Part 89 ~ The Adventures of King Ben & Zeus the Big Dumb Dog

If you missed the start of this series, you can find it here. A lot of things will be the same or very similar.

Let’s start with the sunset, shall we?

Ben only ate three or four pieces of his white chicken (tied for favorite with steak) and kept saying he was ready for bedtime. Daughter gave him his night meds (we omitted the melatonin, recommended by his doctor, and only gave the prescription meds) and he immediately vomited. DANG! She cleaned him up and tucked him in. He was asleep before 6pm.

Then he was back up at 9:35pm. I was writing an email, had cooked my food but not eaten yet. I tried to get him to go back to his room but he wasn’t having it. Zeus went back to Ben’s room for a little while, but came slinking in again like the previous night. Ben went back to sleep in my bed just before 10pm.

I ate my food as soon as I finished the email, then I took my pill and prepared to sleep while I could. I was drifting and about to cross into serious sleep when Younger texted me at 10:30pm. DANG IT! She was asking about Ben so I had to answer. (I had to answer anyway, we always answer each other, even if it’s a “can’t chat now” or just an emoji.) I let her know he was getting better but was in bed with me. I dozed again…

And got woken up to Ben commanding me to the living room. I told him it was too early, if he needed to go potty then go and come back to my bed. Back and forth a few times until he said “Gramma come living room. Please, please, PLEASE!” Obviously it was a matter of life or death, so I got up and started grabbing all the stuff, his and mine, and going to the living room… it was 11:55pm.

He went to the bathroom then settled on the couch. He wanted coke, but Daughter doesn’t want him to have it, so I gave him Sprite instead. I don’t understand her thinking, it’s not the sugar she says… I think it’s more about how the dark soda looks when he vomits than anything else. Whatever… not gonna argue, gave him the Sprite, checked for fever by touch, he felt cool enough so I settled onto the chaise part with the Big Dummy under my legs.

It was a long, rough night of broken sleep for me and Ben. Zeus slept fine. I got a rando robo-text at 5:00am and that woke me up. I just stayed awake from then. Ben woke up around 5:30 with glassy eyes and red cheeks. I checked his temperature… 99.3 (37.4c) so I grabbed a couple ibuprofen.

But first, he wanted to go back to my room. So again with the moving of the stuff. In times like these I’m glad our house is small. Settled in my room, I got him to swallow two ibuprofen. He kept them down. I checked him temp again a little while later and it was 99.1 (37.3c) going down, good. Daughter had gotten up while we were in the living room and I had given her the info of the night. She met us in my room. She was nervous about her first day and worried about Ben.

I got his morning meds ready and gave them to him around 6:45. I wanted to make sure the ibuprofen wasn’t upsetting his stomach. He took the crushed meds mixed with water and seemed okay for a few seconds. Then it seemed like he made himself vomit. I kept telling him to breathe, not throw up, keep the meds in, just breathe but in the end, I’m not sure if any of the meds made it into his system.

He wanted to move back to the living room, so we all moved again. I uncovered Sven and turned his lights on.

Daughter went to get dressed and ready, I got the last cup of coffee and made more. Then I realized the half & half was almost gone and the milk had gone bad. DANG! DANG! DANG! I put on shoes & grabbed my mask and went over to the corner market. It’s nice that it’s practically next door. I had my coffee stuff, I had stuff for Ben, we were ready for our day at home alone. Neither of us felt like throwing a rockin’ kegger though… maybe later.

At 7:30 we went out and got in the car. Ben didn’t want to go. Daughter didn’t want to go. I wasn’t particularly pleased with the idea. Three unhappy people headed toward the hospital. I decided to take surface streets instead of hopping onto and off of the freeway. I didn’t think there’d be traffic but there’s a lot of merging and a different freeway exit all right there. Daughter doesn’t drive and she’s phobic about cars in general. I was trying to avoid scaring her with Idjit SoCal drivers.

We made it in time, said goodbye, wished her a good first day and came home. Shoes off and resettled on the couch. Which is pretty much where we stayed.

I texted Daughter with periodic updates, she texted on her break. She was mostly just hanging out for the first couple of hours. The manager with her login info for the hospital intranet was holed up in his office, busy. I tried to get Ben to eat something, he wasn’t interested. He was very lethargic. I took his temperature several times and it was always in the “normal” range.

