this week

What a strange week it's been, and, really, it's far from over. Let's just start at the beginning ...

I accidentally broke my iPhone on Sunday night when it fell out of my hand and crashed screen-down in the Kroger parking lot.

I spent a couple hours Monday dealing with my phone drama. First, the sales guy at the local AT&T store frustrated me, then my sweet mother-in-law let me borrow a used Blackberry she had at her house so I had to figure out to clear off my late father-in-law's information so I could load my contacts. Then, of course, I had to figure out how to make calls, receive calls and texts.

Between not having a phone and borrowing a phone, I took Cate to get a flu shot. The experience actually wasn't near as bad as I figured it would be. I promised a treat if all went well with the shot. She wanted a "big Tootsie Roll" but had to settle for gummy worms because the store didn't have anything other than an enormous bag of miniature Tootsie Rolls.

Cate ended up not feeling well at preschool on Tuesday, so I picked her up early.

The time-consuming phone drama carried over to Tuesday afternoon, when I talked to some nice people at the national AT&T customer service, who talked to me about my contract and when I can upgrade to a new iPhone and then how to get my father-in-law's e-mail account off the phone and mine on the phone.

Then later Tuesday afternoon I took my sickly daughter to the pediatrician's office, where her ear infection and hay fever were confirmed. At least she wasn't contagious, right?

Sometime at the beginning of the week, I got congested. Both my kids have had runny noses for several days too. So Wednesday when we woke up, Cate, Ben and I were pretty puny. Cate was recovering from her ear infection. Ben had a stomach bug that was producing some nasty diapers. And I had a really heavy, congested head.

I ended up calling the pediatrician's office about Ben, but you all have already heard about that. I had to keep a list of medications and when I was giving them to my children because I didn't want to forget who or what or when or how much.

Today I woke up ready to conquer the day ... and the presents I have left to wrap for Christmas with my mother-in-law, brothers-in-laws, sisters-in-law, nieces and nephew. I got Cate to preschool, and then I went to walk. Walking also included talking on the phone with Katie, who I'm missing more than usual these days. I needed that conversation, and I'm thinking she did too. While making my last couple laps around the walking track at the basketball arena, I noticed my contact being out of placed, so I kept pushing it around and messing with my eye.

Next, I carried three packages, two letters, a Netflix DVD and my 1-year-old son into the Post Office. I managed to scratch my eye when I was in there, although thinking back, I have no idea how I even reached it with all of that in my arms. Even so, when I did, there was some eye gunk on my finger.

That's when I first realized it probably wasn't my contact that was irritating my eye. So as soon as I got back in the van, I looked in the mirror. Yep. Pink eye. The white parts of my right eye were entirely pink. And more gunk was forming in the corner of my eye.

Lovely.

Long story short: I called the doctor I was going to start using since my regular doctor who I've seen every three months since she diagnosed me with Type 1 diabetes in January 2004 closed her practice last month to become a hospitalist in another town. But he or anyone else in his practice couldn't see me today. Tomorrow morning was an option though. I kindly informed the receptionist that I have two small kids and waiting for eye drops didn't seem like a good idea for me. I also was thinking about how my eye needs to be clear by Saturday when we have our Taylor Christmas parties. Yes, parties. Plural.

So I called my husband crying. I didn't know where to go. I just wanted to feel better. This has been a long week. Blah. Blah. Blah. He took charge of the situation and called our ob/gyn friend who has practiced medicine for a long time in this small-town community for a recommendation. My sweet husband even picked Cate up from preschool because I didn't think walking into a building filled with 3- and 4-year-old kids was really a good idea with my eye looking like it did, and, well, still does.

I took our friend's recommendation. And long story that was supposed to be short: I got an appointment today, liked the nurse practitioner so much that I scheduled my next diabetes check-up appointment with her, and have since started using the eye drops I'm thankful to have.

While looking at my calendar this afternoon and chatting with a friend, I realized we have one free night between tomorrow and Christmas Eve. I need to be well. I want my kids to be well. So here's to hoping that our week ends a little different from how it started.