Sleep!

You know how you crave that most which you have promised to never touch? That which is unattainable is that which you desire most? Chocolate falls into that category...But when you are sleep deprived, then the thing you covet most is so simple...in concept! Blessed sleep!

Will played outside all afternoon yesterday while I was at a doctor's appointment. I got home (after sitting in traffic), made dinner, and was just starting the clean up when he said, "I don't feel well." Well, that isn't newsworthy, so I said, "I'm sorry." and moved on. What was I thinking? Within an hour, he had gone from not feeling well to reeealllly not feeling well. Bp was down, pulse was erratic, he was on the sofa...horizontally...and in no rush to move. Why can't we do this at 9 AM instead of 9PM? I mean really. Can't we please have a crisis that involves the sun? Nooooooooo.

So, off to MCV we go. David Charles met me there so he could park the USS Coleman (generally known as the Coleman's 15 passenger van) so Will didn't have to walk a country mile. The neurologist on call was one who actually remembered Will from previous emergencies and was amazingly helpful. He called ahead to the ER to have everything in place when we got there. Within a few minutes of walking in the door, Will was hooked up to all the monitors and the IV was in process. Efficiency of that order would never have happened at the local lovely Mary Washington Hospital. It was truly amazing. Great doctors. Amazing nurses...they even shared their coffee with me instead of the hospital brew they call coffee. (Just for the record, Trader Joe's gingerbread coffee is amazing. Especially at 2 AM!)

So, Will was in not so lovely shape when we got there, but two liters and four hours later, his sense of goofiness had returned. Oh yay! At 3 AM a goofy 13 yo is exactly what we need! :)

What we did learn last night...there's this lovely equation that involves the use of your systolic and diastolic pressures to measure your arterial pressure...which is a measure of how well your organs are receiving oxygen. Let's just say that when we got there, there was plenty of reason for him to not be feeling so well!

So today, he is vastly improved and I am vastly exhausted. 40 yo women need a few more than three hours of sleep. How did we do this when we had babies? Waking up with a very sore throat and lovely cough after only 3 hours of sleep has done nothing to improve my outlook on life. However, that being said, the drive to MCV is so totally worth it because the staff make it worthwhile. The pediatric ER there totally rocks. It may have been an incredibly long night, but they made it so much easier for us. They recognize that they don't have all the answers when it comes to Will's myriad of issues, and they recognize that he's a person, not just a case.

So, thanks, MCV and Katie and Diana for a night that was challenging but peacefully spent. And maybe, just maybe, tonight will involve peaceful slumber?