Traditions

Some traditions are fun, great and wonderful and you look forward to repeating them year after year but then there are those which keep coming around even though you don't want them yet you just can't seem to break the cycle and get rid of them.

Good tradition, hopefully to be repeated for many years to come: Decorating Christmas cookies with friends.


Today Maisie and I spent the afternoon next door with K, A and friends playing together then making, decorating and eating Christmas cookies. It was good fun for the children and adults and everyone enjoyed a little sugar buzz.

Bad tradition which will hopefully stop coming around year after year: Pneumonia and sickness.

During our last week in Aruba Maisie came down with conjunctivitis in both eyes and then started to drag a bit sounding like she was coming down with a cold with a bit of a cough. During the flight home she complained of head, stomach and ear pain. I too during our last two or three days started feeling a bit run down like I was coming down with a cold, being very stuffed up with a sore throat. We arrived home in the wee hours of Saturday morning and once the day started my first order of business was to take Maisie to the doctor. The meds which the doctor in Aruba prescribed were working well and her eyes were looking great needing only two more days of the meds. Her ears, throat and lungs all looked clear and other than a major build-up of wax in one ear the doctor said she seemed healthy. The wax build-up in her ear was quite substantial so it was decided that the doctor would flush it out which was excruciating with an exhausted and screaming Maisie but once it was done Maisie said her ear felt better.

Once home from Maisie's doctor I was really dragging wanting nothing more than to veg out on the sofa, watch my recorded shows, drink tea and nap. I figured that I was tired from lack of sleep and just had a cold and that if I felt worse on Monday I'd go to the doc. By Sunday I knew that I had something going on in my chest so first thing Monday morning I called my doc but because of the holiday and people away I couldn't get into see anyone so I headed off to the doc-in-a-box at urgent care. After an exam and a review of my history with pneumonia in 2006, 2007 and 2008 I was sent off to x-ray where they found a small cloud in my lung. The doctor said that it was caught early and sent me home with a script for wicked expensive ($97 for 5 stinking pills!) high dose antibiotics, an inhaler and codeine cough syrup.

Even though on Saturday the doctor said that Maisie was okay, I think that she has something going on as she's a snotty mess, coughing and dragging. As we set off tomorrow evening for England I think we'll be doing a return trip to the doctor first thing in the morning. I too am considering a return visit for myself as I'm finding it more difficult to breathe and with the long flight and cold weather we're heading to, I just want to be cautious and not land my tush in the hospital again this year.

Wishing everyone a wonderful and merry Christmas filled with only good times, health and traditions.