Silver Lining: just in case you thought life was perfect around here

September 24, 2013

just in case you thought life was perfect around here

Yesterday was going to be a regular 'ole Monday night. Come home, have dinner together, take a drive up the canyon, I'd make us stop every five seconds to take a picture. The usual.


Until I got a call from the school nurse, telling us that unless Jason got a TDaP booster shot, she would  send home an exclusionary note saying Jason can't come back to school until he gets the shot. My first thought was "TDap? What TDap booster shot?" So then I had to look it up, and sure enough, he needs the shot.


I felt like a terrible legal guardian. It was discouraging. I tried so hard to read carefully through all of his beginning of the year documents in an effort to appear like I had the slightest clue about how to parent a middle school child. I signed all the papers and sent in all the fees, but I guess I didn't read closely enough. Now I was one of those parents who can't even vaccinate their kids on time. The nurse had called a week earlier and left a message telling me to call her back. I called, and left a message, but hadn't heard from her and frankly, forgot all about it.


And then we went into panic mode. Instead of our picturesque drive up the canyon, I made a few frantic calls to our insurance and doctor's offices (the former doesn't cover the shot and the latter were all closed for the evening). Luckily, Walgreens said they would take him, so off we went.


Then came a 45-minute wait and a full $65 charge. Jason was nervous about his shot, and it was actually kind of cute. To distract ourselves, we made detailed plans for a time machine that will fast forward Jason to a vaccine-free future. Then, we made his Top 5 Favorite and Least Favorite things. Brace yourself, because this may be the best thing you've read on the Internet all day.


Jason's Top 5
1. brown food (meat, chocolate)
2. perfect circles
3. explosions
4. Nike shoes
5. intelligent people

Jason's Bottom 5
1. shots
2. green food
3. people who can't do accents correctly
4. writing assignments
5. his Utah Studies class



one from our latest excursion to the library

In the end, it wasn't all bad. The nurse administered the shot in 5 seconds flat, and it was amazing. Didn't even give Jason time to freak out about it. Spending our family night in a Walgreens waiting area (next to the most visibly diseased man I've ever seen) wasn't the original plan, but oh well. Hopefully it will be one of those things we look back and laugh at? "Remember the time we were terrible legal guardians and didn't get Jason that overpriced but crucial shot until literally the last second? Chuckle chuckle chuckle." Or something?


Here's to hoping! And here's to keeping our ward of the state healthy from whatever the heck TDap stands for. Here's to families who don't care when plans get rearranged (Sam, did you ever get dinner last night?), and here's to good nurses and 24-hour pharmacies. And in the end, here's to the consolation mini Icees Jason convinced us to get last night. Almost anything is worth it for a consolation Icee, people.

7 comments:

  1. this sounds so much like my life! ha!

    you guys are the best legal guardians. jason is sure lucky to have you both!

    xo

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  2. I think it's more of you're one of those parents who makes the full effort to take care of their kid's needs. Also, I'm with Jason. Brown food is the best.

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  3. I can so relate to this, ha ha! I am so forgetful and even if I read through something thoroughly I tend to miss something.

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  4. Pretty sure every mother (or mother figure) has felt like the worst caretaker ever. Don't be too hard on yourself! And actually, in my opinion, the TDaP is one of the more important vaccinations. It covers tetanus, diptheria, and pertussis (whooping cough). While pertussis isn't that bad in adults, it can cause death in infants. Look up Natalie Norton's story if you're interested :) (BTW, totally not trying to be all "crazy immunization lady," just thought you might want some more info on it. Immunizations are a touchy subject, and I know I'm always looking for unbiased, fact-based information.)

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  5. that sounds a little bit like our night last night. haha.
    the other day ryan and i were unpacking and he saw some of my ceramics and picked out a few and was like "kirsten these would be perfect to plant succulents" (cute I know right). so yesterday I went out and got something that we could place them on without the fear of leaks or scratching a surface with the hopes that when ryan got home we would go pick out succulents together for family night. ryan texts me he's on his way home, but he has a bunch of work to do when he gets home. out the door goes my plan for succulent shopping i guess. but we did have pizza....so like im happy haha.

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  6. Shots are so hard to keep track of. The worst.

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  7. School nurses are vaccine nazis.

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