SQTF 72: Costochondritis and a Lazy Week

I

So much for productivity, timeliness, or a "proper" Epiphany/Twelfth Night party this week. We spent Twelfth Night in the urgent care clinic doing tests to make sure the pain in my chest wasn't pointing to something wrong with my heart, and I've spent all week since then moving very slowly, taking lots of ibuprofen, and wincing as my ribs chafe against my sternum. (Costochondritis being pretty much the least-bad diagnosis I could have received, but it's still a pain with a toddler!)

II

It's getting better, slowly. On days when I can stay home all day, sitting on the floor reading story after story to avoid picking Little Bear up, actually taking my ibuprofen on schedule, I don't feel too badly. Days when I have to lug the toddler from house to car to store, keep making him sit back down in the cart, hold him still while he gets immunizations... Those are unhappy evenings, especially when I miss the midday dose.

III

Little Bear and I finally stripped the tree of ornaments and lights today, and when Matt gets home this evening he will take it outside. I could pretend that we were being Old Calendar and leaving all of the decorations up through Orthodox Christmas, but... I'd be lying if I said it wasn't a relief to finally have all of the Christmas things packed away for the year. Although I've just noticed that the Christmas cards haven't come down yet; they'll disappear as soon as Little Bear's nap is over.

IV

We did eventually celebrate Epiphany, on Wednesday: meatloaf, rotini, mixed vegetables in an asiago cream sauce, and a bread pudding made from the leftover stollen. The golden raisins, currants, and figs from the stollen made the pudding festive, so I felt like I wasn't cheating quite as much by skipping the traditional king cake. Kneading the dough sounded potentially too painful. There's always next year.

V

I know that the phrase "unless directed by a doctor" is included on the ibuprofen bottle for just this reason, but it's still unsettling to be taking double the listed maximum daily dosage. Thank goodness for the Drugs and Lactation Database from the National Library of Medicine! It was definitely reassuring to read through the test results and clinical information they have on ibuprofen and see that even at such a high dose, the amount that Little Bear is getting by nursing is negligible.

VI

At Little Bear's 18 month checkup yesterday, we seriously got the best nurse in the office. She let him stand on the big person scale to be weighed because he gets so upset about being on the baby scale; she remained happy and upbeat and encouraged him to be cheerful even when he was being his usual the-doctor's-office-is-the-worst-thing-ever-and-no-one-loves-me self; and she let me hold him on my lap for his DTaP immunization rather than making him lay down (and be pinned there) on the exam table like the other nurses do. He calmed down so much faster than usual afterward!

VII

Shrimp fajitas. My weekly menu says that I'm making shrimp fajitas tonight. I vaguely remember Matt requesting that while I was working on the menu last weekend, and I remember laughing kind of incredulously because I've never heard of such a thing and it sounds kind of awful and I have no idea how I'd do it, but... somehow it got written down. And it's going to be either that or grilled peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, because I'm not making pasta again, and it's Friday. So if anyone has any experience with fajita-ing shrimp and wants to spare my husband from having to eat peanut butter and jelly tonight, please share your wisdom!

Check out more Quick Takes at Conversion Diary! Have a great (and hopefully warm) weekend.