Flowering Rhododendron bush in front of our house~

Surprises always “excite” me (I hate surprises–always have) and there’s been an abundance of them of late.

Never knowing exactly what to expect of the coming day. Every day is a surprise–some are good–some not so good. This morning, for instance, I was working here on the computer and I heard some noise out in the living room. It was my younger son who was on his computer–at 3:40 a.m. He complained of waking with bad stomach pain, not being able to get back to sleep because of it. As I talked to him the pain grew worse. I got him set up on the couch with pillows and a blanket (his bedroom is downstairs and I wanted to keep an eye on him upstairs where I am/was). My mom always said that ginger ale helps a problem stomach so I got him that to sip on. I sat with him a while, then let him be while I went back to work. Before I went to sleep I checked him–he was sleeping too.

He was still ill when his father got up to my two Post-it notes explaining the situation, though I muttered something about it as he got up too because I never truly went to sleep.

When we finally got it hammered out it turned out that Chris had taken an overdose of his acne medication, Acutane by forgetting a dose then taking two in one day(!) This flipped me out more because he’d just gotten a new prescription–and they are planning to increase the dose but no one could agree how much he had been taking vs. what he was now taking, so finally the light bulb came on and I called the pharmacy.

He was on the same dose. But you cannot mess around with Acutane and take two full doses in one day.

I’m rambling but I’ve had a couple hours sleep at at best and to clarify my answer to this question is: my life is “exciting” for about 16 different reasons but today it is so because I thought my kid was going to need a trip to the emergency department to get his stomach pumped and thank the gods he didn’t.

*Please no lectures on the dangers of Acutane. The kid, at age 15, is already permanently seriously scarred on his back and shoulders. His face has lesser scarring though it is permanent as well. We tried every other option–this is last resort.

Tags: 2008, beauty, excites you, health, In Sickness and Health, parenthood, photo, rhodedendron, right now, the way you're living, under pressure, your life