My best advice as a parent is to always expect the unexpected…..
It was supposed to be a glorious Saturday night. One that would go down in the books. Our friends have this fabulous, over the top, Christmas party every year with bartenders, fab food, ice sculptures, a photo booth, the whole shebang. The theme this year was even faux fur, which is one of my most favorite things ever to wear. I even got a spray tan and a pedicure in preperation for this epic shin dig . Big things were happening on our rare Saturday night out, but somewhere between the hours of 6 am to 6 pm, the shit hit the fan.
Carlos had been up all night Friday coughing and was having trouble breathing so I had Mr. Right take him to the Dr. while I went to a women’s breakfast at the church, which was AWESOME by the way. The speaker was hilarious and sincere and the message was so simple yet so profound. She spoke all about how Mary was chosen to birth the baby Jesus for no known reason to her or to anyone, for that matter. Mary was for sure not an ideal candidate. She was an unwed, virgin from a poor family but there she was, chosen by God for no reason anyone could explain except he himself. The message was to expect the unexpected and that “For nothing is impossible with God”- Luke 1:37. It really resonated with me on the whole meaning of Christmas. We are all handpicked by God to do something and it’s not always what we think it is. At least, that’s what I got out of it………
When I got back home Carlos had been given a big dose of steroids and done four breathing treatments and had a diagnosis of a bad viral infection, possibly the flu.
No people, he didn’t get his flu shot. Feel free to judge me as a parent.
We kept going along our business starting to get ready for the party when I realized I was starting to feel VERY bad and so was my husband. NOOOOOOOO! This cannot be happening. We literally never have big plans. We kept trying to soldier through and I headed to Walgreens to get Carlos’s inhaler and found out the Dr. forgot to call it in. Yet, another curve ball. By time she did call it in the pharmacy was closed so I had to drive across town to a 24 hour one. At this time, I was feeling worse and worse. It was a mess and starting to be clear that our fabulous party wasn’t in the cards. Our $50 Uber had now turned into a $50 trip to Walgreens. Such is life.
“Expect the Unexpected.” There it was again. That dang message, ringing in my head. I got it, loud and clear.
When I got home, little Carlos looked awful. He was pale and wheezing. I felt so horrible for him and just wanted to love on him and take his pain away.That was until I gave him his inhaler.
OMG.
HOLY CRAP PEOPLE.
I think there must be crack in that inhaler. The warning label said, “may cause stimulant effects.” It did not say he would morph into the Incredible Hulk. I think about that time is when the steroids also kicked in. So we got a double dose of fun. I finally have a full understanding of the term ‘roiding out.’ If you haven’t seen a 4 year old ‘roiding out” you are really missing out. It’s not even something I can put to words. I should’ve taken a video but that would’ve been a bit insensitive.
Still should’ve done it.
So even though we missed our party, there was a full blown rager at our house, consisting of multiple tantrums, the violent throwing of objects and basically acting mentally insane.
I was up all night googling things like , ‘can an inhaler make your child phsychotic’ and ‘do steroids make your toddler act crazy.’ All while trying to hog tie him to his bed. Oh, and still trying to stay compassionate. Who am I kidding? At this point, I was just trying to dodge objects being tossed at my head.
He did do a 180 though after a few hours and seemed to feel fabulous, so I am beyond thankful for that, even if in the interim I was a in fear of my life, just a little.
I called the Dr. Sunday morning and she said it’s a normal reaction for some kids who get high doses of steroids and should only last 48 hours. ONLY. She also said the inhaler exacerbates the effects of the steroids so it’s like a double whammy. I would think this would be pertinent information when you send a parent home. They probably told Mr. Right and he left that information out just to torture me a little.
So that is that. My sweet boy is doing better and will only be temporarily ‘possessed’ for 12 more hours. I can do this. I will be sleeping with one eye open though……
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