Murphy ...

Whenever I expect things to be "black" they turn out "white" or vice versa.

Whenever I plan ahead thinking I'm being economical with my time - the plans go awry.

Jon and I since having children have had to cancel countless social activities for one reason or another.  I think we've cancelled so many times people don't invite us anymore to do things probably because they think we are so unreliable or that we will just cancel at the last minute anyway and we only cancel because of a situation beyond our control - like when a child becomes sick with a fever of 105 F or another child gets hurts and needs to go to the ER because they are acting all funny.  We even had to cancel once because our beloved dog Zoey was vomiting all over the place.  We couldn't in good conscience leave a sick dog home all by itself.

So when Jon and I make plans that require us to plan a month or more in advance and we have to dole out money in advance we get really leery knowing that Murph, might pounce on the situation causing us to have to cancel at the last minute.

Tomorrow night we are slated to go with a couple of friends of ours to Twilight at the Zoo.  A very fun event that Jon and I have been waiting for all summer long.  We purchased our tickets a month or so ago lined up a sitter being optimistic that we'll be able to go.  Well … guess who came to visit this morning and I'm trying so hard to kick him out of my house?  Yep, Murph.  Donovan came down with a low grade fever this morning, sobbing that he had a bad headache.  I gave him some medicine and told him to take it easy.  I instantly texted Jon to tell him the "news".  Both of us were like - crap.  Actually crap probably wasn't the word we both chose but I'm trying to keep this clean yet still identify our emotion!  He seemed to be doing well throughout the day and I made him take a nap. Mostly because I was highly sleep deprived today and I wanted to nap myself (a rarity for me).  He woke up and felt really really hot.  So I got out the magic head wand thermometer and it read 105.6 F.  Not happy with that reading I found the ear probe thermometer and it registered 102.8 F.  Not satisfied, I managed to dig out the "ole bunger" thermometer and that read 102.5 F.  Sigh.

Not liking the very high 105 F one, I called the triage nurse at our clinic to see if there was any virus going around.  Of which the nurse so sarcastically says to me "you people … viruses are not seasonal". Always makes me feel really intelligent and I love being referred to as "you people".   What I wanted to know is if there was a virus that was lurking around or do I need to be suspicious of maybe strep or hand/foot/mouth?  I wanted to climb through the phone and choke the woman and tell her -  "look (insert your favorite explitive) … we have plans tomorrow night, I want my kid well by tomorrow morning and you need to tell me how we can make that happen!".  But instead I was polite and we went through his symptoms.  Then we got to the one where she asked me if his neck hurt.  So I ask Donovan does your neck hurt.  He tells me yes.  I take it with a grain of salt - he's a 4 year old with a high fever and he probably has no idea what I'm asking him.  So she made me ask him to move his neck and he started to cry.  She immediately said she's telling the on-call doctor and she'll call me back.  Next thing I know it, I'm told to take Donovan to the ER.  Really??? Is all I was thinking, do I really have to take him to the ER?  Can't we see how he does tonight and see a doctor tomorrow??  The nurse was like, well …. He is complaining his neck hurts and he has a high fever and there has been reported cases of West Nile Virus in the area.  We would like to rule this out with blood work.  You need to take him to the ER.  Great!!! So I take him to the ER and we get there and it's the doctor that I can't stand.  Thanks Murphy!! This is the doctor that told me the last time we were in the ER and when my son's temperature dropped into hypothermic range that my son's fever broke and sent us home, yes, it broke hours ago at home and his body temp is in hypothermic range.  We are here because he has had a body temp of under 94 F for the last 4 hours and the doctor's office wanted him seen immediately by the ER.  Well, my experience wasn't much better this time around.  The doctor told me he looks fine, like a kid with a fever and probably has a non-descriptive virus, told me to feed him fluids and he'll be better in a day or so.  Ran a strep test just to be safe (and to charge me extra money I'm sure) and sent us home.  The rapid test was fine.  I'm sure the advanced culture will say the same.  He told me to stop reading the newspaper about West Niles.  I wanted to punch him in the nose - "hello - doctor I got my MD as a prize in my Cracker Jacks - my child's doctor sent us to the ER because he was suspicious not me!  West Niles wasn't even a though in my head and by the way, I don't read the newspaper because it's a piece of crap!"

So here we are, less than 24 hours from our night out with friends.  A night we've planned for weeks and we are on pins and needles as to whether or not we'll be able to go out.  If Murph has anything to do with it, I'm sure I'll be home with a sick child watching the Olympics instead of drinking beer and dancing with friends at the zoo!  My only consolation would be if it monsooned tomorrow!

Anyone have any good ideas on how to kick my unwanted house guest - Murphy - out of my house by tomorrow morning?