Friday, April 17, 2015

7QT About Communion, Confirmation, Coldsores, and Color Coordination


1)
Eamon is receiving 1st Communion in two weeks, along with two of his cousins, and he is super excited.  Eamon is a quiet boy who has said that he wants to be a priest for as long as I can remember.  He has been so attentive and wonderfully behaved at Mass since he was 4 years old, and watches the priest and the altar servers like a hawk, memorizing their every move.  Once he receives 1st Communion, he is allowed to take part in the Altar Training Bootcamp this summer, and will be an altar server with JP and Andrew, and I think his little heart might burst from the joy.  Anyway, that was a long way to say that in my shopping around, online, of course, always online, for a gift to give him and his cousins, I decided on these:

We have this book already and all of my boys who can read have read their way through it at least once.  It's awesome, a comic book style version of the Bible.  Not every story is in there, but the kids learn so much without even realizing it.  I'm giving it to his cousins.


For Eamon, I'm giving him this one as an addition to the first.  If you're looking for boy gift ideas, I seriously recommend these books.

2)
My niece asked me to be her Confirmation sponsor as she is being confirmed on May 12.  Phil has sponsored two girls in the past, and I have sponsored one in the past, and for all four girls, we have always given them a rosary bracelet.  



I ordered this one from Discount Catholic Products, and it shipped soooo fast, I was amazed.  It's gorgeous!  They also sell Tiny Saints charms/keychains which I love and so do my kids.

3)
Ok, enough Sacrament Shop Talk...how about an embarrassing story to make you feel better about your life?  On Monday night, I realized I had a coldsore starting, which I get about once a year because I'm blessed like that.  Since I get them so bad and so often, I have been given a prescription for Valtrex, which is a drug for herpes of all varieties.  I usually ask Phil to pick up the scrip for me because I am so embarrassed that the pharmacist will think I have genital herpes and not oral herpes.  I also make him buy the cream for jock itch when I get breastfeeding thrush, because I am so nice.  Sorry honey, love you!  You married an introvert!

4)
Anyway, long story even longer...in all my KonMari cleaning, I had thrown out my prescription for Valtrex because it was old and it didn't "spark joy" at the coldsore-free moment .  So I started panicking a bit because if I don't take the Valtrex right at the onset of coldsore symptoms, I get a huge blistery sore that takes over my face, is painful, makes my lymph nodes all inflamed, and totally wears me out.  Ain't nobody got time for that!  Plus, vanity!  So I had to swallow my pride and go to the pharmacy and ask the pharmacist what I should do...buy Abreva or call my doctor and get a new scrip?  The pharmacist was super nice, also a coldsore sufferer, and said I should just call the doctor because Valtrex is the only thing that stops the coldsore from forming.  So I called my doctor's office after hours, talked to the answering service who asked me if it was an emergency, and while I wanted to scream YES!!!, I said not really but she took pity on me and paged the doctor anyway.  Total count of whom I've had to tell I had herpes to thus far: 2.

5)
The doctor called back, I poured out my sob story, he paused and said "Go get some Abreva.  I've used it.  It works" and got off the phone.  Aaaaahhhhh!  What the what?  I have never called the doctor on call in my entire life for anyone in my entire family, and that's the response I get.  At this point, it's too late to go to the walk-in, so I go home, very sad that I'm about to get this thing and nobody will help me.  Then I remember, I have a friend who is an ER doctor!  I text her husband to see if she's working, which she is, but he says to text her anyway.  People who know about my herpes condition now: 4.
I text my friend, who was probably busy saving lives, and she texts back that she is sorry, but she can't prescribe me anything without seeing me in the ER.  Understandable, but what's the point of having friends in high places?  I kid, I kid.  I know it's illegal to do that.  So I slathered on some Abreva and went to bed.  The next morning, I went to work where I had to ask permission to my boss about going to the walk-in for my COLDSORE THAT WAS SPREADING OVER MY FACE.  People who know more than they want about my herpes: 6

6)
I go to the walk-in and tell even more people about the non-genital herpes 7) the check in lady, 8) the nurse, 9) the other nurse (who gets really confused as to how I know I'm not pregnant but I'm not on birth control), 10) the doctor - finally, alleluia!  The doctor is super nice and asks a couple questions and goes ahead and writes the scrip.  I bring the scrip to the pharmacist, wait for it to be ready and pick it up from the pharmacy tech.  Total peeps who now know TMI about my sores - 12.  But then the tech told me a story about a brother and sister who were married without knowing they were related and suddenly my stupid coldsore problems didn't matter so much.  Lesson in pride, vanity and humility - check!

