Mumbo Jumbo Part Deux....

So...remember Aunt Moira and the funeral?

I was wrong...SO incredibly wrong...bad things don't happen in threes...they just HAPPEN.

Smooch had a headache last week...actually, both boys did. It was HOT outside and we played a LOT in the sun (but always with a hat and sunscreen). I chalked it up to the heat and maybe a little dehydration. I upped the boys fluids and Noggin seemed to feel better...but Smooch, not so much.

Saturday, while I was at a massage appointment, Alan, Smooch and Noggin attended a birthday party. They were there approx. 2 hours before noggin started to HOWL. He had a headache...on the way to pick me up, Noggin announced that he was going to throw up and promptly did...in a bag, thankfully.

He spent the next 12 hours gagging and retching. Eventually he stopped and was fine. That is Noggin for you, he gets sick and it's over.

Sunday night, Smooch goes to bed and all is well...he wakes me at 4 am, vomiting, with a headache and...(insert mumbo jumbo here)...stiff neck.

I get him some Tylenol and Advil (both work great together for migraines), we sit on the front step for an hour admiring the Tamarack in our yard while he vomits in an old ice cream bucket and eventually he is ready to go back to sleep.

He wakes up, no more vomiting, eats breakfast and I take him into the chiropractor (who does very gentle, non-manual adjustments) to see about the headaches and stiff neck. After his adjustment, he begins to throw up again...I take him back for another adjustment...his headache returns.

By 7pm I am convinced that he has Meningitis and take him to the Alberta Children's Hospital.

I was right.

After bloodwork, an IV and lumbar puncture it is confirmed that Smooch has viral meningitis.

Viral meningitis is caused by everyday cold, flu or entero-viruses and there is no vaccination to prevent it...not that it would help as Smooch is completely unvaccinated.

He is hospitalised and spends 3 days recuperating. He loves ACH...you get to lay in bed all day, watch treehouse, and they bring you food!

We are home now and he has no long-term effects...no short-term effects actually...he is completely back to his normal self.

Moms, listen to your intuition...it will not steer you wrong...

Oh and Aunt Moira...you suck.

Bad things happen in threes....

I have heard people say that bad things happen in threes.

I've always though it was some sort of old-world mumbo-jumbo. You know, something Great Aunt Moira whispered to your Mum at a distant relative's funeral.

Basically, crazy talk.

Smooch had his tonsils out the first week of May. He was FABULOUS!! He ate more popsicles than any post-tonsilectomy/adenoidectomy patient in the history of surgery.

The next morning he was up, leaping of the top bunk of the bunk beds, laughing hysterically and chasing Noggin all over the house.

I though that I was one of the special few parents who were spared the 10-14 day recovery period from said surgery.

I thought wrong.

Apparently the pain-killer/narcotics they administer in the hospital last about 48 hours...then all hell breaks loose. We had a week of constant crying and refusal to eat/drink anything.

The day I might have described as a turning-point in his healing process was actually the jumping-off point into mumbo-jumbo bad thing # two...

I hear Smooch playing quietly(!) on the top bunk in his room. I breathe a (premature) sigh of relief. Seconds later I hear a loud thud followed closely by a howl.

"I BROKE MY Aaaarrrrrmmmm!!!!!".

I hug him, reassuring him that his arm is, in fact, not broken. To help him feel better I tell him we are leaving for open play time at a local gym.

I sat for an hour, watching him play, all the while cradling a limp arm by his side. Four hours, a large helping of mom-Guilt and a trip to the ACH later and it is confirmed - Smooch's wrist is broken in two places.

The next day doesn't get much better (insert eerie music and mumbo-jumbo #three here) when he wakes up with an earache that is confirmed by our doc as an ear-infection.

After that, we leave on vacation. It turns out that the outdoor waterslide/pool at the resort we picked (just for that reason) is non-functional.

Mumbo-jumbo # Four?

Maybe Aunt Moira was onto something....