We're Not Jewish

Today was Mae's follow-up blood draw down at Children's Hospital. Last week the nurse practitioner from the Immunologist's office called to tell me that one of Mae's blood tests a month ago was abnormal. Something called the Alternative Pathway. She said that the doctor thought this could have been a lab error so he wanted to re-run the blood test today while we were there for the follow-up test anyway. She sent out the orders to us to give to the lab today. Then on Thursday she called back again and said that they wanted to make that sure some other associated immune levels were also not off although they were normal last time but could be testing as normal on a low day. Anyhow, off we went for our jaunt through the metro area, although not before successfully dropping off our stash of old IV antibiotics!

Every time we go down there I feel pretty emotional. The clinic and lab is right inside the hospital entrance so we walk through the same halls and doors that we did when Mae was a patient there back in May. Today there was a mom taking her daughter home from what I can guess was a lengthy hospital stay. She was pushing a big stroller, carrying her beautiful baby girl and also hefting a big duffel bag. The little girl had a feeding tube in her nose and the woman looked exhausted. As we walked past them, I took notice of how healthy and strong Mae is today. We aren't done yet and still have many unanswered questions like why in the heck does she get these serious infections, but I think we're in good hands with her immunologist and nurse practitioner. They really seem to be keeping her case on the fronts of their minds, which is very reassuring.

The lab techs seemed to be a little thrown off by all of the changes that had been made since the orders had been changed twice. Once they finally had all of the paperwork straightened out Mae was called back. She rolled up her sweater sleeves and plopped herself in the chair and swung the armrest around in front of her. The phlebotomist looked at me for approval of Mae's arrangement and I assured her that Mae could handle it. I stood next to Mae and put my right hand on her shoulder as she grabbed my left with her free hand. She closed her eyes for the poke but opened them up and let go of my hand as soon as the needle was in. No tears, no anxiety, no problem, and also no sticker or prize by the way. Usually those people have a stack of stickers to choose from and a drawer full of cheap toys and treats. Mae didn't notice and besides we had big plans for the rest of the day.

On the way out of the parking garage, I called my brother and we stopped to pick him up to go out for lunch. He was ready to go when we arrived so we didn't get a chance to visit his compartment but I'm sure it was just as well. He suggested a Thai restaurant in the area and off we went. Mae had mentioned that she wanted noodles for lunch so this was perfect. The restaurant didn't open till noon and we were a bit early so we browsed around the hippie boutique next door for a few minutes. The smell of incense was enough to induce a headache but Mae had fun trying on hats and looking at the cases full of glass figurines. By the time we walked out of the shop, the restaurant was open. Mae had stir fried egg noodles with vegetables and chicken and I had tofu vegetable curry. Delicious! My brother also had tofu and curry but his was much spicier than mine yet very delicious!

After we dropped off my brother back at his building Mae and I headed out to use some of her Birthday gift cards. She bought a whole outfit at Old Navy complete with a matching sparkly headband. Even though we didn't end up spending much money at all today, it seems that Binny and the Gardener made our purchases look mighty expensive. The gardener saw an ad in this week's Squeak for an auction today. Before we even left this morning he and Binny were off in the truck to go see if they could find a rototiller for the garden. He called me this afternoon to tell me that he and Binny bought an entire truckload worth of miscellaneous items for 50 cents. No rototiller but he did come home with 21 decks of playing cards, 7-1000 piece puzzles, a wooden Chinese checker board, a lint shaver for clothing, an old typewriter and everything else that was on the pile no one would bid on. Basically my husband bought all of the crap that nobody wanted, but it all went for 50 cents so I guess it was worth the trouble of going through everything and throwing out the junk. Among the few good items were piles and piles of stuff that we either threw on the burn pile or into the garbage can. Broken dishes, smelly old lady perfume (Avon, of course) that my husband foolishly dumped out right next to his shed. As soon as I opened the car door upon our arrival home, I could smell his purchase and it was ten times worse than the hippie boutique. "Um dear, are you sure the old lady smell isn't on all of this stuff?" Once he confessed that the smell was his fault, I agreed to let him bring some of his treasures into the house. For the last twenty minutes the gardener has been shaving all of our sweaters and turning our living room lamp on by remote. Who knew that remote outlet converters even existed?

In a box labeled "Holiday" there were ugly X-mas wreaths, Halloween decor and an assortment of bar giveaway St. Patrick's Day beaded necklaces. As I threw the beads into the trash Mae said, "that's okay, were not Jewish anyway." I'm pretty sure she meant Irish but either way it made me laugh.


One more day to enter my Peachy Giveaway!

Screw It, I'll Make My Own

Today Binny and I went to Target to get some supplies for the house. We made our way through the store and past checkouts without too much trouble, other than Binny's minor avalanche of bar soaps in Aisle 7. I paid for my purchases and was immediately overcome by the smell of fresh coffee from the Starbucks directly across from the checkouts. It's almost unbearable for me to walk through Target on an empty stomach without coming out of the store with something very unhealthy hanging out of my mouth. I rummaged around in my messy purse, found the almost 5 dollars needed to buy my coffee while steering my cart to the back of the line. Then I saw her. The wife of one of my husband's co-workers. She's not a bad person, in fact she is a very nice person, but way too much for me. She's also a SAHM (stay at home mom) so we end up running into each other fairly often, usually at Target. Our children are about the same ages (she has 2 boys) so she thinks we must be friends. Our kids have never played with hers, the closest they came to being friends was last summer when her youngest and Binny (my youngest) had their tonsils removed on the same day. Her son's hospital room was right next door to Binny's so she popped in all day long to chat, and insisted I go get myself a cup of soup from the family lounge. "It's free, ya know."

So I did what any person who hates awkward and painful Target run-ins would do. I whipped that cart around so fast, I don't think she saw me. I saved 5 bucks, and didn't have to talk to that crazy woman. I came home and made myself a cup of instant coffee. Not a Starbucks Mocha but it did the trick.