Helpless

It's been kind of a rough week in W's house. I've felt so damn helpless, not knowing what to do, or how to make it better for M. It started Friday with her getting a cold and being miserable that night and Saturday, running a slight temp. Sunday morning seemed better, but she was still a bit off and we had about 30 people coming over for Easter. About an hour before that time, my wife was getting M ready when she noticed fluid coming out of her right ear, M did say it hurt a bit, but she is a little trooper and does not let pain bother her much it seems. A call to urgent care netted her a "get here as soon as you can". I was left to entertain family coming to our house. Thankfully, everyone is willing to help out, so it was not really a big deal since my wife also had everything pretty set the previous day.  

She got home with M about an hour after everyone had arrived, it turns out that she had ruptured her ear drum, M seemed in good spirits though, just happy to play with her cousins. I proceeded to drink a bit and take the edge off that I was feeling. A few hours later it was over and it took another 3 hours for the two of us to get the house back to normal, some of those kids are savages I tell ya. 

Monday was uneventful, except for me now having the cold. M seemed good, but her ear was still draining way too much. This prompted a call for another appointment Tuesday, the soonest would be that afternoon. After a slight disagreement with my wife about me having to "step up" a bit more helping out (If I'm not at work I loose a day's pay, I don't get flex time, or sick days, and vacation time cannot be broken down to days with my company, yes, it's a suck ass job), I was able to work it out with my boss and leave work early to take M to her appointment. Seems her med's were not strong enough for the ear problem and now she had an infection in the other ear. So new med's were in order. The poor kid is a mess at this point, her balance is shot, she can barely hear, and her nose is all stuffed up. This is where that helplessness comes in, seeing her suffering and not being able to do more, it pains me inside more than I can explain.  

We kept her from daycare yet again Wednesday and she stayed with her grandparents. Towards the end of the day she was complaining of being itchy. Then by the time my wife got there, she was screaming in pain saying her stomach hurt. The call to urgent care took only about 30 seconds when they heard her screaming and told my wife to get her there right away. This trip resulted in M being allergic to her antibiotics and some immediate antihistamine being administered, she will also need it every 6 hours for the next two days. She was so exhausted, the kid was apparently asleep in her car seat within a minute. I was just driving home from work at the time myself feeling so bad for my little one. 

I was up getting ready for work around 5 today, after I showered my wife woke up and sounded like shit. She has M's cold too, but now it was really effecting her. Good thing she was staying home with M today. I did hear from hear a little while ago and M seems to be much better, hopefully on the mend for good. It looks like it could take up to two months for her hearing to become normal after rupturing her eardrum though. I'm feeling a nice stiff drink or two is in the works for my immediate future. 

They were all under my spell, their attention hanging on every spoken word. Their eyes held a sparkle to them as they looked up at me from the rug. Even sitting, I towered over them all. The only sound other than my bass voice was the camera clicking at me from different angles.

I was signed up by my wife, to read a book to my daughters daycare class on my day off this past Friday. I got there at 3:30 as they were coming in from playing outside. My little one was the last through the door and let out a great big "daddy" as she ran over to hug me. Then the tears started. I'm told they get a bit emotional when their not used to seeing you in the middle of the day. All the kids got settled down and my daughter sat next to me on a little chair as I started reading The Three Little Pigs. They all sat with rapt attention for the most part, just my little one trying to clarify every what I was reading to her friends. It was cute to see them all so engrossed in such a simple story (this one was a little more embellished than the original). They were all quite happy though, it was nice to see all their little smiling faces thanking me after I was done. The teacher did take way to many pictures by the sounds of it. All in all, it was not all that bad. Kids tend to like me for some reason, I have no idea why.