The morning from hell

Yesterday morning was awful. On a scale of one to horrendous it was at least a ghastly.

On Tuesday evening LMI had a swimming class. When I picked the girls up I noticed that as PuffyFingers came to the car she was walking strangely. I made a mental note and carried on. At the swimming pool it was again obvious that PuffyFingers was limping very slightly. She was holding her right leg a bit too stiffly and therefore looking uneven when she walked. I asked if there was any pain but she was perfectly happy and we had lots of fun in the pool. She complained of a headache when we got home and a stuffy nose. I provide some paracetamol (Tylenol), and some food, and she just laid down until bedtime.

Wednesday morning comes. My waking thought is to watch PuffyFingers as she gets out of bed as any stiffness will be most apparent after lying down all night. Sure enough PuffyFingers is hirpling (limping). I check if anything hurts - no. I check for swelling - no. I check for heat in her knees - no. I take her temp - a wee bit up but certainly not a high fever. So we proceed to breakfast.

The normal procedure in the Fingers household is for me to get up, washed, dressed, breakfasted and to help the girls with all of this then I dash out the door to get to work by 8am while the OH drops the girls at school and daycare. But this particular day the OH is dead tired; he's on call for work and didn't get to sleep until 3am so he asks if I'll drop the girls off.

I yell the change of plan down the corridor as the girls are dressing and then start chivvying them through a quick breakfast. PuffyFingers is not happy. We have tears because she doesn't understand why I'm in a rush. I'm trying to get to work by 9am at the latest and they need to get their skates on...

Tick tock...

While breakfast is being consumed I write an e-mail to work saying I'll be late and also compose an e-mail to PuffyFingers' teacher explaining that PuffyFingers is limping and might need Tylenol (paracetamol) and her rice bag during the day. PuffyFingers approves of the mail and I send it. We all bundle into the car.

Tick tock...

Once we get to school PuffyFingers asks me to also tell Miss Mary (the receptionist) that she might need Tylenol during the day, so I do. Miss Mary then checks that we still have enough Tylenol in the medicine cabinet and like Mother Hubbard the cupboard was bare.

Tick tock...

I drop LMI off at daycare.

Tick tock...

I zoom down the road to the nearest petrol station with a little shop. Buy a mini bottle of Tylenol for the same price as a big one at any other shop. Get back in the car. Look at the box. It's very dusty. Check the bottom. It expired last October.

Tick tock...

Back to the shop get a refund, find out where the nearest supermarket is. Drive to supermarket. Dash inside, find medicine aisle. Look at shelves. Spot empty space where Children's Tylenol should be.

Tick tock...

Stand in supermarket thinking rapidly. She can have Ibruprofen? Another gap on the otherwise stocked shelves. Can we do infant tylenol in a dropper? No, dosages don't go up high enough. Can she have the tablets? Check the box, dosage starts at 49lbs. With her recent weight gain that's not inconceivable, she's just 7.5 lbs too light. She'll have a maximum of two of these and then I can adjust the dosage this evening with our normal liquid Tylenol if necessary. I'm not happy though - should I really deliberately overdose her?

Tick tock...

I decide some medication is better than none. I pick up the box of tablets and go to the check out. On the way to the check out I notice an end of aisle display about the cold and flu season. Oh joy of joys, there's a bottle of the normal Children's Tylenol.

Tick tock...

I put the unnecessary tablets back on the shelf. Pay. Drive to school and drop off Tylenol. Drive to work, get caught in way more traffic than I'm used to. Dash into the building.

I enter the meeting room at 9:11am. Not bad.