He put a new song in my mouth

“Have Yourself a Peace and Justice Christmas” (to the tune of "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”). Thanks Soujourners!

Have Yourself a Peace and Justice Christmas

Have yourself a peace and justice Christmas,
Set your heart a-right.
Flee the malls and focus on Christ’s guiding light.

Have yourself a peace and justice Christmas,
Give your time a way.
Share God’s love, And serve “the least of these” today.

Here we are, as we pray for peace,
We’ll live simply and give more.
We care for those far and near to us,
Which brings cheer to us, once more.

God brings down
The haughty from high places,
And lifts up the low.
God cares for the hungry and the humble, so –
Forget the stress and let the peace and justice flow!

The ER Visit RANT -part 2

So... after that enormous rant... it was not really over.

See... about a week after the visit Astrid & Gus both started having sniffles and then a cough. No big deal. Then the Wednesday night before Thanksgiving as I was getting everything perfect and the kids were sleeping... Astrid woke up and said she could not breathe. She started throwing up and it was really scary! I tried to keep her calm... she was breathing... just really afraid and I think her throat kind of felt like it was closing up. I got her to go into the bathroom to breathe steam and she threw up some more. Her fever started to climb. And she soon had a high fever over 102. I gave her water and soon she had calmed down and slowly went back to sleep.
She calmed down but I felt uneasy. I had had RSV symptoms drilled down my throat from Gus' stay in the NICU. Plus his lungs were not fully developed when he was born which put him at higher risk. I had heard horror stories of RSV causing young babies to not breathe and weeks and months in Texas Childrens because of it. When we had taken the infant CPR class the instructor had told us that RSV causes a mucus plug to form and that plug in older kids can be coughed up or thrown up but in tiny babies they can not and this is what causes them to stop breathing.

I had this feeling... deep inside. My kids were sick, but it was no ordinary cold or flu.
Sure enough on Thanksgiving day... Astrid's temp climbed to over 103 and Gus just still had a cough and started sounding a little "rattley". I did what is very uncharacteristic of me... I took my kids to the doc. I mean I do take my kids to the doc... but not unless they are really sick and not with a virus. I have a motto... "The less I take them to the doc the less they are sick" and it is true.

When we walked into the docs office I told her about the ER and I told her about my kids symptoms and I told her I thought that it might be RSV. She went ahead and swabbed Gus' nostrels. Astrid's lungs were good, Gus had a rattle. He had RSV.
I said "I knew it" almost in a happy way.... which I guess was weird. But I just was happy that I trusted my instincts and acted on them. I knew my kids were very sick.

Gus was sent home with a breathing treatment (Albuteral) and Astrid was sent home with some ways to make her more comfortable as she got well. She told me what to look for as far as Gus... when not breathing from the virus (normal) becomes not getting enough oxygen and requires emergency care.

He has been fine... it has been just over a week and he hardly needs the breathing treatments. Neither of them ever developed any infections... no bronchitis or pneumonia. We are very lucky and very blessed. I have it now... but it is not a big deal with adults... usually not as bad as the flu. I would call it cold like.

But it could have been much worse. RSV can make children stop breathing or easily hospitalize them... esp very young kids under a year. And all of this from visiting the ER. I know that is where we caught it. The symptoms fit the incubation period perfectly. And even after the diagnoses... the doc said she would still take her kids to Texas Childrens over other hospitals. I ask again... REALLY? This is the best we can do? Am I wrong in thinking it could be/ should be better? What are we really talking about here...

1. That people (all people) should be able to get adequate health care... esp for their kids.
   
2. That an ER should be more about the care of people then checking them in and running them through.
   
3. That kids who are showing signs of communicable disease should not be placed next to kids who are healthy or for that matter sick.
   
4. That people who are attending to the sick as they wait should be courteous, caring, and compassionate... instead of jaded, cold, and bureaucratic.
   
5. That there should never be a back log on a week night that looks like a war zone.
6. That only people with actual emergencies would have to go to emergency rooms... not people who have no other option to care for their kids.
   

Too much to ask? I do not think so! This is the state of our "health care" (even does not do a good job of bringing health or caring for us) system and it will only get worse until it is fixed.
It will effect more and more of us. More and more of the small percentage of people who are isolated from it like me. Until we get tired of it and decided we want something more.

New Era

OK I have to catch up the blog.
It has been a busy couple of weeks so here I go on a whirlwind blog session.


First of all... the week of Nov 4, Election day. We literally moved the week of the election. As I drove back and forth from our suburban 4 bedroom in a older area of West Houston to our new home right in the heart of Montrose... I realized that this was not just a new era for the country... but a marked historical moment for the Yeager family. Let me tell you the whole story...

We moved to West Houston/ Katy to help with James days after my mom died. We knew that he would need us and so we moved close enough to him for him to ride his bike over to our apartment. This was in April of 2000. Do you see where I am going with this? I got pregnant, and then Bush won the election... I voted for another candidate who shall remain nameless... but lets just say I knew my vote in Katy would not count so I voted for "someone" who was a long shot but I felt my vote would be at least "seen" voting for him. I was really saddened at the results of the election. I had actually voted against Bush and been heartbroken one time already... When he (as far as I am concerned) unexpectedly stole the Governor race from the beloved Ann Richards! Which by the way was my first election to vote in... so my entire voting life has been spent voting against Bush only to loose. :( Sour grapes! Then I had Astrid in January of 2001, 9 11 happened, and another Bush election... this time seriously heartbreaking because of what I KNEW this election stood to loose. And indeed in those 4 years we did loose all that I had feared and more. During the 2004 election Vyk and I felt like fish out of water in the Katy area... a VERY pro Republican / right wing area of town. It felt like we were alone in our grief.

So, as you can imagine... when I realized that I was moving right as the new president came to office it seemed a bit well timed. I guess you could accuse me of siding with the ruling party... or at least living among them... but I promise that is not the case. I do however feel like our move is timed with the rest of the country and is a predictor of the new climate of America.
All of the sudden themes of this blog are making headlines... becoming free of debt and living on less is a requirement as we learn how our greed has made a gigantic mess of things.

In the larger picture our move mirrors the climate of the country... but from our small perspective... the change the country is seeking is mirroring ours. The rejoicing and sense of hope brought on by this election and this inauguration is mirroring the hope we feel in our new home and as we plan for our major change and flat living.

So, if you did not vote for Obama and you are feeling a sense of loss... feeling afraid because of all the questions this win stirs up for the future of the country... sorry. But, honestly... I have felt that for a very long time and it is about time someone besides me felt it!
Take a short moment and even in your sadness... be a little happy for me and my family. For our hope, change, and joy. Then you can go right back to being bummed.