Obligatory January Hospital Visit For Chloe

Everything was going as planned today.  Sleep late, eat a leisurely breakfast, get dressed, go to church, run some errands, and clean the chicken coop.   I did hit a small obstacle at the get dressed spot for a couple reasons, I had to actually wear something other than my favorite farm outfit and because my son's brown shoes were no where to be found.  I search the whole house and then finally asked my husband(since he cleans more often than I do).  "Thadd, have you seen Brett's brown shoes?  They were right here by the trash can."  He looks at me while sitting in bed reading his iPad and says, "In the trash."  "Why would you put them in the trash??" I say, perplexed.  "They have been sitting by the trash can for a week!" he replies.  "That is where he leaves them so he can find them for school.  I guess our errands will have to include new brown school shoes."

The rest of the day goes off as planned except for finding new brown shoes.  Truthfully, they look like a wreck, but since they were purchased after Thanksgiving they need to last till the end of the school year.  We drive home and somehow Brett goes from being completely clothed in  slacks, a white button down shirt, a white t-shirt and a blazer, to underwear with a white t-shirt tied around his head.  Pulling up to our gate Thadd opens the trashcan and grabs the shoes off the top.  While wiping the shoes off Thadd decides Brett needs new shoes since these shoes are a mess and have a hole in them.  He also needs new P.E. shoes.  This kid is hard on his shoes like his mama.

The end of day chore finally arrives and I change in to my newly cut (due to rips in inappropriate locations on my favorite jeans) denim shorts and some rain boots.  I search for those face masks and can't find one so I start cleaning the chicken coop and vow to wear a face mask next time.  If you are a regular blog follower, you will recall I say this every time I clean the coop.  The coop is filthy and I also need to move the new babies in to the nursery area so they can get accustomed to the outdoors.  You might remember I have a chicken who suffered a broken wing and leg in October.  She was healing very well but has recently gotten worse.  I decided, as I was cleaning out the coop and watching her get attacked by the other chickens, she will need to live with the babies for the next three months until she can walk again.  Chloe comes out to check on me and to tell me that she has a headache.  I send her  inside to take ibuprofen and to rest for a bit.  About twenty minutes later she returns to tell me she can't move her neck and her head hurts and her eyes are filling with tears.  This child has a very high threshold for pain so I call her dad and ask him to please take her to the urgent care place in town when he returns from running errands.  He picks her up about twenty minutes later and takes her to the local urgent care facility.  They take a quick look at her and decide to send her to the ER.

Thadd and Chloe arrive at the ER where they put an IV in Chloe's arm and then treat Thadd for anxiety with some orange juice and water.  I arrive shortly thereafter and Thadd leaves to rescue my friend from  babysitting Brett.  I figured if there were anymore needles, I was better at coping then Thadd.  Thadd leaves and I receive a text from my friend and she has just quoted her daughter as saying, "Brett, STOP calling me your wife!!"  Hilarious.  The doctor comes in and asks if Chloe has had any recent neck trauma and everyone shakes their head no until I recall her morning mishap.  This morning when she went to feed the pony and goats she fell and hit her head.  It must've caused her to start having neck and upper back spasms.  They diagnosed her as having a sprained neck and sent us home with a day off of school and two narcotic prescriptions.  I'm wondering if the day off note and the narcotics are for me too?  Yeah, probably NOT.

The valium they gave her started working quite quickly and she began talking non stop and giggling and acting crazy.  She also considered slipping her doctor a babysitting card, but I noticed the doctor was not wearing a ring and I didn't want to get in to the whole, "Are you married or do you have children"  thing.  At one point she began to recite an ode to her pickle and I started to truly witness the effects of the drugs.  She also kept sliding down in her seat and playing with the electronic seat adjustor.  We had to stop at the pharmacy to fill her prescription and while driving through the line I saw a man standing outside of a car.  It seemed as though the driver was trying to run the man over.  I was very concerned and considered approaching the man and the vehicle to ask if they needed help.  Imagine for a moment....a mom with a young girl on valium in a car with narcotics offering help to a strange man and someone in a car who looked to be wanting to run over the strange man.  Not a good scenario. I know.  As I watched a bit longer I realized it was a dad trying to teach his child how to parallel park using himself as a boundary.  I don't think I trust my children enough to stand in front of the car and let them "avoid" hitting me.  Brett might want to create a scenario....If I hit mom with the car, then we can go see the hot nurses at the hospital.  Hmmmmm.

The five baby chicks going
 to their new outside home

Finally we make it home and I'm tired.  Today was supposed to be eventless.  This morning we even visited our old home church.  It was nice to be there and it was packed.  It seems like their community is growing steadily which is a great blessing.  The service was great and I was able to see some wonderful friends.  I really thought today would only include the excitement of Brett's brown shoes in the trash....boy was I wrong.  I am thankful for Chloe's sprained neck and not the original concern of meningitis(day 58).  Goodnight Friends.

Brett walking the chicks out to their new home
wearing his farm outfit.