Physics

             Sigh.... double sigh... sigh again.  I knew this week was going too well.  It's not too hot.   The nights have been cool and sleepable.  (Shut up -that is too a word.)  Our only appointment this week was canceled. No one threw up.  Nothing broke down. Nothing burst into flames that wasn't supposed to burst into flames.  We got some bike rides in.  We got a few chores done.  We even started to catch up on paperwork.  We only had to deal with one state agency and the person at said agency was pleasant, prompt and efficient.  I've only had one nagging computer issue. (This paragraph will be in a smaller font for no reason I can fathom, at least on my machine.)   All this good stuff of nothing new should have been my clue.    Of course Feisty Pants would develop some new tic that makes us all nervous.

             When you are a special needs parent, you get very, very good at the big things.  The oh my god the helicopter's coming things.  The call 911 and get the oxygen going things.   The she's been transferred to Timbuktu where's my suitcase things.   You get really good at the tiny things.  Paint in her hair?  Clap for her- it meant she actively participated in school.  Coughed ick all her shirt at the store?  Hit the dollar store for a tee and change in the car.  We can always tie dye it later if it's ugly.  Said a new word clearly?  A new word that is NOT um, err, mother superior?  Calmly explain that swear words are for saying to speech therapists.  They'll appreciate the effort it took.

                    What you are not good (at least what we are not good at) at are all the weird, in between things.   Is it a minor cold or the start of pnuemonia?  Is she crying due to allergies or is she about to have a medical crisis?  Is she hiccuping because occasionally human beings do that or because her stomach meds need to be changed?  In this case, is she getting sporadic low grade fevers because she is working on molars (happened before)? Or is she getting them due to microaspirations due to not swallowing well (happens occasionally)? Or is she reacting systemically to an allergen in her environment (yup, we do that one too)?  Is she just been physically stressed due to her last illness and is what one doctor called "temporarily temporally instable" (seriously)?   OR, since she just got off antibiotics, have we gotten into a superbug and the antibiotic didn't work and she is about to get really sick (been there too, dammit)?    We cannot tell right now.  And will not know until she either gets better or gets worse.  Sigh.

                      So here we go again.  It's time for special needs parent physics.  You'll sit around and stare at your kid and do math at five gazillion miles an hour in your head.  Do I have cab fare on me?  Is the cell phone charged?  Where's the med list? Is it up to date? Is that a cough? What's her sat rate? What's her temp? Is she cranky because she's sick or because I'm annoying her every five seconds?  Do she look pale to you?  Do her eyes seem less bright? How about now?  Now?  Is she sleepy because she doesn't feel good or simply because it's nighttime and I've bugged her alllll day?  And Feisty Pants is feisty and eleven, so she will milk it.  "Don't feel good, need a donut"  "I'm sick, put on dizzy (disney)".  I'll be lucky this weekend if I'm not the thing bursting into flames.