Weekend antennae

Home again. The quick trip was entertaining, but tiring. That is a lot of driving in two days. The boys were happy to see me and were on their BEST behavior. My sister and I did our part for the economy and left some money in the Casino. Not much, but enough.

As we were leaving the hotel yesterday, I received a call from Maggie’s school nurse. Maggie was having problems. She was ok on the bus ride and at first, but started having problems shortly after arriving at school. I was four hours, 200 miles and one large mountain range away. I told her to call my husband if Maggie needed to come home. He was on standby. I suggested she give Maggie some oxygen to see if that helped. Apparently it did. Maggie bounced back and about half way home she called back to tell me that. The second half of the drive was a lot less stressful. It’s funny, but sometimes 30 minutes of oxygen just gets her engine revved up again. Then she doesn’t need it anymore.

Something is brewing with her, though. She is not “sick” per se, but something’s off. She went to school today, and the nurse will call if there is anything specific that I can call the pediatrician or the pulmonologist about. We will lie low again this weekend and see what decides to show itself.

I hate knowing that something is looming, especially when it’s Friday. I know I can reach her pediatrician anytime because she is a great friend of mine. However, a lot of Maggie’s stuff requires the specialists at UCSF. If something hits over the weekend, you get whatever doctor is “on”. Since there are approximately 10,000,000 doctors at UCSF, chances are extremely low that it will be a doc that knows Maggie. The docs that know Maggie and me are more comfortable with my skills and judgment. The weekend docs generally err on the side of caution, which is a good thing; but inevitably, their advice is “just bring her into the ER.” Then it is 10 hours of tests to rule things out and when they are still stumped, it’s “let’s just admit her to see what’s going on.”

Do not get me wrong. If Maggie needs to be in the hospital, that is where I want her and UCSF is great. However, if Maggie does not absolutely need it, we can take better care of her here. Therefore, I am hoping whatever is brewing either 1) goes away, 2) waits until Monday 3) shows itself to be something that does not require a call to the doctor. Keep your fingers crossed.

As Thanksgiving approaches, I have to remember all the things I am thankful for. Though I complain a lot about the machinations of the place, I am very thankful that I live so close to UCSF and can get Maggie the help she needs, even when it aggravates me.

Have a good weekend all.