Falling apart at six years old!

Oh, little man has had a time of it lately! Just after Christmas, he was sounding kinda croupy. Hubs took a day off work and got him to the doctor. The pediatrician said he sounded like he had a lot of congestion in his lungs, so he put him on an antibiotic and prescribed the use of a nebulizer three times a day.

Now, we'd never used a nebulizer before. It's basically a steam machine that attaches to a mask worn over the nose and mouth. The machine converts a liquid medicine into vapor, which can then be inhaled to better treat sinus infections. Clay didn't love it, and he hated the steam that rose from the mask, complaining that it got into his eyes. Sooooo, we put his swim goggles on him. He looked a little bit like a junior Darth Vader in training.

Around that same time, he lost a filling in one of his back teeth. I took a half day off to take him to the dentist, but between his coughing and his refusal to let her treat him, we didn't get the filling replaced. So that was a wash. We've rescheduled for early February. 

Then, a couple of weeks ago, the child woke up with pink eye. I heaved a sigh, canceled my 11 a.m.-1 p.m. meeting, and drove him back to the doctor's office. A quick check revealed that it was, indeed, pink eye, and Dr. Joe prescribed two drops of medicine in each eye, three times a day. When we got back home, we had perhaps the biggest throw down we've ever had to get the drops in his eyes. It was much like wrestling a cat in a lake. 

Once we got the pink eye under control, he came home from school with red, chapped hands. (Someone wasn't wearing his gloves on the playground, choosing instead to plunge his hands into the ice-cold rock and fine dirt mixture that covers the ground there. Lovely.) So, we started lubing his hands up in the morning and at night, sending a plea to his teacher via text to keep his gloves on him when we has out on the playground. 

A couple of nights ago, as I finished putting lotion on his hands, he said, "Mom, my butt hole hurts." 

I took a long look at him and told him he was going to have to heal himself. I just cannot deal with another disease-ridden part of him right now. It's been one thing after another for weeks now, and dad is just going to have to take this one. I am officially tapping out. 

Lawd, have mercy!