The week seemed to be going so well on Friday and then it just kind of collapsed a bit. Yesterday, my son was still acting like he wasn't feeling right and was kind of up and down in mood. We did go to the store, however to get some grocery shopping done as Carrs has some GREAT sales on produce this weekend (it started Friday, but due to the weather I didn't get there till yesterday). I got a five pound bag of potatoes, a bag of storage onions (3 lbs) and a bag of carrots (1 lb of baby carrots). All for 1.67 a piece! And I was able to get a ton of really cheap marked down steaks (like 3.00 a piece) as they'd been chuck steaks that were on sale before they got marked down 50% off. I did the math and reduced my grocery budget over the next couple of weeks to accommodate the purchases, but I now have a pile of steaks piled up in my freezer. It was an awesome find. I also got a couple of bags of frozen chicken. I got a bag of frozen chicken breasts, one of chicken thighs and one of chicken tenderloins for 5.00 per bag. I like to keep already boned chicken like this around in the freezer when it goes on sale cheap so that I have it for quick dinners or if I want to make a dish that would call for chicken off the bone (like pasta dishes and things). I was even able to get a Bertolli bag dinner (I got a soup in a bag of lobster and seafood bisque) and a PF Chang meal (I got Mongolian Beef) for 3.00 a piece. I'd gotten some 2.00 off coupons in an insert my mom had sent me a while back for both of them and had forgotten I had when I picked up the one bagged pasta meal that was on clearance, but it worked out to get two more of them cheap. These I put on the door of my freezer just to have in case there are days when I just plain am not up to cooking anything (in case I'm sick or whatever). I find meals like this can be a real life saver as 3.00 for a bagged meal plus like cooking some rice to go with the Mongolian Beef or making some quick cooking pasta to stretch the soup makes the meal cheap as well as fast and easy. Works for me! Once again these were averaged into my grocery shopping for the next couple of weeks to make sure that the grocery budget will all work out in the end.
Last night is when my son's mood started to really deteriorate. He kept giving me his hand, which did have some really nasty eczema patches that he'd itched raw on his fingers. Unfortunately, this isn't out of the ordinary for him, so I just assumed (like normal with him) that the patches of skin that had scabbed were sticking up a little bit and bugging him (he HATES things that change the texture landscape of his skin, so you can imagine how much eczema bugs him). I was terribly wrong. I awoke at two am, after two hours of sporadic sleep, to my son crying upstairs, so I went up and figured he was just not sleeping well, which has been the case all week (like waking up between midnight and two and just being up all night). It was then I laid eyes on his right hand and realized that the eczema was swollen, bad. I yelled down for my husband to come help me as I knew we were going to have to hold my son down, reopen the wound and drain it before it got badly infected. Once we did that, got a call into the doctor's answering service to see if we needed to take him to the ER or wait until today to take him to Urgent Care (which luckily Urgent care was okay because he wasn't running a fever or anything) and got his wounds clean he was not a happy camper and justifiably so. I mean how many of us know what it's like to clean out an infected wound? Yeah, not fun.
By the time we got him through a hot soapy bubble bath on order from the answering service nurse (and scrubbing his hands good with the wash cloth to make sure they were nice and cleaned out), my son was up for the night and my husband (who hadn't been able to sleep till then due to insomnia) had to go and get some sleep because he was feeling sick to his stomach from lack of sleep. So, I ended up with a wide awake kid, fielding him on about two hours of maybe solid sleep, and just trying to keep somewhat coherent as I made sure the wounds were kept clean and dry. I think my son and I both collapsed at about eight this morning. I got woke up by my husband at nine something to get the kids up and ready to go to Urgent Care as soon as they opened. I got the kids in the car, got my son some food to eat on the way and everything, but forgot my coffee mug on the way out the door. It's definitely a reflection of my state of mind.
Bright side, the doctor said that we'd caught the wounds just in time before they stepped over the line into an actual secondary infection and was impressed that this is the first time in all of the years (since he was born) of my son having severe eczema that we'd had to go to the doctor's for an infection as he had a nephew who was about the same as my son and knew how hard it was to keep eczema sores from getting infected. He wrote a script for some antibiotics to keep the infection from setting in and/or getting worse (which this is challenging as this is the first time my son has been on antibiotics in...good Lord since he was like two or so I want to say) and helped field some ideas on ways we can try and wrap my son's hands up and help the wounds heal. Personally? I think we're going to have to eventually slather in as much Neosporin as we can rub into his hands and then take liquid skin to him as I don't think he'll keep anything else on at all and even that's going to be iffy on the outcome as my son HATES anything on his skin. So, yeah, epsom salt baths are in his future for the next week or so, as well as lots of moisturizer and lots of wound cleanings. And antibiotics. It's going to be a rough week for all of us here I think.
Bright side, while I didn't get my sewing goals accomplished due to the weather, kids, being busy with other things and yada yada yada, I did get my upholstery tacks in this week which will come in handy when I finally get the time to really start hammering on the couch and love seat (literally *laugh*). And the chickens are finally healthy and happy from the way they are acting. My friend came over with a big bag of feed earlier in the week (the type of feed the chickens were used to before the move) and a big bag of oyster shell to help the chickens with their stomachs.
I would definitely say the new, familiar food and the oyster shell worked wonders to get the chickens comfortable the last couple of days because I went out today and noticed a bunch of eggs in one side of the pen/coop. My friend braved the insides of the coup to collect the eggs (we don't have any remote method for collecting eggs and the pen I have only has one door on the front of the like 8' pen, so, of course, the chickens moved to the very back of the pen to lay their eggs). I assumed we had three as we've had one in there all week floating around that we were trying to figure out how to get out (I wasn't really worried about it going bad since it's been so cold out, but figured since I was sure it'd frozen that it was only going to be good for baking), but I only saw two new ones this morning in the new "nesting area" as I like to call it. But, nope, when my friend collected them and brought them out there was eight (seen up top), so those three little hens have been busy the last couple of days!!!! So, yay for chicken sitting paying off *laugh*.
