Julie Asks – Am I an Adult Yet?

I am sitting here, blogging away, because I don’t know how else to busy myself.  Normally, I would be in bed by now (it’s past 10, after all) likely asleep not to awaken until the shrill of the alarm shakes me awake.  Tonight, however, I am busying myself waiting for the phone to ring.

We spent the day at the pool today with the kids and two other families/close friends and their kids.  Harrison and his friend Matt left early to go help out a friend from school with a “social action” afternoon followed by pizza and music back at his house.  (His parents have sponsored this activity for the past two or three years.  They are better people than I.)  Around nine Harrison finally called to be collected and all was fine.  Something changed, however, in those fifteen minutes between being picked up and getting home.  He walked in the house looking shorter (have I mentioned that he is as tall as I am now?), lankier and paler than usual.  He was holding his head strangely and plopped in the big chair with the announcement that his neck hurt.  It hurt down to his chest.  He couldn’t move his neck.  He (and he will kill me for blogging this) started to cry.  This is horribly out of character for him so I did what any suddenly wigged out parent would do…I called the doctor.  

Fortunately, the on-call is our doctor (A really good thing.  I question the competency of some of the others in the rotation.  Particularly the one who, every time we see him for a sick visit, writes out a prescription for Harrison Ford.  Really.  He’s done it four times.  It stopped being funny the second time) and, after talking to Rich and putting Harrison through a few diagnostic exercises sent us off to the ER.

Since Georgie is very much asleep (and I would never, ever, ever, unless the house was on fire, wake him up for any reason) Rich played EMT and put Harrison in the car.  Now I am waiting, helplessly, for word from them as to what is going on. I suspect it is going to be a long night and I hope I don’t have to wake someone up to come stay with Georgie.  The last time Harrison went willingly to the ER he had an appendectomy within two hours.  I know it isn’t his appendix, but don’t yet know what it is.

Here’s one of those moments when I realize that I am the adult.  Not sure I like it. 

12 midnight update: Doesn’t appear to be Meningitis.  Checking for an esophogeal break…what?!?! and Mono.  He was seen right away because of his symptoms.  Ugh.