And They're Off!

So the month of November started off with a real bang. At this point, a mere 12 days into it, Reuben and I already feel as though we've been stuck on some demonic treadmill set on high.

For starters, (and this is kind of cheating because it actually happened at the end of October), the bank finally accepted the shortsale offer I got on my house. You'd think that would be a relief, but so far it has proven to be an even more intense game of Wait and See as the anticipation of the buyer actually scheduling his inspections and mortgage appraisals is enough to make me twitchy. To me, it feels like things are getting to close to being down to the wire and it is all I can do to restrain myself from harassing my shortsale realtor on a daily basis.

Then, Reuben applied for and got a promotion at work. Yay! As fantastic as it is that he will be able to update his resume with even more awesome buzz words and accomplishments, his schedule will be a bit of an adjustment. And, thus, so will my own. Once again, just when I get into the swing of things, things change. Damn this whole "such is life" thing. For real, though, kudos to Reuben. I couldn't be more proud.

While applying for his work promotion, Reuben was also applying for a mortgage on a new house for us to move into. So far, so good... And we found a house that we liked enough to make an offer on. But with the sheer idiocy in the current banking and real estate markets, we know better than to relax and feel at ease. If we make it out of this without losing all faith in humanity, I'll be just a tiny bit surprised. We are now perched, wide-eyed, fingertips to mouths, on the edge of our seats waiting to hear if our offer has been accepted so that we can breath again.

Finally, Olivia had what would turn out to be her final visit to the pediatric cardiologist just the other day. She was born with a small heart murmur and had to see a specialist for it last year. Since our insurance changed between then and now, I had to be referred to a different doctor in a different hospital. Had I known for sure what the outcome would be, I may not have griped quite so harshly throughout the entire 75-mile walk from the parking garage, through a maze of busy hospital thoroughfares, down in one elevator, up in another, and down, once again, in a third to the pediatric cardiology suite. My bad. I hate hospitals almost as much as I hate airports.

I was sure we were in for trouble when I pulled onto the hospital grounds and Olivia excitedly bellowed from the back seat "MALL!!!". Oops. Then I discovered that Olivia does not like parking garages at all. I think she was waiting for the horrifying sprayers and blowers of the carwash to descend upon her. Fortunately, I had to park on the roof, and she relaxed as soon as we were in the sunlight, no car cleaning equipment anywhere in sight. Unfortunately, there are about a million levels in the parking garage, so it took quite a while to emerge onto the roof.

When we at last made it to the cardiology suite, I was prepared for the frustration of a long wait, tests, more waiting, maybe more tests, and probably even more waiting before being told that everything sounded just fine but she would need to be seen for a follow up in 6 months (our doctors LOVE follow-up visits. I think they're lonely and just like to chat. Couldn't have anything to do with our excellent health insurance.). Thankfully, I was wrong about most of that. It did take a while for the doctors and nurses to gather all of the information that they needed, but things moved relatively quickly and efficiently. Since it is a teaching hospital, we were met by a resident. He was very thorough and nice, and it was actually kind of neat when we finally met with the actual Pediatric Cardiologist to watch him teach his resident about the minor things he missed. Ultimately, the good news is that Olivia's heart murmur seems to have closed on its own and no further action is required. The doctor did detect two other murmurs, (which are so common and non-threatening that they are known as "Innocent Murmurs" and the pamphlet about them is one page long) but said there was nothing to worry about with regard to her heart at all. Olivia was an absolute dream child throughout the entire exam, charmed everybody in the place, and even let me take some pictures of her without yanking the camera from my hands.

What will the next two weeks bring? And will this treadmill ever stop?

Some photos of the "Best Patient of the Day":

This is Olivia's new version of a smile. Ever since she became addicted to the drug most commonly known as Baby Einstein, she mimics one of the kids in the video who smiles like this. I thought for sure she'd be pulling the EKG stickers off her chest, but she didn't seem to mind them at all.

As we waited for the doctor to come in for a chat, Olivia happily scribbled away on the exam table's paper sheet. That actually worked out so well, I am considering buying one of these for our new house. I don't care what the neighbors think on moving day.

Olivia listened intently to what the student doctor was explaining. I think she had a crush. Everything he said seemed to fascinate her. Now, how best to nurture having crushes on doctors instead of death metal headbangers?

Olivia thought the heart ultrasound was the best part of the day. Probably because I was letting her play with my camera for the most part. But a tiny bit of me hopes it was because she is destined to become a scientist of some sort...