So, now onto this week's goals, of which there are many and varied ones. I hope I can get some of them done.
General Goals:
- Work on monthly goals for November
- Work on monthly shopping goals for November
- Continue to keep chickens happy (hopefully I'll only be chicken sitting one more week until closing)
- Take care of son and get hands healed up as well as we can (they have a three day week due to parent teacher conferences this week, so I'm thinking of just keeping him home all week to keep on top of his hands).
- Post menu plan for week (I have some recap recipes I tried and I wanted to share about for one, and for two, if I have it posted on the blog I'm WAY more likely to stick with it as I don't lose the piece of paper it's on).
- Mull and Can Cider (I REALLY want to get this done this week, so this one is at the top of my list right under taking care of my son)
- Get through Parent Teacher Conferences
Sewing/Mending/Repair Goals (if time allows):
- Work on Christmas gifts
- Work on mending
- Work on couches
And yeah, that's as far as I'm getting with goals for the week. How about you? Got anything going this week?
Oh, poor little man! Infections are never much fun, and even worse for Autistic children. I really hope the antibiotics and all the other treatments make him feel better really soon. Good choice to keep him home this week. He won't be doing much learning with all that pain and irritation distracting him anyways.
ReplyDeleteGlad your chicken sitting is paying off with some free eggs. I'm guessing that some egg based meals or some yummy baking will be added to the meal plan in the next week or two. Can't wait to see your recap recipe post...sounds rather interesting.
I have one definite plan for this week. Today my mom and I tackled the rest of the bushel of apples we bought a few weeks ago. There was a lot of apples left, too. We made 5 unbaked apple pies for the freezer (we use these for holidays & special events throughout the year). Then I canned 7 more pints of strawberry applesauce with the apples that were left. I also boiled down ALL of the peeling and cores, and strained the liquids...which made a lot of juice! So this week, I need to turn those liquids into apple jelly or apple syrup! Also, I still have some frozen berries to make into jam, since I now have more canning jars. That should keep me busy.
I think I will be going to my work for a training session on Halloween make-up applications (waiting on confirmation). It will be taught by my co-worker who does the special effects make-up as a hobby. Can't hurt to learn a new skill for free that I can possibly use on my daughter! Also, next weekend I will be working 2 nights at our museum's Halloween event.
I'm sure a few other items will be thrown into the mix at some point this week. I just go with the flow..it's so much easier that way. Anyways, I hope you, your son and your husband get caught up on some well needed sleep this week. Good luck with getting most of those items checked off your list this week, Erika!
Aww your poor son! Quick thinking on your part, sleep deprived as you are. I hope he heals quickly.
ReplyDeleteThe next 3 weeks are going to be so busy here. I am dreading it, really. Since the kids have no school tomorrow I am going to try and get a bunch done since they can play together. I hope it happens.
It has cooled off a little here in NE Texas and I was actually able to turn the a/c off for part of the day 3 days in a row.
ReplyDeleteI didn't get as good a deal on potatoes as you did. Sale here was #3 for $1. I grabbed one bag for us and 2 for my BFF. Eggs were 69¢ a dozen and 16 oz shredded cheese was $2.47. I may go back Tuesday for some more cheese. We took the back yard dog and my Shiz Tzu to the low cost clinic and got rabies shots for only $8 each. Quite comical there since the little dog wanted to kiss everyone but the big dog refused to budge from the car so the vet had to climb in there with him to give him the shot.
I got one really GREAT bargain this week: Using Petco points, a $3 dollar printed coupon and a $2 mfr markdown (for a total of $10 off), I was able to get a 7.5 pound bag of cat food for $4. That was $3 less than what I have been paying for a 3 lb bag. I was thrilled.
We are counting down to a 3 day vacation for our 25th anniversary so DH will be working a few 12 hr shifts. That means hit and miss on meals. I will make him big pan of chicken spaghetti that he will eat for a couple of days. I will just have sandwiches and/or soup.
Prayers going up for Alvah's healing. It's wonderful that you caught it before the infection was worse. I hope you get some sleep--and shower.
So sorry your son had to go through that! Poor little guy. I've had severe eczema so I know what the itch is like! tho I've never had a large infection. I found that the gaps diet really helped me. Apparently the doctor prescribed it for autistic children but many eczema sufferers have found relief with it. Eczema is definitely a sign of leaky gut so you may not want to give him antibiotics as that will worsen his gut as well as his eczema. It's kind of a vicious cycle. I know its hard to do that kind of diet with kids but maybe you can incorporate some parts of it.....like fermented foods and some of the supplements she recommends. You will need to research it and see what works for you. All the best and hope you get some sleep!
ReplyDeleteNever a dull moment at your house!!! I am hoping that you can get some sleep soon, and that your arm can get better.
ReplyDeleteI hear what you are saying about posting the menu plans. I like to do that too, on occasion, for the same reason. It's in one place, on my computer. I sometimes put the plans into a composition notebook, and that works well, too.
I'm glad you can get some ready-to-eat freezer meals. When you are dealing with so much stress with your son's hands, it will be so nice to grab, heat and eat. Even if you end up having to buy a few more, it's a good idea because you can have dinner in a hurry and it's cheaper than stopping by a fast food joint, especially when you get a great deal.
The sleep center bill is a real pain. I'm glad you are getting it negotiated down, at least part way.
Hang in there!