You know it’s been a really bad week when…..

…..you need a calculator to count your daily disasters. Because this week has been pretty rough I haven’t had much to share, mostly because I’ve teetered between tears and absolutely blinding anger so I decided it was better if I just kept to myself. I also thought since I am the first one to take the “it could be much worse” approach to life complaining about some of the mundane and not so mundane issues that have cropped up this week would only make me look weak in my convictions. However, since my week officially went south today I thought my choices were to write about it and thus vent or have Michele call for a straight jacket in my size. Since our insurance doesn’t have great mental health benefits I thought I better vent.....

You know your week is only going to get worse when the first half of the week resembles a natural disaster in medical terms. First, Max’s GI doc decided to order a barrage of tests for Max due to her concerns with Max’s growth and nutritional status. Michele and I aren’t so sure Max needs these tests especially because they’re pretty invasive. But because we are afraid to err on the side of neglect of what might be a real issue Max will spend the first two weeks of his summer vacation being poked and prodded. I think my anger here is based on sadness, sadness for my son who can never really enjoy the simple things in life like a summer vacation because there’s always some horrible medical issue interfering with him just being a KID. The second medical fiasco of the week occurred when we brought Max to the pediatrician for what we thought was his annual “well check”…..not so much. Max presented with a high temp (unusual for him), horrible breathing, and poor pulse ox numbers. So when your pediatrician starts a sentence with, “I don’t think it’s the swine flu…” much of what follows is pretty much a blur. I remember thinking, “sure why not?” We’ve won so many medical lotteries with Max why not this one too? Medically I think the only thing that could have made matters worse this week would have been a call from Hopkins telling us that Max’s aorta measurements were indeed showing dilatation. Maybe they’re saving that for next week? I don’t know but I’m finding it difficult to stay positive this week…..

You know your week is only getting worse when you can add the mundane, run-of-the mill problems of daily life to your not so mundane disasters. Today the mundane exploded in full glory. I took the van in for a quick oil change only to find out that in fact it needed over a thousand dollars worth of repairs….my first thought here was, “oh crap, do I even have a credit card with that much room on it?” We’ll find out in a few hours when I go to pick it up…..

So all in all it’s been a really bad week. My new motto for this week has become “it can get worse, but suck it up and just wait for the next disaster.” Have I mentioned I’m finding it hard to stay positive?