That Sunday night (the 11th), he had not slept even one minute, despite having his evening dose to help him fall and stay asleep. We didn’t want to send him to school where he would either be drowsy and not learn or be wild and difficult for his teachers to control, so Michael and I told the bus he would be staying home that day.
In the two minutes it took to walk out to the curb, talk to the driver, and come back, Gabriel had already curled up in a blanket and fallen asleep under the recliner.
He ended up napping there all morning, waking briefly to move to the chair at lunch and fall back asleep. By the evening, he had a fever--101.9--and his cheeks were flushed. Most concerning, he had no appetite, having only picked at meals for the last few days. Normally an exceptionally voracious eater, this was fairly suspect.
Tuesday we kept him home again, this time to go to the doctor to check for strep or flu. I was dreading that it was going to be flu because he gets it every year, vaccine or no, and ends up staying home sick as a dog for two weeks. Being out of routine that long means that it takes about another two weeks to get back into the swing of things at school. It is a big ordeal.
That morning, we were scheduled with the new pediatrician at the practice--a super cheerful guy that worked really well with Gabriel--that told us he had an ear infection, and prescribed amoxicillin.
I called the school to let them know where Gabe was and that he would not be back at school until after the break, because the antibiotic was going to mess up his stomach for a few days, and he had a specialist appointment in Lubbock on Thursday and a field trip he would not do well with on Friday. Honestly, I wasn’t looking forward to having the two most difficult children home all week, but knew that I could handle them. Gabriel had been especially low-key because he wasn’t feeling his best; he mostly just wanted to cuddle with Mom.
Thursday, we got up and on the road at 7 am.
We have to go every three months to see his developmental pediatrician, who advises on and oversees his progress in regards to his autism. On the drive up, they both slept until Post where we stopped at Sonic to get “tay tots” (a new word for Tula) which held us over the last hour. We pulled into the clinic’s parking lot at 9.45 for our 10 am appointment. The office staff is super efficient, aware of the limitations of their patients’ tolerance levels, so we were seen and out by 10.15.
With nothing else to do, and needing to get back in time to get Benjamin and Emerald from school, we got back into the car and drove straight back home.
The drive back was more restless; Tula was tired of being in the car and Gabriel was annoyed that Tula was being loud. To keep the peace, I talked nearly nonstop, describing in my “Tour Guide Barbie” voice what they could see outside the window.
Friday was dedicated to cleaning and getting ready for our trip to Searcy.
Michael’s parents had moved this summer, after getting jobs at Harding University; this would be our first time visiting them at their new house, and first vacation in Arkansas. Compared to our trip to Lubbock (six hours, round trip), the eight hours each way was daunting, but we were really looking forward to the break.
Friday was dedicated to cleaning and getting ready for our trip to Searcy.
Michael’s parents had moved this summer, after getting jobs at Harding University; this would be our first time visiting them at their new house, and first vacation in Arkansas. Compared to our trip to Lubbock (six hours, round trip), the eight hours each way was daunting, but we were really looking forward to the break.
Saturday, Michael worked the football game from pregame checks at 11 am through the game, getting home at 6.30. Unfortunately that meant that he missed Thanksgiving with my family at Mom’s house. It also meant that I had to oversee all the cleaning, laundry, packing, and preparation for our trip without his assistance.
Which admittedly is the case whether he is there or not.
I packed breakfast (cinnamon life cereal) and lunch (uncrustables, chips, water bottles, carrots and celery) for us to eat on the road, calculating carbs and writing them on individual lunch bags. Glo sent us printouts for the kids to play the license plate game and interesting things to keep an eye out for as we drove; I added a couple of new magazines they had not yet read, blank paper, and crayons. There was a little basket of Tula’s favorite toys and books. I loaded up the clothes, diapers, pull-ups, wipes, changing pads, and anything that could be put in the car early.
Emerald had a girl scout meeting that my mother took her Saturday morning. When she got back, she told me that the screen to her PDM had cracked.
The pods that we put on her to administer her insulin are disposable--she wears them for three days, then we peel them off and toss them in the trash and put on a new one. The Personal Diabetes Manager, or PDM, is how we communicate with the pods. Without the PDM, it will continue to give her the basal insulin she gets throughout the day until it is time to change the pod, but it cannot administer a bolus for meals. At $800 a pop, insurance does not like to cover more than one, so their sage advice is:
Don’t break the PDM.
It was unusable; we had to peel off and toss the pod she was wearing and switch back to MDI (multi-dose injection, or many shots throughout the day). Luckily I had stockpiled insulin in the fridge so we had all that we needed. I called to let her endocrinologist know what was going on and to confirm that the home orders we had were still accurate for dosing. Then I called the Omnipod company. Their customer service was exceptional. I worked with them to replace it under warranty for free thankfully. If we had to replace it out of pocket, she was likely just going to have to stick to the injections for a while. Omnipod over-nighted a new PDM to Ken and Rhonda’s house in Arkansas, to arrive on Monday.
