Trip to the ER

It's funny how just the other day I was writing about Psalm 91 and trusting God. Maybe he was preparing my heart for the upcoming week. I have mixed feelings about my blog at times. Some days I think how fun it will be to go back and reread all of these memories, as well as using it to stay connected to my friends and family back home. Other days I think that my blog is silly and I'm not the type of person that loves for everyone to know everything I am doing, feeling, and thinking. It does help though to stay connected with friends and family and it's fun to hear that people enjoy reading what we are up to. Either way, I started this journey sharing, so that is how I'm going to finish it. I hope that some of my stories and crazy adventures, as well as typos don't bore you and that somehow you are encouraged. So far I've included the good, the weird and funny, but I suppose I should also share the bad and the scary.

Our trip to Tokyo was cut short. When we got back from Akihabara we came back to the hotel room to rest after a quick dip in the pool. Lily had a really hard time going down for a nap and started this cough that sounded..... aweful. It came on so fast but it made both Matt and I sick to our stomachs. We were supposed to stay another night at the New Sanno, but we packed our bags and headed for Yokosuka again. If we needed to, we wanted to be near the base hospital to take her in, and it's not a quick trip from Tokyo.

When we got back to Yokosuka Lily was doing okay. I fed her dinner and gave her a warm bath before putting her to bed. After an hour or so she woke up from her sleep coughing. The cough was scary for her and for us because she started wheezing and would get even more upset and was struggling to breath comfortably. I was able to calm her down but Matt and I both knew that we would not sleep at all unless we took her in to get checked out. Matt called for a taxi while I bundled Lily up and got her ready to go.

At the ER they checked her over thoroughly. They gave her a breathing treatment and took a good look at her lungs. Thankfully, they looked normal. We were scared because there have been four of our friends' kids that have come down with Pneumonia in our appartment building. She didn't have pneumonia, but a croupy cough. It was bad enough though that they gave her a breathing treatment which finally was able to relax her. They were glad we brought her in and they said to bring her back if she had any more trouble. They made a follow up appointment for us at Pediatrics the next morning at 10am.

From the ER we had to take a base taxi to the gate, and from there transfer into another taxi to take us home. When got home after 2am and Lily slept on my chest the rest of the night.

The next morning we woke up to the worst day of weather we have had since arriving in Japan. It was snowing and blowing ridiculously. Lily seemed to be doing better and we contemplated whether we should try to reschedule or not. But, after having your baby in the ER for breathing I wanted to go. I was also concerned that we may not be able to get in again because of some of the legistics in our travel arrangement of only being able to use the base medical facilities in an emergency. We decided to go. Matt called for a taxi mulitple times, but got the reply "No taxi." There are never taxis available in bad weather here. So, we bundled up. I put Lily in her snow suit, boots, hat, mittens, and strapped her into the front pack. Matt and I put our coast on and headed out the door. I had a blanket that I held over Lily's face to keep the snow from blowing on her. We started walking.

That had to be the longest 25 minute walk ever. Thankfully, Lily fell asleep after 5 minutes so she was at least warm and content. We trudged through the blizzard to the train station. When we got to the train station we were SOAKED. Our jeans were wet clear through, my make up was running, and we both just looked like a couple of wet dogs. Several Japanese people looked at us with sympathy. I hadn't said much to Matt on the way of the walk but at that point I looked at him and started to chuckle. I laugh at the oddest times, I know. He looked at me with water dripping from his hood. He raised his eyebrows, and said, "I find absolutely nothing funny about this situation." I'm laughing now, I don't know why, this day really sucked, but it's kind of funny. (Matt did give me permission to share his lovely attitude with my blog readers:-)) We rode the train and just hoped we could get a taxi at the next stop so we could be taken to base.

