Bueno...

Things have been "no bueno" around my neck of the woods lately. Needless to say, I've been in a crappy mood since my last entry. However, my spirits have been recently uplifted so I felt that a blog entry was in order.

Onto the looong update...

After I finished my finals last week, things were actually starting to look "muy bueno". Finals were over and I did pretty damn good, Niki's gums were starting to get better, no more commute, then....early Friday morning Niki (you know, the one with the bleeding disorder?)....FELL. OFF. THE. BED!!!

(Insert your audible gasps here.)

Don't ask me how it happened, but it DID and it was NO BUENO. Thankfully, we have extra thick carpet and padding so the "Fall Heard 'Round the World" wasn't bad, but the guilt will last a lifetime.

(Not my guilt, but someone else's guilt. I just thought I would add that!) ;-)

I was multitasking milliseconds after the fall. I picked her up, looked for signs of injury, handed her to John, called Dr. Awesome's office (waited on hold), and started mixing Niki's factor! Things went quick, but they have to when these things happen. (The rule of thumb in the hemophilia community is "factor first, questions later". Always, always, ALWAYS, administer factor for potential bleeding.)

Niki had stopped crying less than one minute after the "Fall Heard 'Round the World" so she just sat there and watched me in my mini-panic while John held an cold pack on her head. She didn't have a bruise, scuff, or mark on her head or the rest of her body for that matter. She actually seemed just fine.

She was trying to eat the cold pack for crying out loud. The heffer. :)

But still..."factor first, questions later", right? Would you believe that I administered her factor in less than five minutes!? A new world record my friends! I finished right when the on-call Hematologist came on the line. The on-call doc told me to do exactly what I just finished. Give her factor? Check. Put a cold pack on her head? Check. Know the signs of major head injury/bleeding? Check.

We did all the right things and that felt damn good. Apparently, Niki is not the first hemophiliac to fall off of the bed. The on-call MD told me that they get calls for kids getting dropped on accident, falling down stairs, hitting their head, etc...etc...etc. She assured me that they get calls like ours "all the time". Bleeding disorder or not, falling/getting hurt will happen to all babies as they explore with their new found mobility. So, child protective services wasn't coming to take her away after all.

Haha...I kid, I kid!

The only precaution the Hematologist gave us was to watch for signs of a head bleed for a few days. Signs of a subdural hematoma can take time to develop. (Blood has to build up first.) Unfortunately (or fortunately?), our experience with Ethan has left us very familiar with symptoms associated with a head bleed. We saw that shit first hand, folks! Spontaneous and injury-related head bleeds present with the same symptoms. Naturally I was worried, but I had a feeling that she didn't even hit her head. I am happy to report that it has now been SIX days since the fall and Niki clearly didn't have a subdural. She's doing just fine. :)

Things were getting back to "muy bueno" until yesterday.

First, I was up all night yacking my brains out. I had a medical procedure scheduled in the afternoon (fun, fun, fun!) and the preparation did not sit well with my stomach. Second, on my way to clear Ethan's headstone, I got into a car accident with an unlicensed driver.


NO f*cking BUENO.


Thankfully, the accident happened right in front of the fire department. Woo-hoo for cute men in uniform! Even more fortunately, it totally was NOT my fault. Three DCPD (no cute cops...bummer) came because my neck and head got tweaked a little bit. Ha, one Officer even came Code 3 and DCFD was just tickled pink. Apparently, something screwy happened with dispatch so the PD thought the accident was more serious than it was. Despite all of the hoopla, I declined transport to the hospital. Honestly, I was embarrassed.

Two Asians in a car accident? Sooo stereotypical. ;-P

Besides, my neck is doing much better anyway. The firefighter that took my blood pressure (157/112!!!) was super hot, but I think I was just totally flustered by his cute face. What really hurts is the fact that my beloved "Petey the PT" is now at the dealership getting repairs. Oh the humanity! (Now, I'm driving a freaking Ford Fusion. Yuck.)

My neck was hurting, but the main reason I declined medical evaluation was because all I could think about was making it to the cemetery on time. I needed to clear Ethan's headstone before that groundskeepers did. The cemetery clears headstones and cuts the grass every Wednesday. If you don't take your items they toss them. I was late thanks to the accident. The bad news? Some of Ethan's stuff was thrown away (flowers, cones, small decorations, etc). No bueno. The good news? I was able to flag down the person who did the clearing. He informed me that he doesn't throw all of the "baby stuff" away. God bless this man! I suppose he feels bad for the little ones and isn't so heartless to throw toys and religious items away. Ethan's lions, angel sign, cross, and toy cars left by the boys were all safe. Muy bueno. :)

Now, by the time I got to my appointment, I was just freaking exhausted. My neck was still hurting. I was stressed from the accident and the slight mishap at the cemetery. I was hungry, nauseated, and exhausted from the exam preparation. Things were "no bueno" once again! The icing on the cake was the fact that I knew the support staff at my appointment. The doctor needed her assistant. So, a person that used to be a passing acquaintance got to know me very quickly. The good news? I'm perfectly fine. The bad news? My ego...not so much.

So there you have it folks. My long winded blog update is officially over. Of note, this entry was made possible by a life long of mine who helped carry me out of my funk!

So, if you're reading this, thank you. Thanks for being you. :)