The next day, we packed the remaining things in our van--chargers and electronics, toiletries, insulin, medications, dosing cups, syringes, test strips, pen needles, alcohol swabs, kits, and children. Basically essentials we could not easily replace while gone if we left behind.
I drove the first leg of the trip, from Abilene to Weatherford, because it is a route I am familiar with. It is straight on I-20, on the way to Granny and Papa’s house in Ponder. There, we filled up with gas and switched so Michael could drive us through Dallas and get on I-30. Those two roads took us all the way to Searcy. We had our little sack lunches and traded off again in Mt Vernon at McDonalds where we stopped to get chicken nugget snack. Michael took the last leg once we were in Arkansas. The two hour shifts seemed to work well so that neither of us burned out from driving, or from keeping the baby entertained.
Before, I couldn’t have told you what I imagined Arkansas to look like. I was surprised it was so beautiful, how it gets all done up in fall colors. Autumn is more of an abstract concept than a reality in Abilene and Lubbock.
We stayed with Ken and Rhonda through Thanksgiving--we had a lot of delicious food, including stuffing-stuffed mushroom caps, balsamic root vegetables, and roasted brussel sprouts. We took our family pictures at the beautiful Harding campus. Emerald told me “I don’t feel like smiling today” so we have our traditional photos with her scowling, and then some more casual “candid” shots where she is less moody. Gabriel struggles sitting still for photos too; half the pictures of him screaming, signing “stupid”, and running off to the horizon with a pilfered phone.
Friday morning we loaded up and drove back home to have a weekend of rest before having to go to school and work on Monday.
Saturday was our 11th anniversary. It was a running gag that I can’t ever remember what day our anniversary is on because we got married the weekend after Thanksgiving, which is not always the same date. To combat this after the 7th anniversary I had missed in a row, Michael made it the pass code on my phone so I would have to type it in several times a day to jog my memory.
Try as we might, neither of us can remember what we did last year for our anniversary. Which is kind of bad, but then you remember--it was our tenth. That’s a big one! How could we forget? Facebook was no help, and there are no photos to document the day. As far as we can recall, we used a gift card to Outback Steakhouse that Ken and Rhonda had given us to get take out and eat at home.
This year, Jarrod came over and watched the kids. Michael had looked up community events and saw there was a small business fair held at Play Faire Park, a Putt Putt Golf course. It was hard to find, this surreal little location hidden away we had never seen before. There was a silver dragon; it felt like the whole place had just materialized when you got close to it, complete with a little koi pond right in the entrance. An all tie-dye gift shop to the left contributed to the dreamlike quality of the place. We walked around and looked at what the vendors had to offer; a jewelry maker stopped us and talked about dog breeds for an extended period of time. Vendor booths, I have read, have the same rules as Pokemon trainers--don’t get too close and don’t make eye contact.
For lunch we went to Abuelo’s, a place we know can accommodate my finicky diet. Michael got a beef burrito with chile con queso and cheesy mashed potatoes; I got veggie fajitas with black beans and cilantro lime rice.
Afterwards, we went to The Gathering Place’s new location. They are a tabletop game shop that sells and hosts all sorts of games. Michael likes the Warhammer 40K miniatures, but they can get so costly, so mostly we just looked. They have a lot of role-playing games; earlier this year, we played a family campaign of Star Wars that the kids got a real kick out of. We have been meaning to get back into it, but if you aren’t going to buy the stories you have to write out the campaigns themselves and that can be a time commitment.
Drawn as always like a moth to a flame, I headed straight for the clearance bin. There are so many treasures you never even knew you needed now that they are 70% off. That day, they had a special on “mystery games”--games wrapped in brown paper that have limited information on them like how many players are required (3-6) and how long each game lasts (30 minutes). I got the heaviest one because they all cost the same $35, thinking it would be fun to try for the kids. When I opened it up, I found out it was a model UN game the kids cannot stop talking about that is selling on Amazon for $180 currently, so I think I got a good deal.
We went home to hang out with the kids after that. It was a beautiful day; I tried to bribe Emerald and Benjamin into raking the leaves but for some reason they kept playing in it.
I had originally intended to write about our hectic Monday today but ended up getting pretty side tracked. It was a good holiday. I am tired and glad I am back home, ready to tackle all the things that need to get done before Christmas. There is a lot. Goodness.
It is about that time to go pick up the kids again--Happy Thanksgiving from the Wearden family.
--Andie
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