We got off the train and their were several taxis lined up! The taxis line up in order and you are suppose to take the first one. But, the second one is what we needed. Not all of the taxis can go on base, but we thought the second one was from a company that could. We stood by the door and waved at the driver. He kept shaking his head no and throwing his arms forward. We kept standing there and he continued to shake his head no. Finally the first taxi left so he was in front. Finally he rolled down his window and Matt said, "Base?!" The driver shook his head no again. So, we kept walking. We walked and walked, and walked. It seriously seemed like forever because we were so miserable. Finally we reached the gate. I took off my hat and was struggling to get the paperwork out of my pocket to show the guards. I must have looked pretty pathetic because they finally waved me in. I must not have looked threatening.

Once we were on base, we kept walking until we finally got to the hospital. Lily woke up just as we were walking in the doors. She was still dry and warm. We got more up and down looks from people there. We checked in, took off all of our wet gear and finally we could see the doctor.

The experience with the doctor was fabulous. He was SO nice and took so much time with us, and with Lily. Her lungs looked good to him but he sent us home with antibiotics for a double ear infection again. I think I worry about her having them more than she has them, but I just wish she didn't! He was comforting and said that she'd probably grow out of having a croupy (barky) cough, it's just that she's such a teeny bop that when she gets a virus it seems to aggravate her upper respiratory system. I felt so much better after hearing that. He did send us home with some medicine that would help if she got a coughing fit as bad as she did the previous night. I felt so much better after talking with him, it made the terrible journey worth it.

After the appointment and getting the medicine, we needed to get lunch. So we called a taxi on base to take us to lunch because there was no way I was walking any more in that snow. A taxi FINALLY came but as we came out to the driver said he couldn't take us because there wasn't a carseat. For goodness sakes, we couldn't get a brake that day. It was like a 4 minute drive at 20 mph. We didn't bring our car seat to Japan because we don't need them off base in Japan, but we do need them on base. So another cab with a car seat was sent to us. We put her in, crying because she hasn't been in a car seat in 3 months, she's hungry, and she's not feeling good. We take her out to eat but she's too tired to eat much. After we eat I stay at the restaurant, holding Lily sleeping in my arms while Matt runs to get bread for home and to see if they have any of the baby yogurt I want in yet. He returns, (still no yogurt) and we call for a cab. Once again, he gets a "No Taxi!" response. I'm not going to lie, at this moment I feel like I could rip someone's head off. Matt calls an on base taxi which was available and requests a car seat to take us as far as they can (to the train station). We ride the train back and thank God when we got off the train there was another taxi waiting that could take us to our appartment.

We got home. Matt was on swing shift, but thankfully took a sick day to help with this mess. I can't imagine trying to do it by myself. I gave Lily a snack and put her down for a nap. Matt went to lie down but as soon as he did Lily was awake and ready to play. But, 20 minutes later she was ready to sleep again. Soon, I followed and napped too. We woke up at 5pm, had dinner, and went back to bed. It took a while to get her down, but at least she's on the mend.

So there is our happy day in Japan. I will only list these things once in my blog as not to complain:
1. I wish we had a car here.
2. I wish we could always see the doctor on base.
3. I wish I could get the yogurt I want for Lily.
4. I wish we had a CAR.
5. I wish we had a CAR.
6. I wish I could read kanji.
7. I wish I had a car here.
8. I wish I had a car here.
9. I wish it was sunny here.
10. I wish we had a CAR HERE!

Awwwwwwww, there. Thank you, it's all out of my system. The good attitude returns. I am thankful for this opportunity and experience in Japan. It's not always easy, but at least it gives me something to write about :-)

 The last two days here have been kind of rainy but Lily and I have enjoyed being cozy in the appartment. Yesterday I built a fort and we played in it and read books and watched movies. Today we played more and I took the mattress off of one of the beds for Lily to crawl on which she thought was the best thing ever. We also practiced and practiced and practiced walking! I'm hoping she figures it out before we leave Japan so her Daddy doesn't miss it since he will be here a little longer than us! Lily is feeling much better and full of giggles and spunk as always.