What a Day!

So yesterday was quite the adventure. It was the first beautiful Friday we've had in a while, and the kids didn't have Wee Time, so I thought ti would be good to take them somewhere. Joey wasn't feeling good Thursday, but he seemed to be recovered, so I thought Richmond and goat-petting would be an excellent destination.

We were delayed by ome phone calls- the most damaging being one of the lawyers calling to say she wasn't taking new cases, and perhaps I ought to spend my energies making sure his next IEP is "airtight." TO which I could only think, I canput all the OT goals and time in there I want, if its done by a person with an attitude and lack of skill, what good is it? But anyway...

So I packed up the guys and headed out to get some gas. I was about to right-turn-on-red when a little truck cut me off, and I had to brake. I didn't hit him. The person behind me, however, didn't stop in time, and we were bumped. It was more of an annoyance than anything else; there's a dent in my tailgate, but it still works, and no one was hurt. Andy freaked because of teh bang, but soon was giggling with his brother. WE had to wait for a policeman to show up, who was very nice, but it ate our morning.

So instead of heading down to Richmond right away, we went ot World Market and picked up a set of CHinese paints and brushes. I want to show my students how difficult Chinese ink painting really is, and there is no better way than handing them a brush, a stone, and some dry ink, and saying "go for it!" The store was a disaster waiting to happen- little kiosks of grabbables every where. Fortunately, my guys were more interested in each other, and they were perfect little angels. I was so proud of them! We decided to go get Grandma and go on to petting goats, they were so good.

Goat petting is fun. Feeding them is even better. There were peacocks on top of the chicken coop, and Joey found them all by himself- it is such a miracle to have him noticing his environment, but to really explore it to find peacocks way over his head... wow! And when they got tired, they said goodbye to the animals and came along to the car without a lick of trouble. Incredible.

So home we went, and rested for a bit while I made some spaghetti for dinner, and returned more phone calls (Kennedy Krieger, the director fo student services, another possible professional advocate, a couple of law offices). We had a nice dinner, some nice baths, and an OK bedtime (Andy was a bit of a fuss, the time change is a little bit of a mess still). My husband and I setled in for the night with our work.

About 11:30, we heard tow quick barks from Joey's room. Oh no, I thought, croup! And he came in barking, sure enough, so I got the humidifier going in the bathroom, and got settled into the steam with him whil Allan ran to get some meds for him. He had been gone... five minutes? Not ten... and Joey started to scream with every breath, "I'm broken! I'm broken!" OK, the mist isn't working, I thought, I'll get his shoes on and take him over to emergency when Allan gets back. I carried him down the stairs. I foudn the shoes. I took up Joey's foot in my hand. It was cold.

It was blue.

I ran to the door. No Allan.

I called 9-1-1. The dispatcher was very professional, and I rubbed Joey's hands and talked to him until we could hear the ambulance. He asked for Daddy, he asked for Grandma. Broken-broken-broken- all gone. He said he could hear the ambulance, and I told him they wer coming to help, help was coming, the doctor was coming. Allan arrived just as the ambulance and the fire truck did. THey put an oxygen mask on him, and he was better within a minute. The blue faded. He smiled at me, at the paramedic, and he looked for his Daddy. We told him he would get to ride in the ambulance, and he seemed happy about that, sitting up on the stretcher like a big, big boy and letting them strap him in.

I got into teh ambulance with him. He was turning slowly pink again. We were waiting for him to stabilize, and they switched to blow-by. He was giving high-fives to one ofthe paramedics. They asked him some questions, and he was answering and responding to them pretty well. Then he said, "All fixed now. Thank you. I feel better."

The ride was fun for him. He liked getting the x-rays taken. He didn't like the medicine much, but he did OK with teh mask and the all. We finally went home about 3 am. On the way home, Allan said, "Hey, Joey, Did you have fun? Want to do this again tomorrow?"

To which that silly boy replied, "oh, YES! I had fun!"