Various Updates ( Including Brazilian Burglary Story) & Tiring Day

D= day
U= update

D: We all have been sick and coughing, but today Linton got worse. He started "wheezing" in the morning and had trouble breathing.

U: My parents' situation is slowly getting sorted out. The family of the deceased man is not suing and their attorney, who's a young man, the son of one of Gilberto's former clients, only wants to negotiate an indemnity to help the family.

D: I scheduled a sick visit at our new pediatrician's office. The 1 p.m. time meant that the day was ruined since I couldn't really accomplish much with a doctor's visit right in the middle of the day.

U: My parents are retired, but they have many benefits provided by their former employer (a religious organization), including health, car, home, and other insurances. They found out that this insurance will pay for the compensation that is negotiated between the attorneys. Isn't that great?

D: I ended up waiting for ONE HOUR at the doctor's office (20 minutes of the delay was caused by my inability to hand back the forms I was filling out right away) and Linton was hungry and having more and more trouble breathing -- how fun!

U: My aunt and uncle who are pictured here just suffered a spectacular burglary in Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil. One of their "adopted" granddaughters who lives here in the U.S. gave them a brand new fancy refrigerator and a plasma TV for their 50th wedding anniversary (see link above). They came back home from a weekend away and found the house had been broken into and not only the fridge and the plasma TV, but many other items had been stolen. The thieves came in through the back wall (very high, but with a ceiling from the attached laundry and barbecue rooms at the back) and probably brought in a truck (opening the two gates with the remote control found inside the house) to carry their loot. Unbelievable!

D: Linton did not have an asthma attack, his lungs are clear. The doctor said that from the sound of his cough it's probably croup and gave us a prescription for a steroid that is to be taken for three days. We finally left 1h30 after getting there and we were almost late for picking up Kelvin in school. Oh, I forgot to mention that I had to pick him up because K had gone to Philly to meet with the im*migration attorneys.

U: Because of the burglary my aunt and uncle, who are absolutely traumatized, don't ever want to leave their house unoccupied again, so my parents had to travel to Curitiba to house-sit for them. It's good distraction, but at the same time my dad probably needs psychological counseling or even anti-depressants to feel better about his personal tragedy.

D: While the boys watched their alloted two PBS shows Linton got worse and worse and started crying. I called the pharmacy, but since it's a new prescription and new pharmacy to us, we had to go there in person :( I had to spend some 20 minutes telling the boys that no, they couldn't have that gum, or those crackers, or those silly Christmas things... I gave Linton the steroid then and there (around 4:30 p.m.) knowing full well that we may be up all night with an Energizer Bunny boy... Oh well, if he can feel better, that's all that matters.

U: I'll write more posts about this later, but it looks like we're not going to apply for re*sidency just yet. We'll remain in "limbo-land" visa-wise for a while longer... who know for how long. Who knows if we'll remain in this country. Whatever. More on that later, promise.

D: Linton didn't feel better right away, kept on crying, complaining that he couldn't breathe, and asking for a nebulizer treatment, so I complied. He's better now and daddy's home, so I was finally able to come pay my dues to the GloBloPoMo authorities ;) While I held my complaining son I read the steroid's patient prescription information and it says one should take it BEFORE 9 a.m. so I guess we're in for a wild ride tonight. I told K we're taking turns. I remember full well one night with 12 months old Kelvin who was hospitalized for wheezing and took steroids around 5 p.m. -- I spent hours with him playing at the awesome hospital toy kitchen and pulling him around the hallways on one of the hospital's several wagons. At least tonight I'm home and there's the consolation of the internet, and... cover letters that need to be finished :(

P.S. Good think I had frozen food (mostly from Trader Joe's) for our "meals" today...