Pre-party

Buoyed by our semi-successful outing on Friday night, we thought we'd go really crazy and attempt a Halloween-themed leaving the house after 5:00 p.m. a second night in a row.

So we checked out the Halloween event down at Seaport Village on Saturday night.  She had a really good time, and Elmo was clearly a hit.  In fact, she was somehow the only Sesame Street-costumed child we saw the whole time.

Here are some teaser pics.  If you want more, you need to send me your email so you can be added to the (infamous?) photo email list.

Yes, sweetheart, the man with the straw nipples (per Matt) is mocking your fear.

After her first stop, we told her we were going to another shop for more.  "Why?" she asked.  "I have some candy right here!"

Sour Dum-Dums for the walk home

And blue teeth.

And then today I had an utterly humiliating (well, in my opinion, and probably only humiliating to me) experience.  We were three-fourths of the way through Strides class, and had just finished some sprint repeats.  Everyone had joined in a rousing rendition of "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" for a quick recovery, and by the time I got to "shoulders" I realized that I was having some serious difficulty breathing.  What the hell?

I've been fighting some kind of bug for the past few days, but ended up having a mildly successful 8 miler on Saturday without any dire respiratory stress.  With a day off on Sunday, and regular class today, it didn't seem like I should be feeling badly.  But I couldn't take a deep breath.  I felt like I had a tickle in the back of my throat, and kept coughing.  Water did nothing.  Cough cough cough.  Tightness.  Whoa.

The song finished, and everyone headed to the Botanical Garden for some ab work.  As we walked there, I tried to focus on getting my heart rate down (now elevated due to my anxiety about breathing -- talk about working against yourself).  Even though I don't have asthma, I felt like I was having an asthma attack, or what I assumed one would feel like.  I had been prescribed an inhaler after my last bout with bronchitis, but threw it away a few weeks ago thinking I'd never need it again.  Dumb!  I could have so used it.

We got to the Botanical Garden, and I decided we just needed to be done.  I didn't want to tell the instructor, because I didn't want any overreaction on her part.  Of course we ran to class, so the car was back at home.  I decided, though, since this was so out of left field, I needed to be checked out.  So after calling Matt, we walked Balboa [Medical Center] which was maybe a half mile from where we were in the park.  [Ed. note: The Navy does not have Urgent Care.  It's the ER or nothing, and people go to that ER for, I swear, headaches and stuffy noses.]

Bug was not pleased.  "Mama, where we going?  Mama, do abs?  Mama, why not do abs?  Mama, are we going to the playground?  Mama, where did our friends go??"

We got there and checked in.  Of course because I was complaining of breathing problems and chest pain (maybe from frantically coughing for ten minutes??) I had my first ever EKG.  It was unremarkable.

After FOUR AND A HALF HOURS of being alone with a toddler (deprived of lunch and a nap, I must add) in an Emergency Room, a chest X-ray, a shift change that added an additional half hour (my estimate), a botched blood draw that had to be re-done, and a questionably necessary second EKG, I was sent home.  My diagnosis? An allergic reaction to the wind.  The Santa Ana winds, to be precise.

The second attending doctor finally saw me at like 4:00 (we had checked in at 10:40-ish).  With my completely normal EKG(s), normal blood work, sunny disposition (my assessment), and resting heart rate of 54, he wasn't terribly concerned.  "When did you move here?" he asked me.
"Last December."
"Ah, so you weren't here during the winds last year."
"No?" I was confused.  He then sneezed three times in a row, while sitting about a foot away from me. I hate sneezing.
"It's the same thing that's attacking me right now," he said.  "The Santa Ana winds bring in all sorts of crap from the desert.  My best guess is that you had some kind of allergic reaction to it, bringing on something similar to an asthma attack."

This made sense to me.  The horizon has been stained an eerie yellow-orange lately, and the air looks (and tastes) dirty.

And with that, he was done.  I was also told by the intern that my chest X-ray revealed that I have some kind of extra curve to my chest cavity that can cause chest pain.  After the four chest X-rays I've had previously, this is the first time this had been shared with me.

So I have a prescription for an inhaler (which I will try and not throw away) and instructions to follow up with primary care, which means I should probably find a primary care doctor out here.  And I feel like a gigantic ass because I went to the ER because it was more or less windy.

(In my defense, which I suppose is only in defense to myself, my chest still kind of feels funny, and it is totally gross outside)

And then Bug got a big fat cookie for being such a good girl the whole afternoon.  I don't understand it.  She can't control herself for ten minutes inside Target, or hell, put her shoes on without negotiation, but she can behave herself in situations like today.  Hmpf!