7)
I have a giftcard from Loft burning a hole in my wallet pocket, and I'm digging these right now:









I'm just realizing I have a problem with navy and aqua/teal.  I should have know based on the Easter outfits I coordinated...


Have a wonderful weekend everybody!  I'm off to my Coldsore and Color Coordinated Anonymous Meeting :)


14 comments:

  1. Okay this is a total eye opener for me because my husband gets terrible cold sores. He always uses Abreva, which is terribly expensive and doesnt work great. Now I'm wondering if he should go see his doctor for valtrex. Hmmmm. See your embarrassing story may help some people :)

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    1. Yes get the valtrex!!! It's amazing!!!

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  2. Colleen....it's really 12 x the hundreds of blog readers you have. But no worries. We love you no matter what.

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    1. Oh Kathleen - I love you too even though your comment made me go duhhhhhhhhh. Facepalm.

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  3. Boo to the cold sore! I don't know why, but I have this (irrational? crazy? ridiculous?) fear that my four year old that loves to put her mouth on EVERYTHING is going to pick up the virus. I know that something like 80% of the population has it in their system and it doesn't cause too many problems in the grand scheme of things, but still. I'm totally going to get mom guilt if she does end up with something . . . . (But seriously, why does she need to rest her mouth on the shopping cart, on the railing in mall, the banister at church, etc., etc. . . .) ;-) By the way, I love the aqua and navy! :-)

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    1. Maybe she's just picking up a lot of immunites for future illnesses - glass half full!

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  4. Ugh on the coldsore. I hope it heals quickly and you are able to stay coldsore free from now on! I've never had them, but I've read that taking Vitamin C and l-lysine daily can help prevent them.

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    1. I'm pretty good about vitamin c...but mine tend to be brought on by stress/illness. I have never heard of the I-lysine, I'll check that out...thanks!

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  5. I thought about The Action Bible for my grandson who just turned 10. I don't think my daughter would be too crazy about the graphic style but I know he'd love it! And I love teal!! And navy! Although I don't think they're my colors because I'm a warm Autumn but I don't care.

    Okay, I've gotten cold sores all my life. I don't know about the cause when I was a child but as an adult they tend to come on due to stress/illness for me, too. Years ago there was an extremely stressful period in my life where I had a bad, painful outbreak on and around my mouth. The doctor prescribed me Valtrex and I continued to take it as a preventative for awhile. It really worked!! Every once in a great while now I will have a small one that pops up usually due to stress and I use Abrevia which kinda works for me. I always have a tube in my purse.

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  6. I loved my rosary bracelet!! :-) they are beautiful. Greetings from the holy land! Praying for you all! Especially Eamon as he continues preparation... SO EXCITING!!!

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  7. I thought the same as Kathleen...12 x like a billion of us. ha. I do, however, totally get the cold sore thing. Thankfully, my doc gave me a scrip for Acyclovair and I keep it filled for those just-in-case-happens-after-hours-can't-fill-my-scrip times. As soon as I feel an onset, I start it and take it the seven days. I ain't taking no chances. It's also safe during pregnancy, fyi. ;) Bonus: I have two friends (one being my primary care doc) who are family practice docs. Thankfully they know me well enough to know I don't just go looking for meds every time I turn around with any little ailment, so if I call them, it's real stuff and they get me meds. Friends in the right places does have benefits.

    The gifts...I've got to keep these in mind. No sacraments this year, but more will be right around the bend!

    The shirts and dress, lovely. Of course, on you they'd be even more lovely.

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  8. Hi Colleen: My first comment here, guess you could say, I'm a 'lurker' ...found you from Jen's Conversion Diary. I hop on your blog on occasion just to get a look at your life...I know, that might sound strange. I just want to say how I enjoy how you relate your life in words. You had me laughing out loud at this post and my husband asked who I was reading. I just said, 'oh, this young mom with 6 kids who handles her life with such joy.' And, by way of introduction, I'm an 'older' Mom of 6...4 adult children and 2 school age....also blessed with one grandchild. Our oldest is 31 down to 11. Just want to encourage you to keep doing what you're doing...you are living the faith so well and it shows in your beautiful family.

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  9. Wow! That last part of the story was such a plot twist!! I bet if you'd told that nurse that didn't get the concept of NFP all the details of how it works, she wouldn't have cared about the cold sore at all ;)

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  10. Colleen! I love coming to your blog as often as I possibly can, because you always lift my spirits and remind me to laugh at life!! Oh, those cold sores can be a doozy! My hubby gets them often, but yes, Abreva = Failure. I'm thinking the scrip is a good idea....and totally worth the embarrassment! ;)

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