In 2 very short months, we’ll be printing our 20th Anniversary Issue of Comicopia. If you’d like to contribute an anniversary pin-up, we’d be honored 🙂
I’ve been holding back on writing about Kyle’s recent asthma attack mainly because it was still just a little too fresh… Not to say that his past attacks have been “expected” but this one really took us by surprise. It happened this past weekend while he was up north visiting his great grandmother. Now, it’s definitely not the first time he’s been there OR done the type of activities/ playing he did this time out. So, the question of what happened overnight of Saturday night to make him wake up at 5am on Sunday unable to breathe is still somewhat of a mystery.
Suffice it to say that his pumps had very little effect and Chantale had no choice but to leave early and try to make their way back home to Montreal after spending a few hours trying to get his breathing under control. They headed out on the highway and after a few more hours, it became too dangerous to try to keep going. So, she pulled over on the side of the 55 and called 9-1-1. They came quickly enough and packed Kyle away into an ambulance to drive him to the hospital in Shawinigan. It took me something like 2 hours to drive up from home to meet them there and let me tell you that it was one of the hardest drives I ever had to endure.
The hospital did its best to treat Kyle and after a while I sent Chantale and Charlize home – especially as Casey was also with them. I stayed behind with Kyle, chatting and drawing pictures. After a few hours (and about 7 masks by then) it looked possible that we would have been dismissed. There was no option to spend the night in that if required, we wanted to be transferred to the Montreal Children’s Hospital. Anyhow, all continued well enough until shortly after supper (and a nap) at about the 3 hour mark from his last mask… he immediately crashed down again sending everyone into a panic. An emergency mask later, he was doing better, but now there was no way we were being released. So, another ambulance was called and the Children’s was advised.
They came and took him away and I tried to follow in my car. But, by that time (7pm) I hadn’t eaten or even gone pee since 11am so I had to stop. Chantale was due to meet him at the Children’s so it was okay. By the time I made it there, it was 930pm. Chantale was there and we waited together for an hour(?) or so and then I sent her back home. Kyle was under another aggressive treatment and he was quite fed up by then. I think I only managed to get him to calm down long enough to fall asleep by midnight… which went to hell when the nurse brought him another mask at 2am, effectively waking him up and upsetting him so much I only got him to settle down again at 430am (after another mask at 4am).
I slept horribly for the next 2 hours in a chair and when the nurse checked him at 630am it was a bit more positive. However, at 7am another mask was given and they had decided we were being admitted. It took a few more hours before we were put in a room, but by then the docs upstairs were wondering why. He still had a bit of a rasp in his lungs but no more wheezing. And by the time we were settled, even the rasp was gone. He was due for another mask in the room but the nurse held back on it and after 6 hours she finally gave him one and we talked about being released. We were excited by it until the Doc mentioned he wanted us to stay another night and when questioned, it was because he believed we lived in Shawinigan! When I went to see him (after waiting for over an hour for him to come see me after the nurse updated him) I explained again that this was not new to us and I would be fine with him at home and should something happen, driving 30 minutes to get back to the hospital would not be a big deal (especially after midnight).
He agreed, gave us some prescriptions, and we finally left. Kyle was so adamant to be leaving that he got himself dressed, packed, and impatiently waited at the nurses station for the doc to see us! It was kind of cute 🙂 By the time we left, Kyle had basically been given -honestly- about 20 masks… unbelievable. And quite frightening. We’ve seen him in trouble before, but never like this. It was extremely difficult to get through but, as what seems to happen in these situations, I had to concentrate on my family to the exclusion of everything else. When Tuesday night finally came around and the entire family was back under our roof asleep in our beds… it was quite a relief. 2 Days later, after a decent day at home with him recovering well enough, we took him into Daycare for his first day there. Only when I was back home alone could I lower my barriers enough to grieve. And it took another 2 days to be “stable” enough to not break down whenever I thought or talked about what happened.
I think we’re all looking forward to an uneventful (and restful) weekend. After a week like this, we all need it.
