Par un vendredi 13, dans son pédalo au milieu du lac, un homme en fredonnant un air connu complotte avec son ami imaginaire.

C’est le dernier scénario généré par un petit gadget que j’ai fait pour ajouter à votre page iGoogle. Il affiche un début d’histoire différent (et souvent inusité et dépourvu de sens) à chaque visite de la page.
Bouton pour ajouter le générateur de scénarios à votre page iGoogle :

Tant qu’à y être, voici aussi un autre gadget iGoogle qui génère votre horoscope le plus véridique possible : Page originale du générateur d’horoscope.

When I mentioned through my 2009 resolutions that I wanted to pick up a hobby, I meant something like a photography class. I did NOT mean semi-daily visits to the hospital.

I spent about 16 hours at the hospital with Orléane during the last week. She had a strong fever that wouldn’t come down for three days, and sometimes went up to 41 Celcius (almost 106 F). I brought her to the E.R. on the second evening, but gave up after 3.5 hours – it was past 9, Orly would not sleep and we weren’t close to seeing a doctor.

We went back early in the morning. There is a pediatric clinic inside the hospital: we spent the morning in waiting and examination rooms. They X-rayed her, they “catheter”-ed her (and maladroitly, too… damn students!), they ruled out pneumonia and urinary tract infection… they didn’t find anything wrong with her, so they said it was probably a virus. Great.

When the fever let up, spots appeared. I figured “roseola” and left it at that. The kids spent half the weekend at Frank’s parent’s, while we went to my godfather’s funeral out of town (bless his soul). When we returned, Orly was still pretty pink (as opposed to pretty in pink, though she is that, too). I was out of it all Sunday with the flu – Frank did a great job handling the kids all day.

The spots and redness were taking long to clear, and there was some swelling. I guess I’m not a worrier but, three hours after I dropped Orly off at daycare, the babysitter called me at work with measles concerns, despite vaccination. Our baby’s face was swelling a lot, and the redness was all over. Back to the E.R., Orly and I.

During the 8 hours we spent there, most of Orléane’s spots faded away. I had anticipated this, but I just needed to know what was up, after all this waiting, so we hung on for the last hour.

Not roseola. No talk of measles. Doc inquired about new foods or allergens, but his final verdict was… (you made it this far and you’re curious now, aren’t you? well you can imagine that I sure was, after 8 long hours in the E.R. with a toddler… I have to congratulate her, btw, because she was tolerably well behaved for her age, all this while…)… he said it was probably a RASH, brought on by the virus she had previously.

“It’s already clearing up, so we’ll stay in observation mode for now, but if it worsens, bring her back for examination.”

SURE.

Here is Orléane’s tab for 2009 so far:

1. Fell down the stairs.
2. Tipped her high chair (with herself in it).
3. Pulled a heavy chair down on her back.
4. Knocked a tooth loose (first visit to the dentist, yay…).
5. Weird high fever, followed by rash.
6. 2 trips to the E.R., X-Rays and urine test.
7. Various colds and flus.

Alright, I have to go take care of Xavier, whose fever is waking him up. Viruses sure are partying at my house this year. I hope you’re all having better luck with the germs!

Oh wait, you’re waiting for the silver lining, right? What with the hospital visits, out-of-town funerals and the flu, I lost me 6 pounds in one week! w00t.