I'M TOO DARN SICK, SO I JUST DON'T CARE

[WARNING: THIS IS A LONG POST WHERE I FELT THE NEED TO RAMBLE ON AND ON AND ON... I TEND TO DO THIS SOMETIMES.]

As I have mentioned in previous posts, I came home from my lovely vacation in Key West to 2 kids with strep throat, and one with a bad head cold. Fun stuff. I have spent the past week taking care of my sick kids, snuggling them, taking temps, wiping runny noses, administering the yucky pink amoixicillan to the ones with strep, tylenol to the one with the head cold, you get the idea.

Most often when I have sick kids, I do not think much about getting sick myself, as I am too busy taking care of them for it to cross my mind. So when I began to get a bit of a sore throat along with a case of the sneezies (intermittent periods during the day where all I do is sneeze) on Sunday I thought nothing of it, passing it off as springtime allergies rearing their ugly head. But Sunday evening things seemed to change a bit. I was sitting on the couch watching some T.V. with Mr. Shelton when my head started to fill up. I was feeling a bad headache coming on, and I all of a sudden could not breathe out of my nose. I was coming down with something, most likely strep throat. Darn.

The next morning I woke up feeling extra horrible - unable to eat breakfast or drink my much needed cup of coffee due to my throat being so horribly sore. I watched Brian head out the door to work and almost wanted to weep as I knew I was in store for a looooong day at home with 4 kids. (they did not have school, perfect timing, right?)

I decided this was not going to go away on it's own, and that I needed to make a trip to the Dr. I hated to go to the Dr. with 4 kids in tow, but it had to be done - I was miserable and in desperate need of some drugs. I made it to the Dr. got my throat culture, found out I indeed had strep - all the while Anthony was running around the office with his Darth Vader mask on yelling "I'm Dak Vada! I'm Dak Vada!!" Lucas and Anthony kept pushing eachother off of the chair they both wanted to sit on, all the while yelling back and forth at eachother. To top it off, Olivia fell over, hit her head on the hard floor and began screaming. Fun right? I simply gave a long drawn out sigh and went on my way. I was just too darn sick and really did not care.

Now I had another stop I had to make, WalMart pharmacy for my prescription. I knew this would not be a good one as pretty much everytime we enter a WalMart or Target I immediately here the "I want that! Oh - I want that! Please, Please!!!" I hate this, so I tend to never bring the kids to either of these stores unless I absolutely have to.

And today I absolutely had to.

This is where it got a bit hairy.... I was waiting patiently in line to drop off my prescription which was beginning to take a long time (that's WalMart for you), when the kids started to get impatient and began climbing on the cart, running around it, trying to get under it. Doing pretty much anything they could on the cart for entertainment. I decided to let them have at it as they were not causing much of a rucus and honestly I did not want to fight with them, I was too darn sick and I just did not care. When it was finally my turn, the young girl (with NO personality) took my prescription from me and proceeded to take a long moment to glance at me and each of my four kids with a look of "Are you crazy to have that many kids woman??" on her face. I ignored it and went about my business giving her my insurance card and other info. She then informed me it would be a 30 minute wait and to stop back then to pick up my prescription.

Great. I had 30 minutes to kill in Wal Mart with 4 kids - this was going to be interesting.

I decided to not fight the "I want that! I want that" thing, (I was too darn sick) and made my way back to the toy isle for them to pick something out. After killing some time and letting them each pick something to buy, I made my way back to the prescription counter, sat down on a bench and waited patiently for my prescription to be ready. This would have all been fine if Anthony were not sitting in the cart yelling/crying "I want a Sta Was guy! I want a Sta Was guy!" (Star Wars guy) over, and over and over again. I gave him the you already picked something out and you better quit or you are in trouble look, which did not work, I told him he would be in a time out when we got home and that did not work either. He was digging his heals in on this one, and so was I. Of course I was getting the control your darn kid looks from a few old farts waiting for their prescriptions, but I did not care as, like I said, I was too darn sick.

FINALLY, my name was called. I walked up to the counter to find the lovely girl who took my prescription in the first place staring back at me. Boy did she ever not have a personality, no smiles, not "pep" in her voice, nothing.

She simply said "Mam"

(I hate it when people call me Mam.)

No personality girl: "The pharmacist wants to talk to you about this prescription."

Hmmm... I thought this was weird. It was penicillin, nothing fancy, no instructions needed on my part. Simply take two a day, don't miss a dose, don't stop taking it because you feel better... I know the drill. Girl with all the personality walked over the pharmacist, whispered something and pointed to me. The pharmicist walked over...

Pharmacist: "Hello Mam"

(again, the whole Mam thing, I hate it!) He pulls out the medicine from the bag and starts going over the label, mumbling to himself. REALLY?

Pharmacist: "What do we have here...."

I am beginnning to lose my patience, the kids are all behind me running circles around the cart while Anthony is crying (Still) for his Sta Was guy.

Pharmacist: "We just want to make sure we cover all our bases here. Make sure to finish all this medicine even if you feel better, alright? You may take it with or without food, your choice. Make sure to take two tablets a day."

Me: "Sounds good, I know all of this. Anything else?"

Good Lord, he was reading the information right off of the darn bottle, like I can't read myself? Annoyance factor was reaching an all time high here.

Pharmacist: Peering at the bottle as if he were really trying to find something on there. "Oh, yes, one more thing." Long Pause. "You may want to read this here VERY carefully. "

I stopped, wondering why he was unable to read this particular little piece of information out loud as he did with the rest of it.

I moved in closer to him to see what it was he wanted me to read "VERY carefully." Here it was...

WOW. Clearly he and the checkout girl with no personality thought that it was VERY important that I see this. As, you know, I would have been unable to read this little bit o' info on my own. After I read what he was pointing at, I looked up to find him wide eyed and nodding his head up and down dramatically.

Hmmm... Wondering if maybe they thought I had my hands full with the four kids I have and did not want to see me getting pregnant again?? Whatever the case, I am assuming it is not standard protocol to go over prescription labels with all customers. Weird? Rude? NONE of their business? Yes, yes, and yes.

I decided to blow this weird exchange off, grabbed my prescription, and my kids and made my way out of the store. I had my drugs in hand and at that point that was all that mattered.

Plus, I was too darn sick, and I just did not care.