there are so many things that we have done in the past week or so that i have wanted to write about, things each kids has said, and on and on, but ava's mysterious symptoms have kept me from any of that. plus just keeping up with everyday life. which i am not doing with grace, that is for sure.

so, in order not to forget--but decidedly not very literary--here is one of those lists...

we went to high falls gorge: very cool, local geological attraction--700 feet of waterfalls--lots of fun, perfect after-school activity (outside, refreshing, stealth-science opportunity, no squablles, no begging for tv or sugar), BUT total tourist trap. a must-see for people who visit, or live here, but unfortunately the entrance price makes it prohibitive for repeat visits. i asked if there was a season pass or a local's rate and they looked at me like i was insane, so that's too bad.

then we went to "portland taiko" -- a drumming show at the lake placid center for the arts -- taiko is a japanese drum/type of drumming and these guys were INCREDIBLE. they travel (obviously--portland oregon is not exactly next door) so if they visit, see them. the kids loved it--it was a late night, and the last 45 minutes were sort of a wash, but it was worth it. their favorite was the big huge drum, about 3' in diameter and up on a huge pedestal, and the drummers just beat it mercilessly. very loud.

the next day we went to the corn maze. much easier this year--the corn was all brown and thinning out, so it was easier to find the mailboxes hidden in the maze. then we went to the pumpkin patch (we now have, oh, 10 pumpkins from all of our pumpkin patch visits) via wagon, and finally home. but not before noting the snack bar at the entrance to the corn maze. now the farm that the corn maze is on is very very into the locally grown organic movement. they supply many of the local restaurants, and are just generally into that. but what was the snack bar stocked with? doritos, candy of every variety, slush puppies, chips, cookies, hostess cakes etc etc. it was like a mini-mini-mart. and i could not help but wonder what the owners made of all these corn maze people sitting around in their yard consuming high fructose corn syrup fabricated into 'food' in some factory thousands of miles away. i found it to be pretty interesting.

the rest of the week was taken up with school, skating, swim lessons, and ava's disconcerting exhaustion and headaches. nearly every day of the week she complained of a heaache and crawled into bed before anyone else was close to being ready and fell asleep as the chaos of the household swirled around her (except wednesday, which served to create a false sense of relief, throwing me off the track and ensuring that i did not call the doctor before the end of the week). over the weekend it got progressively worse, to the point where i was ready to take her to the ER in burlington for an MRI. on sunday the headaches abated a bit, but not the fatigue, and today we went to the doctor. of course, today she was healthier than she has been in days, but she still was bnormally tired at the end of the day.

as expected, she had blood drawn. to be fair, the doctor said that she would be comfortable waiting for 2 more weeks to see if this resolved, but i said "but she has been living on tylenol for over 2 weeks now--i am not sure that i want to give that to her for another 2 weeks" and of course, my anxiety was also pretty palpable, so she said "let's just do the blood test."

in thinking it over, i think she recognized that i was struggling with the decision--blood test or no blood test, and bless her soul, she saw that i needed an executive decision made. yes, there is the chance that ava will be better within the next 2 weeks, but i was there because she has been unwell for many many weeks already. i was not sure that another 2 weeks was something that was to anyone's benefit. it sure would have driven me over the edge.

and then, she pulled out the lidocaine. good lord, what a brilliant idea--put a dollop of lidocaine on the kid's arm, let it sit while you run errands/get lunch, then return to the hospital for a virtually pain-free blood draw. i don't know if it has drawbacks or not, but i can say it was a wonderful little trick for us. ava barely registered the event. her only comment was that the sight of the needle scared her a little.

we get results in a few days. the obvious concern is mono, but she does not have all of the symptoms. notably, her spleen is not enlarged.

we'll see.