I much prefer stereo

hi. wow. it's been a long couple of days. tying up some loose ends, da vinci code was good. I enjoyed it. it may have been because I finally got out of the house, too...

see, on thursday, bella came home from daycare with a fever. which only got worse overnight. I stayed home from work and didn't have the opportunity to take that half day after all, so I postponed my movie visit (which I had already purchased tickets for...at least it was matinee pricing) to friday night at quarter to nine. friday, bella was feverish despite taking infant ibuprofen, listless, and cranky. I took her to the doctor fully expecting another ear infection, but not this time. this time she had "sores" on her tonsils. the doctor did a quick strep test that came back negative, and a more thorough strep test that took overnight. of course, labs are closed on the weekend, so we waited until monday for that result, which was negative. so it was off to the hospital for a blood test for, of all things, mono. and let me tell you, I had a stern talking-to with ms. bella, as I had no idea that she was even into boys let alone into kissing. who? where? when??

all weekend, her fever waxed and waned and finally went away on sunday. monday, the day of the blood test, she was fever-free and off tylenol (which the doctor had us switch to due to bella throwing up and ibuprofen being rough on the belly) and seemed fine. of course, when your doctor is testing for mono, you don't rush to send the kid back to school. so sean stayed with her on monday, and I stayed with her on tuesday, since the results don't come back for 3 days.

here's where it got weird. I was waiting for the doctor to call back (what is the PROBLEM with them CALLING THE FUCK BACK??? I had to call 3 times!) and let me know exactly what I was in for, how much time I'd be taking off, etc. but of course I didn't get through to the doctor. the nurse, who couldn't have known who I was talking about (I said "I'm calling about bella milligan" and she just said "yes?" and didn't go get her chart or anything) said that as long as she was fever- free for 24 hrs, I could take her back to daycare. then I got a voicemail from the doctor on my cell phone (oh, so you'll call back, but only to one number - when I was right next to my home phone, which is the number I left for callback, all day) way after the office closed saying that the test results that she did get back say that bella does have an active infection.

so quandary - take bella to daycare because she has no fever, or keep her home because she could have mono and give it to other kids?

this is where it's tough to be a working mom, because I had to let my work dictate what I did. I took her back to daycare. she has no sign of being ill at all, and I just couldn't take another day off. I mean, I could, but I preferred not to...which I feel very guilty about. in fact, I feel horrible.

the situation was made worse by my having to take tomorrow off because of what I'm calling a severe case of stupidity. in filling out a permission slip for trent for a class outing, I inadvertently signed up to be chaperone. I found out yesterday and by the time I protested, the teacher said it was pretty much locked in, so tomorrow, I'm going on a field trip. it wouldn't be so bad if it were something really cool or at least mildly educational, but I'll be going on a bus with a bunch of 13 year olds to a town 30 mins away (passing at least 3 movie theaters) to see "over the hedge" and then to lunch at the nearby mall foodcourt. no franklin institute, no longwood gardens, not even a local museum. a stupid movie. I can't tell you how annoyed I am at myself. it did give trent a chuckle, as I am constantly telling him to pay attention to what he's doing.

so...I'll be out tomorrow and friday is a toss up, as we get the mono test results tomorrow. and if she has mono, I have no business taking her back to daycare. not knowing is bad, but knowing is worse...so I may not be around for a while. wish us luck.