Daisy vs. viral pneumonia
(Written on Wednesday, November 25)
I took Daisy for a checkup on Monday and the doctor felt she wasn't getting better. She diagnosed viral pneumonia and prescribed an additional inhaler with a steroid. So now she is on TWO inhalers. A weird thing about the appointment was that Daisy slept through the whole thing, like a limp rag... not like my daughter at all to do that! Before the appointment, I held her over the toilet for peeing, too, and she slept through that. Then the appointment, and being poked and prodded by the doctor: temperature, stethoscope, oxygen reading, etc. I know she's not herself when she sleeps through all of that!
The doctor wasn't too happy about her oxygen reading, and I guess that can partially explain why she's so tired. The other reason is probably just that she isn't sleeping so well at night, with her cough and the blockages to her breathing. Anyway, we have another appointment next Monday to see if the steroid inhaler has made her any better. Because the pneumonia is viral, not bacterial, there are no antibiotics or other medicine to treat her with. So we just have to hope her body fights it off and she gets better soon.
In the meantime, the doctor okayed her for school. She is not contagious, she said, because she's been sick for 4 weeks and has no fever. I am trying to get her out of the house at least a little, though if the physical exertion gets to be too much, she tends to have a coughing fit and then throw up. So, MODERATE exercise is what we're aiming for. The last time she threw up was on Mark's birthday, at the table in the restaurant! It was quite a hairy scene. I am sure the other patrons loved it. There were massive volumes of barf coming out. I am proud to say that I cleaned up the whole mess by myself, not leaving anything for the staff other than disinfecting the area (but of course, we left a huge tip).
This blog also needs to record that today Daisy and I met Lars Ulrich and his son at one of our local play destinations. When I first saw Lars, mingling amongst the masses of parents, I thought it was someone I knew-- probably a parent of some child we know. I started combing through my mental image bank to try to place the face. Finally I decided I was wrong and that I didn't know him. And then... somehow, a few minutes later, it clicked into place. Then I heard him speak and I knew it was him (Danish accent, plus very distinctive way of speaking that I recognized). Sad to say, I did NOT say anything to him but tried politely to pretend I didn't recognize him... yeah. My thought was he's out as an ordinary parent, trying to have fun with his child, and he doesn't need fans bothering him. I noticed that no one else seemed to be bothering him, either, and I assume at least some people must have recognized him. I have the feeling San Franciscans are pretty cool customers about celebrities. When I saw Maria Shriver in Angelina's Deli once, everyone in the place recognized her but no one bothered her.
So I'm not sure I can call this a "meeting," as I would my Crist Novoselic meeting, because I never actually acknowledged that I knew who he was. But it was neat. His cute little son and Daisy played together for a little while and Daisy engaged Lars in conversation. He was very nice and I liked the way he spoke to her: totally grownup and direct, taking her seriously. Sometimes adults don't know what to do when Daisy comes up and starts talking to them with all her voluminous words, some of them making sense and some of them not, and I have seen them look baffled and not respond to her. But not Lars Ulrich! They really figured a few things out in their conversation. He is good with kids. He seems like a great dad, too, very much engaged with his child and making things fun.
That makes two Metallica sightings for me, since I also saw Kirk Hammett on Clement Street once. This time, I was 99% positive it was Lars Ulrich but when I got home I googled the name I'd heard him calling the little boy and confirmed he does have a son, between two and three, by that name. Later I asked Daisy if she knew the man she talked to today was a famous drummer. She was as cool as a cucumber, saying, "Yes, I know that. He's a very good drummer." (Ha-- she had no idea. She IS listening to REO Speedwagon right now, though, and she's invented a special dance for "Roll with the Changes" that involves rolling her hands and arms in circles.)
Daisy seemed to do pretty well, but we didn't stay too long. I didn't want her to overdo it. On the drive home, we got stuck for about 45 minutes on the Golden Gate Bridge because of some horrible 5-car accident. I had to do my yoga breathing because I started getting nervous, being stuck in one place on the bridge and really feeling the way it vibrates. I discovered (hahaha) that it is much harder to do that kind of breathing when you are actually panicking, as opposed to just practicing in your spare time.
