Urine Trouble

Stories about urination and pooping are one of the many dinner table conversation topics that separate parents from those who do not have kids. Eight years ago, I attended my first "cookie party" at a friend's house in Montclair, me being the only single without child person in attendance. A former coworker of mine who was also there made a comment that she had recently joined a book club because she needed to be able to talk about something other than diarrhea. It meant nothing to me at the time and now that I have a daughter, I swear, I still like to talk about things other than Sylvie's bodily functions. That being said, I wasn't sure whether to disclose Michael's embarassing moment from the other day and mine from this afternoon. What the heck. It's kind of funny.

When we got home from the hospital early Wednesday evening, Sylvie was alternating her demands to go "someplace special" and her immediate need to eat salmon. So Michael and Sylvie quickly departed to Whole Foods to pick up dinner. Sylvie proudly picked out a piece of Norwegian Salmon while Michael held her close to the glass case to get a closer look. Sylvie proceeded to pee, perhaps in excitement, however she not only soaked Michael but also some of the metro shelving in front of the fish case. Michael looked at the fishmonger HORRIFIED, holding our near-bald daughter in his arms, then apologized and explained she just had chemo. The fish guy looked back apologetically and said, "Man, you have problems far greater than my having to throw all this out! Don't worry!" And with that, Michael and Sylvie left and the fish monger threw out nearly all the bottles, jars, packages of stuff lining the front of the glass case. Michael assured me that it's perfectly safe to shop there and that everything was thrown out.

Today, Sylvie and I were heading into town to check out the new store, Cupcakes by Carousel, and made a pitstop at Learning Express. We were analyzing Hello Kitty lip glosses and stationary kits when Sylvie said, "Mommy my tummy hurts. I have to fart." It sounded like a balloon deflating. it went on for what seemed like forever. I was too scared to move. I called Michael and told him he had to meet us outside with a diaper and wipes ASAP. We quickly paid for our Hello Kitty jewelry and Barbie stickers and ran out the door. For future reference, the store has diapers and a bathroom in case you have an emergency. Michael was right outside when we departed and Sylvie was as good as new in no time.

Our friend Scott came by this evening to pick up the Tomorrows Children's Fund and Strides For Sylvie banners for the parade tomorrow. I hope she has fun in the fire truck. Just in case, I think we should bring the backpack in case one of us needs to carry her home. Sylvie has been pretty ornery all day except when we were listening to the Dan Zanes concert in the car and ran into my friend Jen. She loves Jen and was happy to tell her about The Littlest Petshop. Otherwise, the effects of chemo are hitting her hard. It was time to take out the heavy artillery before bed-- Tylenol With Codeine. Essentially it takes 2 weeks for the chemo to make her hit rock bottom. The doctors and nurses have advised us to be on the look out for petechiae, pinpoint-sized red dots under the surface of the skin, indicative of low platelets. Whenever they mention it, I think of "petechial hemmoraging" which is mentioned in nearly every single episode of CSI.