Exhausting.

Today is Monday. It was the 1st day of school for Joey. Hard to believe he's now in the 5th grade. Oh how I remember the 5th grade! The crushes, the friends, the teachers, the extra amount of homework...I'm hoping this year goes well for him.

I went to bed at 9:30 last night. Fell right to sleep and was actually in a pretty good dreamless sleep. I woke up to the sound of my child crying and walking towards my bedroom. I immediately sat up and asked "Joey? What's wrong honey" and he stood in my doorway saying his stomach hurt. I instantly jumped up and said "Do you need to throw up? Did you throw up?", and he said "no". I searched for my glasses, and ran to him. Thank goodness I was sleeping with clothes on! I walked him back to his room where I helped him lay down on his bed while I tried to assess and make sense of his pains. He was crying. A lot. He couldn't really tell me a whole lot, just that his stomach hurt and when I'd try to touch it he was really start crying. He has been through this before, about a year and a half ago while he was visiting his dad. They said he was "constipated" (probably from the lack of good food his dad feeds him) and they gave him a laxative. While I was 90% sure it was gas or maybe a little constipation, I felt I needed to take him into the ER just to be sure. I would hate for something bad to happen and it be my fault. I asked him if he'd been going to the bathroom and he said, "yes, still going everyday". So it was a little odd that he'd be constipated.

So, loaded him up in the car, tears and all and headed to the hospital. I would have rather taken him to an Urgent Care clinic, but they aren't open 24hrs. We walked into the hospital, our first visit there since we moved to Arizona last year. It was clean and cold. I was so happy that I had worn my pink VS sweats, otherwise I would have turned into an icicle. As we walked in, he was telling me that his stomach was starting to feel better but still hurt when he touched it. Of course. The symptoms go away when you get to the Dr. I told the nurse (who was a male, with a goatee, arm sleeves and spiky hair, oh yes and big huge earrings) what the problem was and Joey's name. He printed up an ID bracelet for Joe and said "follow me"....

We were already going into the back room? Couldn't be, there were at least 20 other people sitting in the waiting room. I wasn't going to argue. He put Joe on the scale, took his temperature and said "the Dr will be here shortly". I was barely able to blink and here comes this stud muffin of a doctor introducing himself to Joe. It was obvious that he had kids of his own, you can always tell. People with kids talk to other kids in a different way. It's great. So...after pressing on Joe's tummy and making him jump as high as he could, he came to the conclusion that it was probably gas/constipation. In order for him to further conclude that he recommended we get an X-Ray and have some blood work done to rule out any infection. He felt completely confident that it wasn't Joe's appendix and I was so happy to hear those words. While he said he couldn't be 100% sure, he did say he was pretty positive. Joe was already feeling better, in fact now, he was ready to go home and go back to bed. So was I....

Two and a half hours later the doctor tells us that it appears he has a few "clumps" blocking up his system. Take him home, give him Miralax for a few days and have him drink plenty of water. I can do that....poor kid :( The worst part is, today is his first day of school. I just hope he got enough sleep. I went back and forth about just keeping him home, but it's the 1st day! He can't miss that! He was feeling fine this morning, so I sent him on his way. I told him if he started to feel too tired or his tummy was hurting again, just tell the teacher and go to the nurse. I'd come pick him up. He's my little trooper, aka, "non pooper". Maybe I'll call him the "Non-Pooper-Trooper.

Now, I am exhausted. I had 3 hours of sleep last night, didn't have coffee yet today. I opted for a Monster instead and plan on coffee this afternoon. Work out is done and now it's time to clean house. Bella (my tarantula) needs new bedding and Maui (my snake) needs some mice. I think she's a little hungry....

No picture today. At least not right now. Maybe later....