I took Daisy for a checkup on Monday and the doctor felt she wasn't getting better. She diagnosed viral pneumonia and prescribed an additional inhaler with a steroid. So now she is on TWO inhalers. A weird thing about the appointment was that Daisy slept through the whole thing, like a limp rag... not like my daughter at all to do that! Before the appointment, I held her over the toilet for peeing, too, and she slept through that. Then the appointment, and being poked and prodded by the doctor: temperature, stethoscope, oxygen reading, etc. I know she's not herself when she sleeps through all of that!
The doctor wasn't too happy about her oxygen reading, and I guess that can partially explain why she's so tired. The other reason is probably just that she isn't sleeping so well at night, with her cough and the blockages to her breathing. Anyway, we have another appointment next Monday to see if the steroid inhaler has made her any better. Because the pneumonia is viral, not bacterial, there are no antibiotics or other medicine to treat her with. So we just have to hope her body fights it off and she gets better soon.
In the meantime, the doctor okayed her for school. She is not contagious, she said, because she's been sick for 4 weeks and has no fever. I am trying to get her out of the house at least a little, though if the physical exertion gets to be too much, she tends to have a coughing fit and then throw up. So, MODERATE exercise is what we're aiming for. The last time she threw up was on Mark's birthday, at the table in the restaurant! It was quite a hairy scene. I am sure the other patrons loved it. There were massive volumes of barf coming out. I am proud to say that I cleaned up the whole mess by myself, not leaving anything for the staff other than disinfecting the area (but of course, we left a huge tip).
This blog also needs to record that today Daisy and I met Lars Ulrich and his son at one of our local play destinations. When I first saw Lars, mingling amongst the masses of parents, I thought it was someone I knew-- probably a parent of some child we know. I started combing through my mental image bank to try to place the face. Finally I decided I was wrong and that I didn't know him. And then... somehow, a few minutes later, it clicked into place. Then I heard him speak and I knew it was him (Danish accent, plus very distinctive way of speaking that I recognized). Sad to say, I did NOT say anything to him but tried politely to pretend I didn't recognize him... yeah. My thought was he's out as an ordinary parent, trying to have fun with his child, and he doesn't need fans bothering him. I noticed that no one else seemed to be bothering him, either, and I assume at least some people must have recognized him. I have the feeling San Franciscans are pretty cool customers about celebrities. When I saw Maria Shriver in Angelina's Deli once, everyone in the place recognized her but no one bothered her.
So I'm not sure I can call this a "meeting," as I would my Crist Novoselic meeting, because I never actually acknowledged that I knew who he was. But it was neat. His cute little son and Daisy played together for a little while and Daisy engaged Lars in conversation. He was very nice and I liked the way he spoke to her: totally grownup and direct, taking her seriously. Sometimes adults don't know what to do when Daisy comes up and starts talking to them with all her voluminous words, some of them making sense and some of them not, and I have seen them look baffled and not respond to her. But not Lars Ulrich! They really figured a few things out in their conversation. He is good with kids. He seems like a great dad, too, very much engaged with his child and making things fun.
That makes two Metallica sightings for me, since I also saw Kirk Hammett on Clement Street once. This time, I was 99% positive it was Lars Ulrich but when I got home I googled the name I'd heard him calling the little boy and confirmed he does have a son, between two and three, by that name. Later I asked Daisy if she knew the man she talked to today was a famous drummer. She was as cool as a cucumber, saying, "Yes, I know that. He's a very good drummer." (Ha-- she had no idea. She IS listening to REO Speedwagon right now, though, and she's invented a special dance for "Roll with the Changes" that involves rolling her hands and arms in circles.)
Daisy seemed to do pretty well, but we didn't stay too long. I didn't want her to overdo it. On the drive home, we got stuck for about 45 minutes on the Golden Gate Bridge because of some horrible 5-car accident. I had to do my yoga breathing because I started getting nervous, being stuck in one place on the bridge and really feeling the way it vibrates. I discovered (hahaha) that it is much harder to do that kind of breathing when you are actually panicking, as opposed to just practicing in your spare time.
posted by Sarah Goss at 4:57 PM
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