Checking In

Our Tuesday morning ENT appointment turned into a checking in at Children's.  We thought that *maybe* we would be able to put it off until after Thanksgiving, but the availability of the surgeon to get the nasal polyps taken out was for next Monday...or January.  We'll take Monday, thanks.  They wanted to get him started on antibiotics right away, so we opted to admit him that morning.

They took us down to an available room on the first floor.  And by first floor, I mean the dungeon.  This room was a little dirty when we got there (Cheerios were still on the floor by the window), and a few things were a bit beat up from years of wear and tear.  It could really use a remodel.  The view is of a gravel....uh...well, I'd say it was a courtyard, but apparently you can't get there from here...or anywhere.  There's a basketball court/playground a couple floors up, so there were two soccer balls, and at least four other playground balls, a sock, a shoe, a slipper, a plastic dinosaur, a couple of legos and more in amongst the gravel.  It's like a Where's Waldo of toys.  Pull the curtain.  Problem solved.

We got him settled into his room by 11:30 and we left to get luggage, cars, and other necessities (phone chargers, sewing machines & computers).  Kelly was able to come back with his work computer and got caught up on some of his duties, and I stayed behind to run the Girl Scout meeting.  The other GS leader is away visiting her mother in Michigan, who is ill, and Cammie had volunteered to run the meeting, so I really had to be there.  The two co-leaders were there, but one is very inexperienced, and the other is not interested in leading or public speaking--she's very shy.

The meeting went really well--the girls had a great time!  We did the Detective badge where we played a memory game (like you do at baby showers--they put 20 things on a tray and you have a minute to look at it and then you have to recall what you saw on the tray...I usually did poorly at those games), we looked at fingerprints, handwriting samples, wrote in "invisible" ink (lemon juice) and they followed the clues to find the badges that were hidden in a treasure chest.  As I suspected she might, "Minnie" (not her real name) spotted it instantly and suspected something was up with that box.  She *knew* it as soon as she walked in!  She's got quite the powers of observation.  I told her that she's going to have to look into being a detective!

I got home after a quick stop at the grocery store to get emergency rations for the girls--canned soup, cheap pizza, pop tarts, Lunchables, etc.--and threw the last of the luggage into the car, and went to another store.  This time to grab a sandwich for me and indulge in a $25 adjustable height table.  They didn't have the turkey & cranberry wraps anymore (popular item sold out early) so I chose a turkey deli sandwich.  I admit, I played frisbee with the tomato in the parking lot (it landed in the bushes where it will either get eaten by a passing critter or compost nicely into dirt), then ate about half of it on the way down.  At that point, it was raining hard enough that I needed both hands and my full concentration.

Finally got to the hospital again at about 7:30.  Ben was playing games with a volunteer while Kelly was working.  I got settled in, ate a bit more of the sandwich, made two trips to get all the luggage (still some groceries and Legos in the car...I'll get that tomorrow).  A little while later, one of the doctors we saw back in March came in on her rounds and took the time to play a game of Connect Four with Ben.  There are some really special doctors that work here, I tell ya.

Getting myself settled in for the night...and for most of the next two weeks...which means that we will not be able to bust him out for Thanksgiving.  I may see if we can take the girls down to visit my brother for a day or an overnight, but we can't take him out for that long.  Maybe down the street for an ice cream if the timing is right, but not 130 miles away.

Let me know if you want to stop by.  The cell reception here is bad...did I mention it's a dungeon?  But email works great.  Drop me a note and let me know.  We're not going anywhere.