for doing research, writing papers, and focusing on my rotation students. I like to think I have become a better preceptor than before because 1. I have more time in clinic for the students to become more comfortable in psych and 2. I have more time to devote to teaching them. I can't say any of this with absolute certainty of course. I have to wait until next summer to see my evaluations from this year and compare them with last year's. I hope it comes out that the rotation is better.

In the past month we have had some real health issues. Raymond got an ear infection, which we thankfully caught early. Well, after over a week on the antibiotic, it turns out he is allergic to it. How do I know this, you ask? He broke out into hives all over his body. Now, it wasn't as bad as when Beka had the same reaction to the same antibiotic. She couldn't even walk because her joints were so swollen. Raymond's didn't get that bad, but it did get serious enough to treat with steroids and benadryl. When we brought him into the pediatrician they saw his ears were clear, so we didn't get another antibiotic. Of course, a week later, he has to go back (this time to the urgent care place on a Saturday) to the doctor for, you guessed it, another ear infection. And then they give him another antibiotic, which he isn't allergic to yet, but I am. See, cephalosporins make me break out in hives just like Raymond did with penicillins and they gave him an antibiotic in that class. So I have to be super careful when I am administering it to him not to get any on me or breathe it in. Turns out, I don't actually have to ingest any of the medicine for it to cause me to have a rash. After administering just one dose, I got a drop of it on the back of my hand. I washed it off with soap and water. Within 30 minutes, I had a rash there, which didn't go away for a full day. So now I try to have Jen give him the medicine whenever we can. He seems to be getting better now thankfully. I think it might be time to look into tubes from an ENT.

I have been sick recently as well. I got "the crud" a few weeks back. I went to the urgent care place and was given steroids (since "the crud" was making me have fairly severe coughing fits and my asthma got a lot worse) and an antibiotic. After about 5 days, I was breathing much better, but I still had stuffed up ears, nose, and a sore throat. At Jen's insistence, I went back to the urgent care and got prescribed a different antibiotic, but no more steroids since my lungs were clear. Well, here I am 2 weeks later and I still have a cough, stuffiness, and ear pain. And I know what you are thinking, yes, I did take all my antibiotic and finished it out. Jen seems to think I need to go to my primary doctor to have him check me out and that my asthma is getting worse. She's probably right, but I don't really have time to go to the regular doctor during the week. I will probably make an appointment next week if I am still having issues.

We had a good Thanksgiving, especially since this was the first time she didn't have to work since we moved to Alabama. In the morning, I played in our church's "Turkey bowl" held at the local high school stadium. There was a great showing, which kinda sucked since there were so many people it was difficult to play. I really would like to get involved with an adult kickball or dodgeball league so I can be more active. Unfortunately, there are a lot of barriers to this, including who will watch the kids so I can do this on the nights Jen's working. OK, that was completely random and off topic. I guess it's late enough that my ADHD meds are wearing off. Back to Thanksgiving. Jen made a turkey breast and all the trimmings. It turned out amazing! Not that I am surprised; she's a good cook. Jen did have to work the rest of the long weekend, but it was nice to have that time together.

Jen and I went to our last Auburn game using my faculty tickets. It was the Samford game and while we had a good time, the football team didn't play very well, until the second half. This didn't bode well for the following week for the Iron Bowl. Speaking of the Iron Bowl, I got to go with a friend who is an Alabama fan. He's not obnoxious or anything, so it was a lot of fun. Auburn kept it fairly close until the 4th quarter, when Alabama decided to crack open that gallon jug of whoop-ass. As I said though, it was fun. The 3 1/2 hour drive, each way, didn't seem that long and we had some good conversation. I need to give a shout out to my mother-in-law for coming down from Georgia and watching the kids since Jen had to work.

We are getting ready for Christmas around here. The tree isn't up yet and we don't have decorations up, but we have done a large portion of our gift buying. I have to say ordering online with free shipping is probably one of my keys to a less stressful (notice I didn't say stress free) holiday season. We will be doing Christmas early with Jen's family since she has to work Christmas weekend. Her brother and sister-in-law will be coming down from NY and we'll meet them all in Georgia. We'll still have a traditional Christmas at home, but it won't be the same.

Well, I'll try to blog again about all our holiday season festivities. We are planning on going to Bellingrath Gardens, a company holiday party, and other various activities. Have a great Christmas or Chanukah or Saturnalia or Festivus or whatever you celebrate!