Facebook-Free Lent Day 3: Analysis Paralysis and other fun

I really missed Facebook today, most likely because I was darned stressed out! Know what stresses me out? Making decisions. The first decision of the morning was what to have for breakfast. Oh, the agony.

Then, there was the mule situation. My mule has had something in his eye since I went down to the barn Saturday and found the left side of his face coated in ice that was a mixture of tears, blood and pus (As for that visual...you're welcome.). It being -30 with a strong wind, getting the ice out of the way was a challenge, and long story short, yesterday evening I found what appeared to be an ulcer in his eyeball, which he could finally open enough for me to see. I had thus far avoided Google, but going to it after my aunt urged me to get him to the vet STAT, I found that there was a high likelihood of him losing his sight in that eye, with the possibility of losing the eye itself.

Somehow I managed to sleep last night, but this morning was a whirlwind of me crabbing at the kids, calling the vet, arranging an appointment (I abhor phone calls and arranging appointments), followed by trying to get some school done (trying to decide what we could get done) as we have missed two days this week. Then it was to hitch up the trailer and try to get it pulled out of the snow, load said mule who, for being a mule, loads really easily but is pretty horrible if his Friend, Sister-from-another-Mister, and General Life Partner isn't with him, which she wasn't going to be. I debated sending feelers out to see if anyone wanted to hang out with my kids. But, Facebook. So the kids came along.

Upon arrival at the vet I found that Eeyore will most likely retain at least some sight in his eye. Good news. To make that happen, I will be catching him 3 to 6 times a day for the next 2 weeks to put drops and rub ointment in his eye. The more the better, the vet said. So, 6 times a day. Did I mention he's a mule, and while he is a pony mule, he still outweighs me by at least a few hundred pounds.

Plus there is the fact that we're going on a much-anticipated vacation in Nine Days. I'm going to be wrestling with the mule still at that point. But we have rented a house, and Jon has taken vacation days. Maybe we could hire someone to wrestle Eeyore for four days while we're gone? Or do we reschedule and hope there's still snow on the ski mountain in early April, and that the house will be available? Decisions, decisions.

We got home, and the kid who was a wild monkey at the vet's office, climbing everything and being generally hyper, is suddenly inexplicably cold. Her cheeks are flushed, her glands are sore, she has a fever. Influenza? Do I take her to the walk in tomorrow? Do Jon and I continue our megadoses of Vitamin C, in the hopes that we will stave off illness, or do we let the illness waft over us and succumb to it willingly in hopes that we are all healthy in nine days?

Through all this, there was an undertone of "update a facebook status about my kid being sick/getting the mule to the vet/post something funny about mule's mule noise/make joke about vet's office being cleaner than the Burger King playland," with the realization that I actually had to face these issues in the present rather than commiserate with others on Facebook about them. Along with the really weird and somewhat frightening subconscious thought of, "If I don't post about it on Facebook, will people believe me, will it be real, and will it be remembered?" That, I feel, warrants some more unpacking on a different day.