Dr. Mom

Maggie is sick. At 8:00 AM I called the doctor to report symptoms of Maggie's and thought she had pneumonia. she was doing all right and I sent her to school, but something was "off". I had to go get her because the school nurse had to keep giving her oxygen. She wasn't terribly ill, but this is not normal.

I called urgent care and waited 30 minuted for someone to answer the phone (do they understand the definition of "URGENT?")  They gave me an appointment and then called back and instructed me to go straight to the ER. I silently groaned. Maggie wasn't really sick enough for the ER, it would take longer and we would be taking up apace that someone else could use. On the way up there my call to the pulmonology nurse was returned. I told her we were on our way. 

While we were in there Maggie kept telling me on her talker that she wanted to go home. her sentence was"Mom, I want to go in car. Home" I said Sorry, Mag, we have to wait. Finally the resident came in. He was a handsome young guy who was very sweet to Maggie. He ordered a chest xray and left the room quickly grabbing Maggie's hand to say good bye.

Maggie paused, cleared her talker and made the following sentence, "Mom, I am sick".

I laughed at her and said, you just want to hang out with the cute doctor, don't you. she signed "yes" and laughed so hard she started coughing like crazy.

After 3 hours, they decided Maggie does indeed have pneumonia.  I ran into someone in the elevator back to the car and told him the story. He said, Dr. Mom is always right. As I left the elevator full of doctors I said, "My life would be so much easier if they would just give me a license."

I'm off to the pharmacy to get two more prescriptions.

_________________
in other news (literally) I was contacted by a reporter named Rob Reuteman recently. He was doing a story on the financial implications of raising a seriously ill child. Maggie and I became the example family. For someone who never met Maggie, he really managed to "get" her and the situation. Check out the article here http://www.foxbusiness.com/personal-finance/2011/01/10/newborn-unexpectedly-unwell/

Playing the Field

Yesterday I posted a photo of Maggie and Juan. They remain “close friends” but I have news. Ms. Maggie plays the field. She’s been flirting with Tyre.

Strumpet.

Maggie’s class consists of six students - two girls, four boys. Excellent odds. No sense putting all your eggs in one basket. She’s only a freshman, after all.
Of the four boys, both Maggie and I have known three for several years. The other girl, Cuiping, and Juan are the only kids I did not know before this year. There just are not that many kids in wheelchairs and you tend to get to know the kids around your age. Juan is not in a wheelchair at all and he ran in different circles. I’m not sure, but I believe Cuiping recently moved to San Francisco so we didn’t know her either. But we know the rest of the boys. Maggie and Grimaldy have been in the same class since second grade. The other two boys are a bit older, but there has been overlap at several points. Robert less so than Tyre, but there is familiarity there.

Tyre is just a couple of years older and there has been a lot of overlap. Plus I know his mom Nadine. We used to do a parent presentation together all the time and we would run into them at the doctor and other places. Hence, Tyre and Maggie are pretty good friends.

Tyre’s abilities and disabilities are more like Maggie’s than anyone else in the class. He has medical issues as well as disabilities and he, too, is very good at using his communication device. Tyre cannot control his arms and hands sufficiently to access the communication device, therefore he uses a pointer on his forehead. It is not sticking out or anything, it’s just a dot that communicates with the device electronically. He’s a whiz at that thing. He also has a little bit of oral speech. (Showoff.)

One day Maggie found herself next to Tyre. Because he has trouble keeping his arms still from the constant movement, Tyre’s arms are restrained with Velcro straps. This is not a bad thing, believe me. It allows Tyre to concentrate on what's going on around him without the distraction of his constantly moving arms. Maggie, has zero problem with her arm movements, in fact, that’s her strength. Maggie also LOVES Velcro.

Nadine learned this from Tyre’s “news” on his talker when he got home from school. Apparently, Maggie kept reaching over to Tyre ripping and ripping at the Velcro. When she finally got his hand loose she held his hand all through the lesson.

Hearing that made Nadine laugh and she asked Tyre is he like that. He grinned from ear to ear – and you haven’t seen a grin until you’ve see this kid grin - and said aloud “yes.”

I’m sure Robert’s next on her hit parade. She has to get to him. I think he’s graduating.