Christmas at the Clinic

Well it is now officially the holidays. Going back several years our holidays have been marked by illness in this family. Apparently, this year is no different. If memory serves, it was Christmas '05 (maybe not) that we were at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Abigail, became ill out of the blue. We ended up having to find a doctor there in Milpitas who could see us.

Then, for Thanksgiving '06, Abigail (and then later James and Michael) became ill in Maryland. While that did not result in a trip to any doctor or clinic, I can assure you, we were blowing up the 24-hour nurse line back home in Texas.

This year, Abigail has passed the holiday illness torch on to her sister. Sunday night, Megan vomitted. She had eaten a couple of new foods so we didn't think much about it. Monday, Megan was rather lethargic and in the afternoon started getting a fever. It started out as a real low grade fever but in the evening, it climbed up as high as 100.4. That's the magic number where the doctor wants us to bring her in. We hoped it would go down from there but, last night, it spiked up to 103.4. Now there was no getting around it. Megan was officially sick and we needed to get her to a clinic.

Fortunately, our afterhours clinic was open and had appointments available. Apparently, 6:30 AM Christmas morning is not a very busy time for making appointments. Abby was allowed to open presents up this morning and selected her Pinky Dinky Doo books and doll to go with us to the clinic. Megan was diagnosed with an unknown virus and an ear infection in the right ear and a left ear that is poised for one as well. The doctor mentioned that it appears that Megan is really prone to ear infections. At any rate, she prescribed some antibiotic medicine and sent us on our way.

Have any of you tried to get a prescription filled on Christmas Day? Let me tell you, it isn't the easiest thing to do. After calling around to 5 different pharmacies to find one that was open, we took the short car ride over only to find out that it is the only pharmacy open in what seems like the whole state of Texas. They were really short staffed, which is understandable considering the holiday, and very busy. Of course, the two people in front of me in line each had complicated insurance issues that needed to be sorted out. But, when all was said and done, we got our medicine and were on our way.

Now it was 2:00 in the afternoon and none of us had really eaten anything. A quick vote was cast and we decided on a lovely holiday meal of pancakes at our local IHOP. After we ate our fill, we finally got home to try and relax and enjoy what was left of our day. All in all, while the circumstances weren't the best, the company surely was. Danielle would like me to point out that it doesn't matter what we do, as long as we do it as a family.

P.S. I am starting to feel bad myself so, it appears as though Megan snuck in an extra gift for me. Truely, a loving daughter.