Excursions, Planned and Unplanned

Thursday night Bob and I took Anna, Grace, Faith, and Micah to see Riverdance!  Through Wolf Trap's "Youth and the Arts" program, we could buy 3 adult tickets and get 3 kid tickets for free, so while it was still expensive, it was a lot less so.  Since Luke and Caleb are both away at encampment this week, Jonathan stayed home to watch Drew and Verity.  He was going for the coveted "best big brother of the week" award, because he gave them ice cream AND made popcorn for them while they watched "Brave".

We had a fantastic time at Riverdance.  The skies threatened rain the whole time, but it never happened, which was good for the people who were seated on the lawn!  The kids have all watched the video cassette of Riverdance that we have, so they knew what to expect, but it is so electrifying to see and hear it in person.  Even Micah was enthralled!  Irish dancing is another of those things I wish I had learned during the time after we moved to Colorado when I thought I'd be pregnant but wasn't.  Well, actually I suppose I should have started at age 4, like all the dancers did, but I don't think anyone in Los Angeles or Okinawa had heard of Irish dancing back in the late 70's/early 80's, at least not among our circle!  Anyway, I'm sure it's too late now.  But I love watching it!

Bob and I went to see Riverdance when we were stationed in Colorado Springs back in 2000 to celebrate our anniversary.  When I saw the summer Wolf Trap schedule this spring, and saw that Riverdance was coming, I told Bob that was what I wanted to do to celebrate this year, even though it was a month early!

It was a late night for us, and when we finally arrived home around 11:00, we were greeted by Jonathan, who showed us this lovely bullseye rash on his arm.  Jonathan had actually not been feeling all that well the past few days.  He had been complaining of his neck and arms aching, as well as being sluggish.  Thursday he kept saying how cold he was, and he wore his jacket inside the house all day long.  I felt him, but he didn't feel really feverish.  He also had a big headache, so finally at dinnertime I told him to take some Motrin.  I just assumed he had some kind of virus, though, and I would never have suspected Lyme disease without him seeing that rash, so I am very thankful he saw it, and that it was in a place he could see easily.

So Jonathan and I headed off to the ER at Bethesda.  We weren't going to be around on Friday to make an appointment, and I really didn't want to wait any longer for him to get started on antibiotics, especially since he really wasn't feeling well.The ER was crowded, though, and we had to wait a long time to be seen.  We both brought books, though, so we were good.  Eventually we were seen, and the doctor agreed that it was a classic presentation of Lyme.  He wanted to put Jonathan on 2 weeks on amoxicillin and have us come back "if there were any more problems".  I kind of pushed back, asking if that meant if he was still feverish and achy, or what, and was 2 weeks really long enough?  The doctor said he would actually go call the on-call pediatric infectious disease doctor, so he disappeared again.  When he came back, he had a new plan--21 days on doxycycline.  That sounded much better to me, as I have heard of that antibiotic for Lyme's.  So Jonathan has started on his third different antibiotic in the past month.  Hopefully it will do the trick though.  The big question is, does this have anything to do with that infected bite on his scalp?  Who knows?!  Poor Jonathan.  This has not been his best month!  We didn't get home until 4:00 AM, and we were so tired!

The reason we couldn't get an appointment on Friday is that we had already made plans to drive up to WSS to surprise Nathan for lunch on his 19th birthday!  Bob took leave and came with us.  It was so nice that he could drive, as I was not really in any shape to do so myself.  Nathan was surprised, and it was so good to see him!

We were just sad Luke and Caleb had to miss out, but oh well.  Micah was exceptionally happy to see Nathan, and he kept running over to hug him or get up in his lap.  Before we went up there, he and I were talking about the trip.  He asked when Nathan was going to come home, and I said in August, but only for a few days before he went back to college.  "College?!"  Micah said.  "I thought he was done with college!"  He is going to be a disappointed little boy when August comes, and Nathan heads off again to VT!

Verity was also happy to see Nathan.  Several of the other girls of staff wanted to hold her, but she just held on even tighter to Nathan and burrowed into his neck.  She was pretty tired by the time we left, and she fell asleep pretty much as soon as we drove off the property!  So did the other kids, so we had a nice, quiet drive back, for the most part.  I was so glad we drove up!  Nathan said seeing us was "the best birthday present", so it was all worth it!