Offices, Pharmacies, and Too Much Medication

Sam's been a trooper through all this illness, down to me losing my patience over silly stuff that wouldn't normally bother me ("mama said, "NO pouring your bottle on the couch!!!  SAM, NO!!!") and getting dragged from appointment to appointment and various pharmacies.  I usually try to leave him with Chris or my parents when I go to the doctor's, so that not only he is not exposed to random germs, but I can also actually carry on a conversation with the doctor.
His last appointment to check on his ears, ended with Sam screaming, "Bye-bye, bye-BYE, BYE-BYE.  Buses, outside BUSES!" as I tried to get the final directions from the tolerant doc.  (His reward for going to the doctor is to see the buses in Davis Square afterwards and the statues on the bike path).  When I look back at photos from Halloween and see how pale and sick he was, I'm just glad he's feeling better.
Today he entertained the masses as the useless pharmacist searched fruitlessly for a prescription that had been faxed in, which she just couldn't locate.  Sam waved over my shoulder at the line forming behind me, "hi people!"  he called, "Mama, people!  HI people!"  I didn't dare turn around because I was afraid of how many "people" were the line now.
Then he got down and did his new walk, a giant side step from side to side, which luckily the "people" were amused by.  Thank God he wasn't screaming Sam, but cute entertainer guy.
We then got to drive two towns over to my doctor, where he entertained the waiting room, while I double-checked that the prescription had been sent (it had), but they don't answer phones on Saturday, so I had to go there to find out.
We have been really trying to keep him in a routine and get out and about with him (even if it's playing with keys at Daddy's office), despite everyone feeling crappy.  With my super-duper doses of antibiotics (4 pills together on day 1?), hopefully I will feel better soon.
Since we didn't track down the medication till this afternoon, I didn't get to take my horse-size dose until around dinner time.  Chris went to the Bruins game, and I plodded through the nighttime routine in a medicated haze, feeling slightly dizzy and hoping Sam would be in his crib before I potentially passed out.  I finally got a very hyper, very tolerant little guy down to bed.  He won't know what to do when everyone is back on their feet!
Times like this make me think of how lucky we really are.  At the hospital getting a lung x-ray yesterday, I saw so many little tikes getting carried into the ER by their parents, and a little girl who was a patient there.  I think of a colleague, Danielle, who passed away last year from cancer, how I imagine that she lived with the pain day-to-day while she worked until months before her death.  I think of families who have lost their dads or moms, watched them suffer.  This is all a minor inconvenience to us, and it is taxing enough.  Finding the strength to get through a long-term or terminal illness is just something I can't imagine contending with.  Hoping for healthy days ahead for everyone.