Lucky

Bit of a tough couple of days to be honest. The past two days have been the most stressful I've had in quite a while. Let's break it down bullet style! These are listed in order of stress level. Least worrisome to sick to my stomach.

• Work sucks and is stressing me out like crazy but that one goes without saying.
• Liam's upcoming first birthday open house is quickly coming and there is so much left to do to get ready. Christmas has taken a backseat to the 26th's festivities and we have not pulled out the christmas decorations yet. Spending last christmas in the hospital has us a little rusty and we are far short of christmas cheer.
  
• Insurance snafu brought on by a clerical error at my employer's payroll department was still unresolved until last night. Spent all week hoping that it would be fixed before we ran completely out of a couple of Liam's meds. One of which is close to $900 for 2 doses which we would have had to pay out of pocket and hope that it got reimbursed when the error was fixed. I made phone calls all day everyday trying to fix an error that was made in an office three states away from where I work and trying to get 6 different companies and entities to co-ordinate their information. It is fixed, for now but it will be a while before I trust that things are being covered correctly and this will only lead to more time spent on the phone just making sure things are right. Awesome. [Side note on this. People I have spoken to about this who are in pretty good health never seem to think that its that big a deal. "the paperwork will get fixed" they say. "Its a no brainer, once they see its not your fault it'll be fixed right away" They say. This is naive thinking. The only priority for my large insurance company who will remain nameless is to spend as little money on Liam as they can. That's how they stay in business. They are and always will be looking for a reason to drop us from their coverage due to the fact that Liam's lifelong medical needs will cost them enormous amounts of money. The threat of them denying me future coverage because of Liam's "pre-existing condition" (namely - birth) was very, very real. The for profit Insurance based health care system in this country is severely broken]
• Liam got his RSV vaccine yesterday and his H1N1 booster today. That's a lot of shots for Liam in two days and it didn't take long to see it really mess him up. It seems that according to his neurologist, both vaccines can reduce the effectiveness of his seizure meds while also inducing more seizures. He had seven seizures yesterday and to be honest I have lost count of how many today. (He had 2 in the time it took me to write this post) Hopefully this wears off tomorrow or the next day as it should but it is difficult to see him so uncomfortable so often. The worst part is that other than picking him up and snuggling him through it, there is nothing we can do to help him feel better. Add to that the fact that it is suggested we not give him tylenol tonight because it reduces the effect of the H1N1 vaccine; poor kid's head must be pounding.

I guess that's the extent of my list and in the grand scheme of things I have very little to complain about. My boy is at home and not in the hospital. I have a job in these very trying economic times. I have the weekend off from said job. My son's condition forces me to pick him up all the time to hug him and snuggle him and rub his head and comfort him. His first christmas and birthday are fast approaching and both are going to be wonderful celebrations of how far he's come. Liam just fell asleep in my arms and Garden State just started on cable. On second thought, I guess I've got things going pretty well. Happy holidays everyone.