Name Bracket

As women, we get the luxury of choosing between 2 last names upon getting married; either we keep our own, or switch to our spouses. Seeing as I was Smith before, O'Laughlin was an easy choice for me. Not only did it add a bit of uniqueness to my, otherwise, absolutely generic name, but it moved me up the alphabetical name bracket...just 4 letters from the top half! As Susan Woessner and I discussed (both being alphabet backenders as well - which being last, or near last, for everything growing up does NOT suit psychotically competitive people well), we are not sure what the bride was thinking upon agreeing to marry this gentleman last weekend...from Anne Williams, to Anne Wind!? Where does that get you?
But really, the wedding in Troy, Michigan this weekend was one filled with love, admiration, coordination, reuniting, reminiscing, joy and DANCING. Anne, of course, had a slightly choreographed dance for the wedding party's entrance to the reception. And no one was surprised when 'Dirty Pop' turned up on the DJ's playlist. Anne and Mike had been together for over 6 years, so everyone was ready for this event! Nearly the entire graduating class of Indiana '04 were in attendance and quite a few from '03. Jinji and I representing '05 and the lone Susan from '02. The whole weekend could not have gone smoother, and more beautifully, with only one minor glitch...
...Saturday night, around 10:50pm, when I return from the dance floor, I see 2 missed calls from Matt as well as a text that says "Call Me!" Umm, I think we can all imagine how I felt upon seeing that my husband, who RARELY calls while I am out of town, has tried to contact me 3 times in 15 minutes. That reaks 'emergency'. So, I quickly exit the blaring ball room, to find a quiet nook to call and find out whether or not my child is still alive. Matt answers in a calm, normal tone, giving me a glimpse of hope that perhaps he had just had a few too many drinks at his own wedding in KC, and had lost his sense of judgment as to what is considered an important phone call. Then, he non-chalantly says, "So, I was changing Brock's diaper..."

Ok, at this point, I am thinking: please don't tell me you are at the hospital, please.

"...and I noticed a bunch of red spots that could be some kind of bug bite, but I dropped him at my parent's anyway, but now both of his knees are very swollen, he won't walk on them, and he has a slight temperature."

Go to the ER! We have had a very ugly, peculiar looking spider, living in our kitchen windowsill, that continues to evade death, despite our many attempts, and now I am quite sure it's a Brown Recluse, and Brock is filled with toxin, and is going to at least lose both legs, if not die.

"I have called Dr. Water's, and he just thinks it is a reaction to some virus, and to just take Brock into the office tomorrow morning."

Dr. Water's was my family's pediatrician, as well as Matt's growing up, and his wife is my Godmother. So there is probably no one in the world I trust more than a close family-friend pediatrician of 30+ years who helped my mother and mother-in-law raise 9 healthy children, therefore, I yield to this option with one request: Matt must wake up at least one time throughout the night to make sure Brock's temperature has not sky-rocketed. I had Steven's-Johnson's as a viral reaction to Chicken Pox when I was 18ish months, and was hospitalized for quite some time. He agrees, I am somewhat OK with this plan of action and return to the reception.

Upon returning, I explain the situation to a few people, one being a doctor herself (Dermatology resident), and no one seems overly concerned, so whatever. But, upon describing Brock's symptom's, my former roommate, someone with absolutely no medical training: Brooke, asks, was he on penicillin recently? Lightbulb. He was! So I tell her, yes, he finished 6 days of it on Friday. And she excitedly responds, "Oh my gosh, that is exactly what happend to my nephew recently, 24 hours after finishing an 8 days course of penicillin, his knees suddenly swelled up, then he got a rash over his whole body; I guess he is allergic to it." That is it. Brooke solved the mystery. I am nearly 100% relieved, I call Matt back, he does some internet investigation, agrees, continues with our plan of action and takes Brock to the doc on Sunday morning. A reaction to penicillin it is. Turns out, Matt's mother, and my grandmother have this same problem. Simple solution, but still a nightmare of a situation. At least my son is fine, despite some discomfort, and I can officially say that it took 19 months with a child before having a true medical scare. I'd say we are all pretty lucky.

Phew.So, I went on to enjoy the rest of the reception with some Nelly and Lady Gaga. Had farewell coffee and bagels with my long-time Hoosier friends the next morning. Got to join a med school friend, Gretchen, for lunch before flying home (next to an overly-concerned, little, old lady who continuously asked me, "are you OK?") to Kansas City and my boys.