Edited to add: I forgot to mention that prior to leaving Shawinigan, a few tests were ordered on him, including Blood. This was the first time he ever had blood taken from him and it was quite a scary experience. Trying to keep him calm enough to get the needle in him, and then make sure we could flow it out… petrifying for him. One of the things I had done when I went to see them at the hospital was to bring along one of those Brightest Day Lantern Rings (from the recent DC crossover series). Of course, him knowing it was a “power ring” made him excited to have one, so we used our “will power” to fill it with “energy” to keep him safe and brave. Worked wonders and helped keep him brave 🙂
On July 2, 1947, An object crashed near Roswell, New Mexico that the U.S. Army Air Force insisted was a weather balloon. Of course, eyewitness accounts led to speculation that it might have been an alien spacecraft.
Fox Mulder could have easily proven this to the world had only his telephone the ability to take photographs back when he managed to sneak in and see the aliens for himself!!
Alas, back in the 90’s, celular telephones were in their infancy and such integration of pictures and video was only a pipe dream…
But, WE BELIEVE, Fox! Yes, we do! 🙂
I just got back from watching The Last Airbender and I guess now’s as good a time as any to share my thoughts. Spoilers within, so be warned.
I have to admit I wanted to like this movie. I did. Even knowing of the “fan controversy” surrounding it, I still was hoping for an entertaining (and exciting) movie based on the themes of the animated show. Unfortunately, it seems there was just TOO much information to cram into a 2 hour movie. Really, you would think that with so much going on (and letting the viewers in on the whole “world” of the various Nations, the war, etc etc) that it would be a keep-you-at-the-edge-of-your-seats adventure. Alas, it was so slow I found myself nodding off at the beginning.
The narratives used to bridge the gap between events that took you from one scene to another – used to explain what things have changed – didn’t work. The sudden “changes” in the various characters and/ or places they visited and / or “the war” just felt forced and uninspired. In the end, even suspending disbelief completely to try to have the story wash over you (sorry, pun not intended but funny) wasn’t working because of the wooden acting. As visually appealing as everything was, as great as the battle scenes looked, everything else was just dull. I won’t even talk about the lack of logic in some of what the characters do (like why didn’t the Avatar drop the ocean on the Fire fleet?) and was the Avatar’s flying steed part of the same race of flying creatures from The Never Ending Story??
The 3D technology didn’t really add anything to the movie and in certain places (when the camera zoomed through cities, for example) everything was blurry to the point of being dizzy.
Is it worth a couple of bucks to see? Yes, I would say that, especially based on all the kids who seemed to really be enjoying themselves. Is it worth the $14 I paid? Nope, sorry.
We ended up leaving the theatre completely drained of any energy. Sadly, it was as though we (my friends and I) had been subjected to a huge downer instead of an action flick. I don’t know if this first movie will garner enough money to justify the second installment, but if it happens, it’ll take a lot to get me to go watch it in the theatres.
Seriously?
Who forgets Father’s Day?
Is it not advertised enough? Is it not discussed enough? All the flyers have been talking about for the last 2 weeks is getting that “perfect” Father’s day gift.
Slipped your mind? How am I supposed to believe that?
Just another “ordinary sunday”? Really? Yeah, it just goes to show…
Hey, these kinds of things don’t last very long and they are worth keeping for posterity’s sake! So bear with me 🙂
Story 1: I’ve mentioned before how much the kids love the “Mamma Mia!” movie. Well, this weekend, once again they asked (and re-asked and re-asked) to watch it. So, friday night, saturday, sunday… On Sunday morning, during breakfast, Charlize suddenly asks, “Daddy, what mean dot-dot-dot?” and I burst out laughing 🙂
Story 2: I forgot to mention how during Kindergarten Orientation, Kyle had sat himself down in the library by the bookshelves stocking Space books. I joined him on the floor and we flipped through a number of books on space, spaceships, rockets, satellites, etc. As we got to a section that detailed some of the training astronauts go through, he asked me about it. I explained what was going on and…
“I’m ready now to be an astronaut,” he tells me.
“But sweetie, before you can train your body, you have to train your mind. That’s what school will help you do. After that you can go train your body for space.”
“No, no. I don’t need school. I’m ready now.”
