I woke up this morning exhausted even though I’d gone to bed with the boys at 8:30. I still can’t kick whatever is burning a hole in my stomach. I hope those lovely stool samples I dropped off at the lab shed some light on this. sigh. Of course I was up in the night because Owen woke up with a 102 fever and an earful of pain. My sweet pea and ear infections. We got Leo off to school and then Owen and I trundled off to my parents’ house. Of course I was still waiting for a phone call from my husband. He’d left yesterday morning and normally calls when he checks into his hotel. No call so I thought there would be one this morning. No call. Now I admit I’m a worrier so I was picturing him dead. I couldn’t remember what hotel he was staying at so I called six different ones looking for him. No Ernie. So I told myself if he hadn’t shown up for the show they would have called and went on my merry way. I get to my parents’ house a few minutes after 8:00. His appointment was at 8:40 but remember…..they move veryyyyy slooooowwwwwly. I get inside and see my father is half dressed and fixing breakfast and my mother doesn’t even have her teeth in. This does not bode well. I try to herd them out the door. My mother manages to get to the porch and then decides her legs can’t handle the steps. At this point I don’t care we just HAVE TO GO. I get her back in the house and she’s telling me everything to ask the doctor about her constipation from her medication and I don’t think I’m even that nice. We manage to get to the doctor’s office on time. My Dad and Owen are quite cheerful. Oddly enough they are dressed alike—-white shirts and khaki pants. I’m feeling quite nauseous but that’s all I do these days. When we get into the office and I notice my father is wearing one brown wing tip and one black wing tip. Owen on the other hand has his light-up firefighter shoes on.

The doctor is fine although she BRINGS UP THE FACT THAT HE CAN’T DRIVE. WHY WOULD SHE DO THIS??? Of course that sets my father off. When we get back in the car he’s spouting off using phrases such as ‘feebleminded fuck’ which I rather liked but would have preferred him not shouting in the presence of my sweet pea. Of course then Owen pipes up “why did Grandpa say that word he shouldn’t have said?” I say, “Because he’s upset Owen” so he asks why and I say “NEVER MIND”. We stop at Schnucks to get laxitives and aspercreme for my mother. We get home and my mother tells me she doesn’t need the laxitive anymore. I just stare at her tiredly. I leave Owen there and go do my own shopping in which I spend $89 on kid’s junk food for the weekend. Chocolate chip waffles, cinnamon rolls and cheddar cheese potato chips—Leo’s favorite. You can tell I’m in a mood when I shop like that. I bought myself a trashy novel and some cans of soup. I get back to my parents’ house, scoop up Owen and trundle off to Convenient Care because I didn’t have the energy to call the pediatrician’s office and try to set something up. Sure enough he’s got an ear infection–she says his eardrum is extremely red my poor sweet pea. We wait forever in the pharmacy and get home around noon. I try to get him to eat something and give him some of his medicine and then try to keep him awake until we have to go get Leo at school. He’s very good at being pathetic but his fever is back and I can tell he feels lousy. Luckiy my errant husband calls and says “oh, I forgot to call I was so tired”. He’s so good that I can’t yell at him and besides I feel weepy so I just tell him he will pay for it. He sounded pretty good and had already made one good sale at least. I drag poor Owen off to the school to pick up Leo. Leo gets invited to his friend’s house and luckily they offer to drive him over there and back home. I come home and get Owen settled and give him an icre cream cone.

As I’m writing this I get a phone call from my doctor’s office. My illustrious stool samples did indeed offer up some information. I have giardia. I am so thrilled that they found something wrong with me that I almost cry. Of course this means I’m supposed to go back to the pharmacy to get my 10 days worth of medication. I don’t know if I can manage it today. So this is the little creature that has invaded me and made my life hell for the past three weeks:

He’s a flagellated protozoan parasite that infects the gastrointestinal tracts of humans. The symptoms include diarrhea, bloating, flatulence, fatigue, nausea, vomiting and weight loss. Yup.

I have hours and hours and hours of work to do this weekend but right now I think I’m going to go lie down. I find myself somewhat tired.