All's Well That Ends Well

Just as I though things were starting to settle back down into some semblance of normal, more chaos hit! I was finishing up lunch when my cell phone rang. It was Rita's teacher calling to tell me that her school was being evacuated and someone needed to come pick her up right away. Apparently, there was a gas leak in the vacant building next door. I called Tom to see what he was up to and to see if he was able to pick Rita up. Tom asked if I had the message from day care about Gracie; she was having a low sugar episode and they were worried she was sick. I said I would pick up Gracie after I got Rita.

I didn't think about the fact that the entire area of Rita's school would be bedlam and streets would be shut down! They had evacuated the students to the gymnasium of the high school across the street - which was also being evacuated as best I could tell. There were emergency workers and vehicles everywhere - police, fire and ambulances. Despite the chaos, they were very well organized and were keeping very close track of every student. Rita was brought out and the minute she saw me she burst into tears. I guess she held it together and then just lost it. It took a little while to convince her that this was all just safety precautions and that everything would be alright. She was very worried about all of the ambulances sitting around. Rita was also upset that she had to leave her back pack in her classroom. At six years old, it was just a bit too much for her.

Rita and I got settled and managed to get out of the area. We got to Gracie's day care just at the end of nap time. We gathered up her things and picked her up off her nap mat to carry out. I could see just how nervous they all were about Gracie - the medicine to stop a seizure and a pair of rubber gloves were right on her mat and the teacher was laying down right next to her. Day care gets an A+ for preparedness! Gracie seemed to have several things going on - she wasn't eating and appeared to have a low sugar episode - hence the shakiness. They gave her a few cc's of apple juice and then got her to eat some peanut butter and some turkey. This seemed to have solve that problem. She appeared warm to them so they took her temp. She was just at the 100 degree mark. Somewhere in the midst of all of this (and Gracie's version of the story varies with each retelling), she was either pushed or hit. She had a black eye and a cut on her eye. In addition, she has a chesty sounding cough.

I got both kids home and we had a nice snuggle in front of the TV for a bit. Rita seemed to have calmed down and was fine and Gracie woke up the rest of the way and wanted to eat! We met Tom and picked up Rita's new glasses (see the photos!) and then we took Grace to see the doctor. Notice that Gracie is also now wearing glasses; albiet sunglasses. She wants to be just like Rita!

The doctor was satisified that Gracie's lungs remain clear. She was concered that the congestion had gotten into her lungs but that does not seem to be the case - just a sniffle and a cough. She had no elevated temp or fevers in the doctors office. Gracie had eaten - pigged out actually - so there was no point in testing her blood sugars. Basically, Gracie is fine. She was in full imp mode in the doctor's office - so much so the doctor laughed and said a child with that much energy was not feeling too sick!

As the saying goes, all's well that end well!