I actually don’t know where to begin…
Started last week…
I find myself tonight, Friday, having a very stiff Vodka and a huge sigh of relief sweeps over my body…and it’s not just the Vodka. Last week was Thanksgiving, my most favorite holiday. Preparations were underway to host my very large and fabulous family at our house for a last hooray at this address. Husband was not only on board, but talking turkey recipes. But as our building works – construction for you Yanks – was underway at the new house, our tenants from London fell through literally on signing day and tension invaded my home. There’s nothing like financial meltdown to kill the spirit. We were also dealing with my son studying for his high school entrance exam which is an event unto itself, a ‘turkey tournament’ for three of my boys – a three day soccer event played out at the famous Rose Bowl in Pasadena which is miles away – a one night trip down south to celebrate my brother’s annual surprise party (seriously, he is honestly surprised every year) and all the usual end of school term events that overwhelm the calendar. It was truly enough for anyone’s plate to feel full. But then, we really got gusumped. Majorly.
One of my son’s came home asking me if I knew what ‘this lump’ was under his chin.. It’s hard and quite prominent. It hurt to the touch and was bigger than a lima bean on his very cherub-like face. Strange. We went to the doctor who immediately sent us to a pediatric ENT surgeon who immediately sent us to a radiologist for an ultrasound. All doctors thought is was a cyst until radiologist called it, definitively I might add, a mass – not a cyst. I don’t care who you are…when a doctor refers to something in your child’s body as a ‘mass’ total hysteria envelopes your every pore. Husband and I looked at each other and felt Time stop; absolutely nothing on this planet mattered more to us than to find out what was wrong with our boy.
It’s hard enough dealing with medical issues when everyone agrees, but when all of your doctors begin disagreeing you genuinely fall off course and sometimes head for divorce. One must remember that they are all practicing medicine. To top the whole thing off, he had related – or unrelated – swelling in his jaw that made him look like he got properly popped in a fight. At first it went away with the antibiotics he was taking for his ‘mass’ but last night it came back. Back to the doctor, back to the beginning. My poor little boy then had to go to another doctor and discovered he had to have oral surgery to remove two molars that were infected, related -or unrelated – to the other problems. Meanwhile, five movers arrive on our doorstep to pack up our house! If ever there was a time I thought I can’t possibly handle more, here it is in all its glory. And then, of course, just as that thoughts enter my mind, there’s more.
Tomorrow is Husband’s birthday. Tomorrow we physically move house. Tomorrow is teenage son’s high school entrance exam. Tomorrow is the semi-final soccer match for my two boys who are on the same team. Tomorrow I have to remember to give four doses of antibiotics. And I thought yesterday was the calm before the storm. Oh what tomorrow will bring.
