Fun with InstaCare

The Alpine Slide in Park City and the children enjoying the Heber Creeper.

We've had quite a year and there is still so much of it left. We've sold a house, moved twice, and now, today, for the third time this year, we've gone to an InstaCare Clinic for some pediatric malady. Back in February we took Lauren to have her chin stitched up when she fell off a toilet in my parents house. Then, of course, a few weeks ago Caleb had his appendix removed. Now, Lauren has hurt her foot. She proclaimed on Sunday she had "sprained her leg" after breaking all kinds of rules and ignoring all kinds of warnings while jumping on cousin Eden's bed. We didn't think too much of it thinking in the morning she would forget all about it. She woke up in the morning still complaining of pain and limping when she walked. Later in the afternoon, she and Caleb were again breaking rules by jumping off furniture into a beanbag. The laughing turned to horrible crying. She had again hurt her foot and the limping got worse. She cried in pain with any weight she put on it. So Clifton took her to the InstaCare, got an x-ray, and found that she had only sprained her foot. But, ya know, it would have been broken if we had decided not to take her, and some would have said we should have taken her. So we took her anyway. Let's hope Eva doesn't need any emergency medical attention. I worry, though. She has a new activity she enjoys tremendously: climbing up chairs to get to the top of the kitchen table and dancing atop the table. Yes, there is an accident waiting to happen.

I figure if I get one post in each month I'm doing better than I am in my personal journal. We've had a busy summer, with lots of family reunions, birthday celebrations, day outings, hikes, and school. Yup, I said school. Caleb has started school already, July 26, to be exact, and he is already off track and will go back the day after Labor Day.

We were able to get a swing set for the kids. Wow! What a necessity!! They love the thing. I really hope it gets a lot of use for years to come, because we paid a mint for it. (Thank you, Barak and the tax credit.) Actually, the real thanks goes to my parents for contributing to the swing set fund; they gifted some money to the children for their birthdays this year to go toward the purchase of a play set for our new yard.

Caleb recently had some exciting events in his young life. On Wednesday, August 4, when I picked him up from school, he complained of his stomach hurting. I checked all the normal things (Go to the bathroom, get a snack, a drink, take a Tums, go to the bathroom again) but nothing allieviated his pain. Finally when the pain, which had been in the middle of his chest and abdomen migrated to his right lower side AND he started to throw up, I knew it was going to be bad. I called the neighbors to help Clifton give Caleb a blessing, then we took him to the InstaCare. There they took some samples of urine and blood and found him to be slightly dehydrated and had a higher than normal white blood cell count. They told us to take him directly to Primary Children's Hospital. When we finally got there (I got lost up around the UofU) the ER nurses looked at his admitting papers and said, "It's an appy." So, he spent a few hours in the ER waiting for surgery. He went in around 10 pm and was out an hour later. Meanwhile, I had to go back home to get the girls to bed and help my mom, who came to help me. Then it was back to the hospital to be there when Caleb woke up from surgery. He had no problems and woke up groggy, but feeling better. The surgeon said his appendix was a grade 2 out of 5 grades of severity, so we caught it early. Clifton stayed with Caleb at the hospital and I brought the girls to visit Thursday. He came home that night around dinner time. He cried because he didn't want to leave the hospital and all the special treatment from the nurses and the presents and good food. A few days later, you would never know he just had major surgery. He was up and running around and riding his bike. He has three little scars on his stomach from the laproscopes.

Well, summer is fun. Hope you've had a fun summer!