Originally Written in 2019**
On hard days its really difficult to not let little things get to you. Not so much from our moments in a day but from other people. I cannot begin to fully explain how many times I hear the phrase “I dont know how you do it“… and with it, I at times wanna yell “I have no choice!”. Obviously that’s not proper communication etiquette… so I tend to just smile and make some sort of laughing audible noise escape my mouth and go ya…. I don’t always find that sentence uplifting because it makes me feel like what I am doing isn’t something people can do and that’s not entirely motivating. Sure I would love to be able to have more time for things and time for the ones around me, but currently that is not an option so I try my best to not dwell on it. Some days or weeks it can be a struggle not to though… like this past 3 weeks for instance…
My daughter came down with Bronchitis a few weeks ago. However we did not know this until our second visit to the doctors. On a Thursday I got a call from daycare saying she had a fever. When I went to get her we all agreed it was teething and Tylenol should help and they would see us the next day. The next morning she seemed fine so I sent her back to daycare with Tylenol… only to get another call around noon that she wasn’t doing well. So, I leave work and pick her up again but decide to go to the doctors the following morning to make sure it wasn’t something else.
She had a fever all night and the next morning so I made sure to go early enough to the medicenter so we could be the first in line. My mentality was in and out. We did happen to be the first people there, however the doctor was late. 2 hrs late… so our in and out plan didn’t quite go as planned. They tested for a UTI by taping a bag to her lady parts and sadly no pee actually made it into the bag… it did however go all down her leg and onto the floor. Since I had no reason to believe she would be peeing all over herself that day when we left the house, I didn’t bring any extra clothes. There was pee everywhere… Her, me, the floor and examination table. The doctor finally sees us and he checks her throat and says she has Tonsillitis… prescribes her an antibiotic and we finally leave after what felt like an eternity. He also mentioned she could go back to daycare Monday since she should not be contagious anymore. Now, at this point she isn’t coughing, doesn’t seem bothered by swallowing and is the farthest thing from a throat infection that I can see, but what do I know… I am not a doctor.
We rush home for lunch and naptime and I decide to get her prescription after she wakes up. I decided to head to Shoppers by our house and again my mentality was in and out. Well… 1 hour later and approximately 3 thousands laps around the store… we finally get it and head home. We spent most of the entire day waiting for either a doctor or a prescription… but we finally made it home. My daughter wasn’t happy, nor was I… and we were both just so exhausted and just completely over life at that point.
The next day she doesn’t get a fever but she definitely is not her self. Monday rolls around though and that morning she seemed finally better so we head to daycare. I never received a call from them so I thought we were finally out of the storm. Tuesday morning comes… and she starts to cough. But… she has Tonsillitis right, so I wasn’t too concerned. We went to daycare but at about 10 am, I got a call stating she was not doing well and was having a hard time breathing… I panicked and rushed there as fast as I could and decided to take her to the Stollery. After literally not finding parking anywhere, I finally found a spot at the very top of the 6 level parkade. Holding her, her daycare backpack and my purse, I walk as fast as I can to the hospital. Once we finally get inside I realized I had no idea where to go. Out of breathe I ask a doctor passing by and he graciously walked us there. Mind you he walked us there so fast I legit almost got a cramp and was sweating like crazy. We finally check in and see a doctor and find out that my daughter doesn’t have Tonsillitis at all… but she has Bronchitis, and I have been giving her an antibiotic for no reason as it is doing nothing to help her. We get advise that she is contagious for 7 days and shouldn’t have been at daycare… I would have kept her home had I known but the first doctor told us differently.
Exhausted, we head back home and I take the following day off work. Her breathing finally gets better and she starts to cough up the phlegm. Well the snot and coughing that we endured that week was record breaking, but she made progress every day. Fast forward one week and I went to go get her from daycare last Tuesday and they informed me they think she had pink eye… so back to the doctors we go. Thankfully we were in and out that time, however not only did she have pink eye… she also had two really bad ear infections. Ear infections that probably would have not been so bad and already gone… had we kept taking the antibiotics. The doctor at the Stollery said she had, had some build up in her ears but nothing concerning… so we stopped taking the antibiotic on their advice.
So we get pink eye drops and another antibiotic that day too. Thankfully my mom was able to rearrange her schedule and she was able to watch my daughter for 2 days so that I didn’t have to take anymore time off work. I also had to get my mom and I drops as preventative measures so that we too didn’t end up getting pink eye ourselves. Thankfully we didn’t. However, we did have to go back to the doctors this week to see if her ear infections were gone… which they are not, so we need to go back next week after her antibiotics are done to see if it is still there… and if so then a new antibiotic will be prescribed… 4 doctors visits and 2 prescription fills later… my daughter finally is on then mend. Knock on wood.
To add to the greatness… During this entire ordeal the polar vortex hit and we have had temperatures between minus 30 to minus 45 degrees Celsius almost non stop… and my husband left for a new shift during of this all. So… when people look at me and say they don’t know how I do this… it isn’t something that makes me feel good because trust me, if I could have not endured everything that happened I wouldn’t have. But, I didn’t have a choice in the matter and here we are…
Not to mention, I have been fighting off an illness for 3 weeks now that I refuse to let take me down. And, today was Valentine’s Day and I didn’t get Valentine’s for her friends at daycare because I have not had any time. Also what do you get 1-2 year old’s anyways? She did wear red though so we have one point in our corner for that! Sort of a win right? Anyways here is looking up and onward to a more healthier future… hopefully for a few weeks please. I don’t really know how I managed to do all that alone, work and survive on hardly any sleep to be honest… but I am writing this so I obviously lived to tell the tale.
Hashtag bad daycare mom kept the tiny human alive and we both survived.