The day “little blue peep” found her sheep… and later that night chemically burned her esophagus

Last Saturday, I was trying to decide whether or not I should go back to the store to cry to claim my sheep.  Jill said that she and her husband Darl (like Carl but with a D) were going already, so I gave the ticket to her.  On Monday, there was a baby poop green mug in my box.. the other prize that I won!  So I asked her what they said about the sheep and she said they were so excited and wanted to know which cashier gave her the winning ticket.  The manager told them she would call them once the sheep came home.  I don’t know if they all ran away because of Tabaski (like the turkeys do at home around Thanksgiving) or if the shepherds took them for a vacation or what, but the point is.. they didn’t have it.

            So, Jill and Darl went back every single day to see if the sheep was there yet.  Finally, on Friday, they called Darl.  He found me in the staff room after I had finished my lunch and asked how much longer I had because he was going to go on a “special errand”.  I told him I only had 5 more minutes and tried to think of ways I could pawn my kids off on someone else, but to no avail.  I went back to my classroom and had read aloud time with the kids (one of my favorite parts of the day).  Right when I finished, Darl came in with a bowl and said “here is your food bowl, the sheep is tied up next to the guard gate.”  Darl likes nicknames and mine is “blue”, but now he changed it to “little blue peep”, pretty clever, huh?

            So, of course I had to take my kids to meet my grand prize.  We walked over and met the little guy.  He needs a bath and he is so scrawny and sad looking.  The kids have been wanting me to get a class pet for so long now and have suggested everything from a dog to a baby gecko.  I don’t know where they think we would keep a dog (or a sheep, for that matter) in our tiny classroom, but I guess they just don’t think about the little details like that. : ) after we got a good look at the sheep, we came back and talked about what we should name the sheep.  One boy suggested Lambchop, which I like a lot and I think we are going to stick with that unless something better comes up!

            Luckily it was the end of the day because I don’t think I could have accomplished anything else with them if I would have tried, they were so excited about this sheep.  When we got outside to wait for their parents, they were bragging about our new class pet to all the other classes.  I think they are going to be very disappointed when they find out his fate.  Although, I have to admit, I’m a little disappointed too.  After all the kids got picked up, I went back over to see him and he was diarrhea-ing everywhere, poor little guy! : (  And then I took a picture with him (When I was imagining taking pictures with him, I thought I would be hugging him, but I didn’t want to touch him because he was yucky dirty and I didn’t want to get his diarrhea) and he just looked at me with this big eyes, as if he was saying “please don’t eat me!”  I think I am in love!

            And then I thought “it might be interesting to have sheep for thanksgiving dinner, and we could probably get him nice and fat in time” and I was so angry at myself for thinking that!   I hope that either way, Lambchop will grow up to be nice and strong and have a fun childhood while it lasts.

            Moving on.. remember when I said I was thankful for malaria medicine? well, I guess I still am, but I am just a little upset too.  I usually take my malaria pill when I eat dinner, but last night I forgot until right before I went to bed.  So I took it and then went to bed.  Then, two hours later I woke up with the worst chest pain ever, and it felt like something was stuck in my throat.  I got up and drank about a liter of water, but it was still there!  So I ate some applesauce (they have the yummiest applesauce here, you can get all different kind of flavors mixed in with the applesauce.. my favorite so far is pear applesauce!)  to see if that would dislodge the pill, but it didn’t. 

            So, I went on the internet and found out that I have “drug induced esophagitis”. Self-diagnosed, maybe.. but I’m pretty sure that I have all the symptoms for it!  I was reading about it and all the websites said that doxycycline is responsible for 50% of all reported cases!  Why was I not informed about this?  It said you have to drink a full glass of water when you take the pill and stay sitting or standing for at least 30 minutes after you take the pill.  I went straight to bed after I took the pill.  Woops.  So,  if I understand correctly, the pill just sat in my throat and made a chemical burn in my esophagus! Rude!

            As I was reading more and more, it got scarier and scarier, so I shut my laptop and prayed and prayed and prayed!  It finally stopped hurting enough so that I could fall asleep and when I woke up I thought it was all better, but then I ate a piece of toast and it started hurting again once I swallowed.   

            Apparently, there’s nothing I can really do about it except wait for my esophagus lining to heal.  Also, it said to stop taking the medicine while it is healing, but then I will probably just get malaria, which would be ten times worse than this I’m sure, so I’m not going to do that!  

             I am just hoping and praying that it will be better in time for my birthday!! Because I have to eat cake on my birthday!   I learned my lesson and I vow to always drink a full glass of water with my doxycycline and never lay down within an hour of taking it.