Thursday, July 3, 2008

Ailments

We are having issues in our household today! Gabe had, what looked like yesterday, a small area on his neck where he had gotten scratched or something. It looked like he ran into some branches while we were doing yard work the day before, and were just red scrapes on his neck. This morning, we quickly realized it was not just scrapes. Large blisters had formed on his neck in an isolated area. So, thinking we'd better get it checked out, I scheduled a doctors appointment.
Then, I'm getting the kids ready to leave for the appointment this morning and I left Gabe & Chloe playing downstairs while I loaded Cooper, the diaper bag and my purse up into the Jeep. I come back downstairs and Chloe is laying at the bottom of the stairs crying. Gabe immediately tells me that I should have put the baby gate back up because Chloe had climbed about four steps and then had fallen down to the bottom and landed head first on the tile floor. Ouch! I seriously moved the gate and thought, "I'll hurry and will only be gone a minute. She'll be fine." I should have known better...since her fascination with simply playing on the stairs has turned into an obsession with climbing up the stairs, I have had that gate up every minute of the day. But of course, the one minute it was down, Chloe was all over climbing those stairs! So, long story short, she has a huge lump on her forehead and cried loud for about five minutes straight. And for a girl who doesn't cry much and who is pretty tough and doesn't get hurt much, she had me worried. I was glad we were already going to the doctor, who was able to assure me she doesn't appear to have suffered a concussion, just a large goose egg on her head, which didn't seem to phase her for the rest of the day.
Gabe on the other hand baffled the doctor a bit. When she first saw his neck rash, she thought it was poison ivy. But it doesn't itch so she ruled that out. Then, she thought that maybe it was shingles. But it isn't sore so she ruled that out. Then she said, "it's probably some sort of plant he's sensitive to and we'll never know because he's a boy and he explores everything outside." So true! Since the appointment, a friend gave me an article on wild parsnip, which is little known but is prevelent on their land, where Gabe played a few days ago. Maybe that's what did it, but I guess we'll probably never know for sure!
But, the medical issues of today don't end with Gabe & Chloe. Tonight, a friend asked me to be a sub on her softball team. So, I agreed and played first base, which was what I played in high school. The fielding came back to me very easily, and not to brag but I'd honestly say I did my former first-team, all-conference honors proud. But the hitting was a different story! I of course am used to fast pitch softball, and in high school was known as a great hitter. Not so much the case tonight with slow-pitch. I wasn't horrible...I never struck out and I did get on base twice. But I just couldn't get the timing down for that crazy slow ball that basically drops into the strike zone from way up in the sky. They assured me that, for someone not used to slow pitch, I did great. But I am used to doing better than that, and being the perfectionist that I am, I'll have to practice my slow-pitch hitting if I play more throughout the summer.
Also, anyone who knows me very well knows that I am very aggressive when it comes to sports. I like to win, I try my best and I definitely do not "lolly gag." So, apparently in the world of slow-pitch, this is not the common mentality. Like Jason described it, the people were kind of jogging to the bases instead of sprinting, lobbing the ball instead of really throwing hard and just plain slow-moving. But not me, I was all out. So I don't know if slow-pitch is totally for me, but I have to admit, I did have fun!
But back to the physical ailments...I seriously played the whole last inning dizzy. I don't know if I didn't eat enough today or what, but my vision was blurry, I was light-headed, and I just didn't feel good. Odd! Well, I'm better now, and hopefully Gabe & Chloe will be better by tomorrow too!
Below is a photo of the blisters on Gabe's neck. Kind of gross!

Chloe with her head lump. I took this photo this evening, so it already looks much better than it did earlier today, which is great!

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