A Really Long Day In Teleton

Once upon a time, I did all the Teleton appointments.  It has been a long time since I have been to Teleton, but today I made a return appearance.

Josue had an appointment at 9:30.  He also had one at 1:00 or after.  He had to get up at 2:00 this morning and be kept awake until 20 minutes before the appointment.  Josue can scream and cry for no reason.  When he gets tired and is being forced to stay awake, it can get much worse.  Yair also had an appointment at 1:00.  We decided it was better to have two people instead of one today.

We left here at 8:00.  Thankfully, the morning traffic was light and we arrived early.  We arrived early and they took us early.  That is rare.  We had to wait until 11:00 to find out what time the afternoon appointment was.  We were number 2, which meant around 1:30.

We left and went to the mall for pizza.  That was a good decision on my part for many reasons.  Pizza is one of my comfort foods.  I did not know it at the time we ate pizza, but I was going to need some comfort before we returned to Santa Ana.  Everyone was going to need some comfort.  Another reason it was blazing hot and the mall was cool and pleasant.  The third good reason was it was a great distraction for someone that was starting to get tired. 

When we returned to Teleton, we let Josue play on the playground and we walked. And walked.  Anything but sit down.  Twenty minutes before the appointment, he let him go to sleep.  We walked in and Luci laid him on the table.  Josue opened his eyes, sat up, looked around and that was that.  No more sleep.  The doctor gave us a half of a tablet, told us to give it to Josue and wait an hour.  Like I said, that was that.  No more sleep.

It was hot.  And we were wilting.  At least I was.  Another round of tea.   

We took turns rocking.  I rocked and sang.  Sang the songs I sang to my babies in the middle of the night.  I don't sing in public, but I wanted this kid asleep.  I rocked and my skirt climbed higher.  The later it got, the fewer people there were anyway.  After an hour, the doctor gave us the other half tablet and said wait one more hour.  He would get still, but he would not shut his eyes. 


We thought we were going home and have to do this over.  The doctor was kind and gentle.  Josue was fairly tranquil and she said she would try the exam any way.    It took a while, but it happened.  She got everything done.

We got new appointments made and we were out of there.  It was 5:30, just in time for the afternoon traffic.   I have never left Teleton that late.  I thought it closed around 3:00. 

I figured we would get in the car and Josue would be asleep in five minutes or less.  I was wrong.  No sleep.  The closer to Santa Ana we got, the more violent he became.  He is pretty aggressive any way, but I had never seen him like this.  I noticed Luci was pretty wilted, too.

By the time I delivered the rice to be cooked for the dump tomorrow and Tibby's dog food, it was 7:00 by the time I got home.  Josue was totally out of control.  I did not know what to do.  I was tired and hungry and wanted to go to the house and have a Dr Pepper.  Mirian said she would bathe him.  And I said rub that lavender lotion all over him. 

I went to the house.  I wanted that Dr Pepper, but I decided to wait until I knew he was calm and I could really enjoy it.  I went up to see about him 45 minutes later.  He was in bed, but screaming and throwing things.  But at least he was not biting anyone, but only because he could not get to us.

I picked him up and was going to rock him and talk to him.  I sat down on the sofa and began to rock and talk gently to him.  I immediately felt something warm where I was sitting.  I thought, " oh my, I have just wet my pants."  I was mortified as two employees stood in front of me.  I jumped up and saw a bottle of warm milk that I had knocked over when I sat down and it spilled.  I was so glad. 

It was clear that Josue was not going to let me rock him.  I put him back in bed and he began to settle immediately.  I was so glad.

It was definitely time for my Dr Pepper.  It may be another long one tomorrow.