Tired Texas Travels

Grumpy grumpy sickness. Tired and sick kids, tired mommy.

I've been back from Texas for a week and I'm still exhausted. For those of you who don't know, I went to Texas for a work CE (continuing education) trip. I went to a conference called IVECCS (International Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care Symposium). It was pretty awesome- learned a whole lot, became motivated to better myself as a technician, saw a fun city... but the entire time I was there I was sick. Starting the morning I was scheduled to fly to Texas, I woke up with both eyes practically glued shut. PINK EYE! And it was raging. My eyes were red, eyelids swollen, and totally disgusting with massive eye crusties. Ick. Pink Eye aside I showered, got dressed, and did a saline nasal rinse before leaving the house -- sinuses were NOT okay. Green is not a good color for snot (though it is my favorite color all together). Epic fail on the sickness home front, especially since I am about to be in not one, but TWO planes.

During the entire trip my sinuses were clogged with massive quantities of green gunk, my eyes remained pretty swollen and red despite antibiotic treatment, and my head felt about 3 times its normal size. I still went to classes, saw the sites of San Antonio, and had fun with my coworkers. I slept terribly during the trip - nice combo of new place, noisy air conditioning, and sickness. I felt a tiny bit better once I was on my way home, aside from the fact that during the last plane ride my right ear decided to clog completely, leaving me unable to hear from that ear (well, if I tipped my head down I heard a whooshing sound, similar to listening to a shell at the beach).

On a side note: during my trip my son was being treated for a double ear infection with Amoxi drops. He had been waking up multiple times crying in the middle of the night, was snotty nosed and coughing. This was going on for 2 weeks prior to my trip - which meant that for 2 weeks prior to the trip I was getting no sleep. Once I returned from the trip my son was STILL waking in the night, crying, coughing, etc. I took him for a recheck on Saturday and he has a resistant double ear infection and is now on yet another antibiotic (and one he HATES the taste of) for another 10 days. Here we are after 4 days of treatment and he is STILL crying in the middle of the night, fluid draining from his ears. Time to call the doctor again.

I think I just need a little more sleep. And a lot more coffee. But today I made my last cup of coffee to just spill it all over the floor. Fail for me.

I did manage to lose some weight prior to my trip - not as much as I wanted to - but I lost 5 pounds before going to Texas. I'm pretty sure I've gained a few back (Texas = fried food central) but at least I know I seem to be capable of losing SOME weight on my own. Just finished eating my overnight oats for breakfast prior to starting this blog, so one meal down and 2 to go. The McDonalds last night didn't help but I was exhausted on my way home and I had the kids to myself, as I do the rest of the week. Hubby is working OT at work (awesome) but it sucks to do it all yourself when you are so pooped out. *yawn*

I learned a lot about myself and other people during my trip to Texas. Some problems came to a head, so to speak, and I have been racking my brain over and over with simple questions. See, I'm a nice person. I'm not saying I'm ALWAYS nice and perfect, but I do feel like generally I'm a nice and caring person. I like to get along with people, do nice things for others, and make people happy. This is just my nature. So it is puzzling for me to know people who are different than I am. People that don't strive to be happy, people that seem to feed on negativity, and people who are kind to your face but mean behind your back. I don't understand those kinds of people. If I don't like someone, I'm not going to waste the time and energy to talk bad about them or be two faced. What's the point of that? I know that not everyone is a "giver" but I don't understand people who would rather live in such negativity, instead of just putting a damn smile on their faces.

On that note I'm off to be a mom and do my motherly-home-body duties - like cleaning this pig-pen style house. Ick. Toddlers are gross sometimes. Things get so messy so quickly.