Monster house

I took Grace to the doctor today.  Her allergies are about as bad as they've ever been and she's keeping us up with her snoring.  Her regular medications aren't doing squat.  I went in expecting a confirmation that yes, she has allergies!  Here's some new and better medication!  Goodbye!  And it started out that way.  "Yes!  She has allergies!  But these other symptoms...  They could be allergies, or constipation, or a reaction to toxic mold."  WHAT!?  Apparently, toxic mold is common with the humidity here.  So, the lovely doctor suggested we test her right now and "while we're at it, how about a flu shot?  Oh, and is that geen tint to her hair from swimming (she hasn't been in a pool since we left Oakwood)?  Because if you are on well water (we are) you could have  high levels of copper in your water supply."

Okay.  So, the last time Grace had a flu shot, she came home from school THAT AFTERNOON with what turned out to be the swine flu, knocking her to the ground for two weeks.  The nurse insisted she must have already had it at the time of the shot.  And the last time she had blood drawn for the State Department medical clearance, she vomited, passed out cold, and vomited again.  On me.  About this time Grace starts hyperventilating from her fears of needles and I start hyperventilating because my house is trying to kill us.

We compromised on the flu shot.  She got the nasal mist, but still had to be restrained, despite the fact that she takes a nasal inhaler every night. I insisted on the allergy testing, because I want to know when I should start lining up movers to get us the hell out of our deadly house.  I know!  I'm going to be awesome in the Foreign Service.  I'm made for it, really.  It took three of us to hold her still for the blood draw, but I'm happy to report she did not faint OR vomit, so I consider that a win.  Then I took her out for a treat at Starbucks and deposited her happy little ass back to school.  She even said, "thank you for taking me to the doctor!"  when she kissed me goodbye.   Dayumm, those Spongebob bandaids must have crack in them. 

So, It will take about a week to know the results of the allergy test.  That should give me plenty of time to bleach this place within an inch of it's life and research how to get the well tested.  Knowing me, I'm pretty sure I'll have a new place to live lined up by the time the doctor calls us back.

TB or not TB

I was reading through the requirements for the kids' new schools in VA this morning.  I turns out they are required to have a TB skin test within 90 days of registration.  Whew, they just had one for their Medical Clearances, I think to my smug self.  Because sticking a needle under their skin and injecting some fluid into their arm is not their favorite thing.  I also find this amusing, because I've been filling out paperwork for days for this school, and everything has to be ORIGINALS, not copies.  But I also have to bring copies.  And they want a lot of information, including a lease agreement (original) to make sure we're not trying to sneak into their school. This is slightly different than when I registered the kids for school on the island, which went something like this:

Me:  "Hi, we will be moving to Whidbey Island next month, and I'd like to get my kids registered for school.  I'm just wondering what paperwork I need to have."

School Secretary:  "Oh, yes, you must be the family that bought the house over on Ambey Lane!  Well, just drop the kids off when you get here and we'll call it good."

Anyway, I was pulling out the ORIGINAL copies of the TB test report, and wouldn't you know, their TB tests were done 91 days ago.  EFF.