“Why do you want to be an astronaut?”
“So I can go visit the moon, and see Fishy and everyone else there.”
Oh! So, you can see that the whole Death and Heaven thing is on his mind regularly. This leads me to…
Story 3: He does know, however, that he can visit “heaven” in his dreams at night. And so, yesterday morning as I was driving them to Daycare, he suddenly started telling me how he spent the night playing with Kimmie! Random quotes follow:
“I was chasing her, and she was running inside and outside (of Omi’s house)… It was the New Kimmie. The Kimmie of ‘here’ was old, but the Kimmie of ‘there’ is new… Peanut came out to play with us, too, but she was still ‘old’.”
It was fun to hear him explain all the games he played with the dogs and how happy and healthy Kimmie is 🙂
TwoMorrow’s Publishing has the info up on BACK ISSUE MAGAZINE #43 (which includes my interview of Bruce Jones and Brent Anderson on their KA-ZAR THE SAVAGE series). I thought it was supposed to only ship in November but according to the website the issue will be available in August!
Considering what the series meant (and to an extent still means) to me, having been given the opportunity to get this interview done was like bringing my life full circle and going back to the roots of my inspiration. I can’t wait to hold a copy in my hands!
A couple of months ago, the family Goldfish died. As adults, losing fish is not a big thing and not shocking either. But, when it happened, and Kyle and Charlize noticed, we had to explain what happened. It was a little rough on them -but mainly Kyle- who couldn’t understand why Fishy had to “go”.
We explained as best we could the truths of the circle of life, and how long animals live, etc. He knew getting another fish would not be like having “his” fish back but I tried to get through to him how they’re kind of all related.
The thing is, with his Daycare Guardian’s mother passing on a few months before, Kyle had become a bit more sensitive to Death. Sensitive in the sense that he would be impacted by seeing his Guardian sad and crying for weeks after.
Anyhow, a little while after Fishy was flushed to rest, we would sometimes catch Kyle saying hello and good-bye to Fishy. I finally understood that he would do this whenever he saw the moon (either at night or early morning).
“Kyle, why do you talk to Fishy on the moon?”
“Because Fishy is in Heaven. And Heaven is in the sky. And the moon is in the sky.”
Cute logic and it helped him have a “physical” object he could see as being a resting place so we were okay with it.
Well, tonight we’re going to have to tell him that another Pet in the family, this time Kimmie, a Bichon Maltese belonging to Chantale’s parents, passed away this morning. Kimmie turned 15 years old yesterday and besides being practically deaf and undsteady on her feet, always seemed to be in good spirits. But 15 years is a heck of a long time for a Bichon and it was her turn to go. All the adults knew this was going to be her last year, but I don’t think they expected it to happen while my mother-in-law was getting ready to go to work this morning.
Have fun chasing squirrels “on the moon” Kimmie.
how tired?
i just read the line “Decisions are guided by functional strategies” as really being: “Decisions are guided by fictional strangers”
yikes!
Kyle has his first soccer game tomorrow night. On Saturday, we visited his coach’s house to pick up his uniform and get the schedule. On Sunday morning, Kyle and I had this interesting conversation.
“Daddy, when I get to be 46, will I still have a soccer coach?”
“Well, sure, if you’re still playing soccer then you’ll have a coach. Of course, at 46, you could be a coach yourself if you want.”
“No, no, no. That’s okay. I’m going to be a policeman and I’ll be too busy.”
“You can still play on the weekends or something. Just because you’re a policeman you can still play soccer for fun.”
“Uhm… no, I made a mistake, I’m going to be a fireman and I’ll still be too busy.”
(laughing) “You can be whatever you want, Kyle.”
“Oh yeah, I’m going to be a Shipper!”
“A shipper? What’s that?”
“Ships! I’m going to drive ships!”
“Oh! What kind? A ship that carries people or a ship that carries freight?”
“No, no, no. In space!”
“Yeah, I’m going to drive a space ship! And then I’m going to fly Batman’s ship!”
🙂 I sometimes don’t know where he goes with his logic, but it’s definitely always there! 🙂
