Drama

So, as I mentioned before, the last few months have been pretty dramatic. Sean got laid-off, our car broke down and we had to pay $320,(not the most ideal time to spend that money), and Claire had a surgical procedure.

I'll start with the latter, and work backwards. At the beginning of June we noticed Claire's breathing get progressively worse . It sounded like her throat was narrowing at times, at other times she sounded perfectly normal. I figured it was maybe allergies to the cats. I took her in to the doctor, and of course her blood-oxygen levels were 100% and she was breathing normally. I pretty much paid a $20 co-pay to say "Hi" to the doctor.

Two weeks later, the Stridor (wheezing) was worse, and she was snoring most of the time while sleeping. So, another visit to the doctor, this time I pre-recorded a video of Claire snoring and wheezing. I needed hard evidence, in case I "cried sick baby." That time the Doctor was able to hear and witness the wheezing and snoring. She wasn't sure, so we were referred to an ENT.

We saw an ENT. A nurse held Claire in her lap as the doctor stuck a tube down her nose to figure out the wheezing problem. He couldn't see anything. It makes me sad to think about. I can still picture her face. Her face was bright red as tears filled her eyes. She gave me a look that said, "Why aren't you helping me?" I felt so awful.

Since the doctor couldn't diagnose Claire's problem, and did see it as a potential problem, he decided to have Claire come in for an exploratory surgical procedure. Doing an exploratory procedure, also meant that there was the possibility of a follow up surgery to fix the problem.

Claire went in for surgery on July 7th. We were really nervous about Claire being traumatized during this experience. St. John's Mercy hospital did a fabulous job. The surgeon found three cysts under Claire's vocal chords. They were most likely caused by an intubation that occurred earlier in her life. One cyst was ruptured and the other two we will have to keep an eye on.

Our car broke down on me while I was driving, but I was barely able to pull into a Ford dealership, just as the power steering gave out. This was the day before Claire's surgery. Fortunately the dealership fixed the car within a few hours.

Sean was laid-off on June 26. Not a good day for that matter. I heard recently that when someone loses their job they go through a grieving process similar to when losing a loved one. First denial, then anger, depression, and acceptance. The day Sean lost his job, we went through some denial. (mostly avoidance) We actually had a fairly decent time together as a family, despite. We drove out to Lone Elk park and Wild Bird Sanctuary, less than a half hour away. Claire and I had been there before, and wanted to show Sean around. We saw several bison, and elk. It was really neat. We enjoyed seeing the birds. We passed by a white-necked raven that said "hi." Ravens are really great at mimicking. We also really enjoyed passing by a very uppity turkey. The moment we got too close to the cage, it puffed up with a very distinct poof sound, and stalked the edge of the cage menacingly. We made a few visits over to that area. Very entertaining.