Yes, this is a book blog, and no, I have not posted a review for my read-a-thon books yet.  Allergies have absolutely felled me this week.  For most allergy sufferers, they know what to expect.  I am not an allergy sufferer, and yet I have never experienced such symptoms as I have this week – sinus pain, congestion, itchy nose, itchy skin, constant sneezing, constant running nose, and now, allergy conjunctivitis.  OTC allergy medicine is not working, so I am left with barely enough energy each evening to make it home and collapse on the couch.  I cannot wait until the wind stops blowing this evil poison all over the world.  I am ready to be able to breathe again and be able to think beyond the constant itching.  This truly sucks to high heaven, and I will never scoff at allergy symptoms again.

Thank you to all of those well-wishers for Holly yesterday.  She made it through the procedure with flying colors and was back to feeling normal by late afternoon.  Granted, we had a scary moment with emergence delirium.  We were brought back to the recovery room to discover her flailing around and sobbing uncontrollably.  She had no idea where she was, who she was, or even who we were.  The nurses could not hold her still to protect her IV, she did not want to come to me, so in the end, Jim held her, and the nurses gave her a narcotic through her IV to help her go back to sleep.  They said this often happens and that extra twenty-five minutes of sleep is enough to have them waking up normally.  This was definitely the case; she was a completely different person after the second wake-up.  Another hour of naps and slowly waking up, and we were home. 

I have to give a shout-out to the nurses, nurse practitioners and doctors at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital.  They were without a doubt some of the friendliest people we have ever found in the medical profession.  Jim and I have gone through this procedure three times with Connor, and we never experienced the care, commitment and thoroughness that we saw today.  They went out of their way to make Holly comfortable, so much so that she was chatting up the nurses on the way to the OR.  Jim and I had no anxiety (well, almost none) because everyone was so open about what to expect, and we were able to be with Holly for all but the procedure itself and shortly thereafter.  If you live in the Cincinnati/Dayton area and have children, I would highly recommend seeking out one of the Cincinnati Children’s locations.  A good doctor is difficult to find, and an entire hospital filled with them is even more so.  Thank you to everyone who helped Holly with her procedure yesterday!  Your care made the entire experience bearable!