Wow, what a crazy few days. For the last couple of months, Bradley has been begging for "Action Canyon Thomas." He saw it in one of his Thomas the Train books and literally begs every time we go anywhere in a sing-songy whiny voice, "Action CANyon THOMas! I wanta da Action Canyon!"Jerry's funeral happened Friday, so Wednesday Daddy had to start taking Bradley all by himself up to Dayton on a two day trip. Bradley had been sick but was on day 3 of antibiotics, and he seemed to be better. Wrong. Wednesday night Daddy and Bradley stayed in a hotel in Lexington, then made the rest of the trip to Dayton Thursday. Thursday, everyone went shopping for dresses for the funeral, and Daddy walked the mall with Bradley. It was too much. By the end of a few hours, he was warm. He had a fever of 101. And, since he's had fever-induced seizures before, of course this sends us into a panic. We leave the mall, buy a thermometer and tylenol and strip him down to a diaper. We force feed him tylenol and everyone (Missy, Missy's friend Kelly, Marcia and Mommy) is running around like maniacs when we get back to Gramma Marcia and Grampa Jerry's house.
Bradley is in a diaper, so a lot of people have car doors open while Marcia goes to try the key to the house. Daddy says, "Close the doors" and apparently someone took that literally and closed a car door on Mommy's hand. It seemed like the hand was broken. Mommy is writhing in pain while everyone is still running around. Daddy wraps Bradley in jackets and takes him up to the door. Remarkably, everyone's keys to the front door mysteriously cease to work. Marcia is trying all the keys, and there is this nice neighbor standing there with a grin on her face and a tupperware container full of meatballs for the funeral while we are all running around like clowns in a circus and Daddy is carrying a diaper-clad, jacket-covered Bradley in thirty degree weather. Daddy takes Bradley back to the car till Mommy can get in through the backdoor.
That night Bradley had a 101 degree fever. Since he was sleeping, and the fever was staying steady, we left him without Tylenol, against Mommy's wishes. But, it worked out, and the fever resolved in the morning. Bradley woke up in the middle of the night, though, coughing, so we all camped out in the living room and watched TV till we got Bradley to go to sleep with Mommy on the air mattress.
The next morning, Bradley is still coughing a bit, but is more active. Daddy decides to take him back to Atlanta -- he can't be around all the people that will be there for the funeral. He needs to rest and can't do that with all the activity around. Plus, he would be a big distraction from what the focus should be, celebrating Jerry. So, after apologizing profusely, Daddy and Bradley set off to Atlanta at 8 AM. The funeral goes on without Bradley or Daddy, and Mommy gives a great speech about her dad.
Bradley is not drinking or eating, so Daddy is scared he will have to stop at a hospital for dehydration. After checking the symptoms of dehydration with Bradley's doctor's office, there are no such signs yet. It's too early to do that.
The doctor changes Bradley's antibiotic over the phone and arranges for a Walgreens' in Knoxville to fill it. Unfortunately, when Daddy pulled up, the Walgreens did not have the medicine in stock ("your doctor called to order it, but didn't ask whether it was in stock" - hi, it's both of your responsibilities to find this out). Bradley is napping, for the second time this road trip. So, Daddy decides to drive the rest of the way, for a total of nine and a half hours driving. Bradley makes it, and has no fever the whole way. He is still coughing, and has drank some juice, thank goodness.
Daddy and Bradley get home at 5:30. Our nanny, CC, has picked up the new antibiotic from our Walgreens. At 6:30, there's a knock on the door. It's the UPS man, who has Bradley's Action Canyon Thomas! It's for Christmas, but screw it, we all need a good break. It is a big project to put together, but Bradley is happy just playing with parts of it.
The next morning, Bradley plays with his new toy. Since Mommy is gone, Daddy got him on video saying, "It's awesome." This was totally unsolicited and Daddy actually thinks it's pretty awesome, too. Video to follow.
Bradley, we know your Grampa Jerry would have wanted you to have your favorite toy at the earliest possible moment, and we can't help but think he might have had just a little to do with getting Bradley home in time to get this wonderful toy. Mission Accomplished. Thanks, Grampa Jerry, and Merry Christmas, big boy!
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