At 10:30 I gave him his med in whole pill form. It’s coated and the same size as the ibuprofen he’s been swallowing. He took it and kept it down with no problems. I also brushed his teeth since he didnt do it last night and they were funky. He still wasn’t eating or really drinking that much. I kept handing him his water bottle and he’d take a drink and set it down.

He started getting restless around 11:30. Something had spilled and his nightgown was damp. He wanted to change and came out of his room with his vest and tie. The jacket and white button-down shirt were hanging up outside. I had air dried them when we did laundry.

Daughter called right after he came out with the vest and tie, she was on her lunch break. Ben kept asking for a police car and I told him, then I put the phone on speaker and Daughter told him, that she was at work. No police cars at Mommy’s work. He told Daughter “Speak to Gramma” and pushed the phone away. He’s just still not well. Daughter was crying. She hates being at work while he’s sick, even though she knows there’s nothing she could do if she was here. I told her I’d keep her updated and tried to reassure her, but it’s just sucky to have to be at work when your kids are sick.

It was after noon when we got off the phone. I decided to do the half Adderall and try to talk him through NOT vomiting. I used a very little amount of water in the syringe and let the half pill break down. (They break down fast and easily. I didn’t want to have him try to swallow it and have it get stuck) I gave him the med and he was holding it in his mouth, starting to gag himself. I told him to swallow it. He did. Then I told him to take a drink. He did. I said “No throwing up.” He didn’t. I think it was becoming a habit more than an actual problem with his stomach.

He switched from wanting a police car to telling me to get dressed and go to the store… yadda yadda yadda. I told him I couldn’t go anywhere, I had to stay with Ben. He was still restless and unhappy, but too lethargic to really DO anything. I asked if he wanted to put the shirt, vest, tie & jacket on? He said yes, so I put them on him. I did not get the long pants.

He was sitting by my left shoulder, watching his tablet half heartedly and he fell asleep. Good. He’d had a rough night and had been awake since 5:30 or 6:00 which is a long stretch for him during this illness. I thought rest would be good for him.

I let him sleep until 2:20. I crushed up the two half pills that are his 2:00 dose and mixed with water in the syringe. I talked him through taking the meds and taking a drink of Sprite after. He did great. No vomiting. His eyes were still red and glassy. I took his temperature… 98.4 (36.8c) so “normal”.

I pushed him to drink water and try to eat. He ate one piece of cereal and I had to put long pants on him for that. The water got him shoes and socks. So, he was fully dressed in his “Willy Wonka” get up (or Sweeney Todd depending on the day)… goes great with his dirty, unbrushed, jacked up hair. Whatever, right?

He started to fall asleep again around 3:00. Daughter is supposed to be off at 4:30, so I planned on keeping him awake. I made him sit up and gave him a few drinks of diet coke. He stayed sitting up but was doing the nod like a toddler in a high chair. Poor punkin! I made him lay back down.

I woke him up at 4:15 and got him to go to the bathroom. He wanted to bring a hockey stick to use as a cane (he’s the Gene Wilder Willy Wonka) so we brought the hockey stick. When he started wobbling I thought it was real. He got worse and I was having trouble holding onto him. I had my hand on his back and he was leaning into it until he fell. Then he sat there. Ugh! I asked if he was done, if we could go get his mother? He agreed and I held out a hand to help him up. I got him buckled into the car and off we went.

The timing was perfect, we pulled up right after Daughter texted that she was done. Her first day was okay. There are still some I.T. issues, but aren’t there always?! She said she at least knows where to go. I said “Yeah! It’s better when you know where all your classes are and who your teachers are.” We got home, Ben came in and collapsed on the couch. He’s still tired.

Ben seems at times to better and at others not so great. Whatever is causing this has hit him hard. I just hope we’re doing the right things. I don’t know what more a doctor or urgent care could do for him except IV fluids and I don’t think he’s severely dehydrated yet. I guess we’ll watch and wait for a little while longer. He’s comfortable and safe at home.

So, that’s it for today. Here’s tonight’s song…

Thanks for hanging out with us today. Not very exciting but that’s okay. Come on by tomorrow, Ben and I will have the house to ourselves again. Maybe he’ll feel like partying tomorrow. Ya just never know at Casa Cuckoo.

.

.

HUGS!

.

.