A Plague o' Both Your Houses

Well, maybe not the plague, but the pox.....as in the chicken pox....has infected our house. Thursday night at dinner I noticed some bumps on our 4 year old son's hands that looked a lot like chicken pox. I googled images and thought they looked pretty similar. My husband was quick to dismiss it especially considering all our kids have received the vaccines. We figured it would be pretty unlikely to still end up with the chicken pox. Apparently we were wrong. By Friday morning he had a few more spots but by the afternoon they were everywhere. Our doctor had us bring him in, because they too, were hesitant to believe me.

Confirmed. Chicken pox.

The following day our 19 month old daughter ended up with them. Her case, however, is a much milder case. She only has about 50 pox total. Our son, unfortunately, has hundreds. The doctor said his case is as bad as if he had never been vaccinated. So far our oldest is pox-free, however she woke up today with a high fever, which is was happened to the other two in the days leading to the first pox appearing. Seriously, what would the odds be that three vaccinated children end up with the illness for which they are vaccinated. That just seems really strange to me. I'm not super surprised about our son. He's on meds to help with his lung issues that have messed up his immune system. It leaves him vulnerable to a lot of illnesses which he has unfortunately had. So, for him to be this freak statistic isn't really shocking. However, to have our littlest ones get it also was a bit surprising. If our oldest, the girl with the iron immune system, ends up with the pox I swear the world is ending.

So for now we've watched a lot of movies, taken a ton of oatmeal baths, gone through a bottle of calamine and another of benedryl and seem to be through with the worst of it. The sores are starting to scab and I am hoping we can be back among the living soon!

Catch Up

Things have been nuts here. My 5 year old daughter had strep throat, then our 8 month old daughter became very ill and ended up in the hospital. Turns out she had a bacteria infection in her blood. No one knows how she got it. She is fine now, thank God. Then I injured my back pretty badly and ended up in Urgent Care after trying to suffer through the pain for days, where they gave me an injection of a powerful anti-inflammatory that I had a VERY adverse reaction to. They also send me home with a million prescriptions for a ton of meds that knocked me out entirely. I'm still pretty much out of commission but am finally able to actually walk a bit. So, it's been all bunnies and rainbows here in our neck of the woods.

In better news my husband and I will have a first grader in 2 days. Typing that seems so weird. I was so worried about sending her off to Kindergarten. I fretted for a year in advance. Turns out it was all for nothing. Her teacher is wonderful and watching our daughter come into her own was a beautiful thing to witness. She is sad about leaving her beloved teacher but also excited to be a first grader. Definitely bittersweet.

Our son will turn 4 next week. How that is even possible is beyond me. He will always be my baby. I love seeing the boy he is becoming. So sweet, kind, and sensitive and fiercely protective of his baby sister. Since those two are home with me during the day they have become very close and it makes me so happy to see how much our baby adores her big brother and how much he cares for her. It's a beautiful thing.

So, what has been consuming your days as of late?

Flu

We have been a den of sickness 'round these parts since Thanksgiving. It's been one illness after the other, all relatively minor but lasting. Then our older daughter, who is regularly pretty healthy, became really sick a couple of weeks ago. She seemed to get better for a day or two but then got slammed with a really high fever, congestion, sore throat, chills, cough, the whole nine yards! We ended up in Urgent Care today where she tested positive for the flu (Yes, we got a flu shot months ago). So, Tamiflu has been prescribed to the whole family, except that I can't take it because I am breastfeeding and there is nothing safe for our 4 month old so we are just crossing our fingers and praying she gets through this unscathed. It is scary how sick our older daughter has become and how quickly it has happened!

The thing is....I realize people get sick. People can catch germs anywhere: grocery store, library, school, out in public anywhere really. However, I volunteer relatively regularly at my daughter's school and the number of children sent to school sick is high. The school policy is such that a child should stay home if he/she has a fever or any other visible signs of illness outside of minor sniffles. Apparently, I am one of the few parents who actually follows this rule. Each time I have been on that campus and in my daughter's classroom in particular there have been kids with green snot literally dripping out their nose. Last Thursday there was a child sooo sick in her class that when I came home I told my husband that I knew, KNEW, our daughter would be sick within days. (This child sits next to my daughter and was picking his green snot and then reaching into the community supplies that my daughter then used as well). She was sick by Saturday.

My frustration with this is two-fold. First, parents! What the hell are you doing sending your sick kids to school? Second, school officials! Why the hell don't/won't you send them home? I resent the fact that I go to great lengths to make sure I don't send a contagious kid to school and yet I feel like every time I send my healthy child to school I am sending her into a petri dish.

Christmas Time

Our daughter on Christmas morning playing with her ballerina magnets.

Our son getting one of his presents from Santa from under the tree.

My husband getting our son's shoes on the Sunday before Christmas.

Our Christmas was fantastic. We attended church services Christmas Eve. My parents, grandmother, brother, and his girlfriend joined our family at our church. Afterwards we went out for our traditional Christmas Eve Dinner: In and Out Burger.

Christmas morning was a bit strange in that both kids slept in. On any given day the kids are up by 7:30 am at the very latest. Our son slept in until 8:15 and I had to actually wake our daughter up at 9 am so we could get the show on the road. The kids were uber excited and were able to play a bit with their gifts before we had to get ready to head up to my parents.

It was mass chaos up there with six kids buried in a mass of wrapping paper and boxes. All were pleased with their gifts and once the initial excitement wore off a bit the kids actually played really well the rest of the day. There were sixteen of us this year, a few less than usual but a good time was had by all.

When we arrived back home in the early evening I spent a couple hours picking up wrapping paper, boxes, finding homes for all the new toys, and most importantly assembling the toys that needed it, and of course then playing with assembled toys.

The only negative was that our son woke up once again pretty sick. He has steadily been sick on and off for the past few months now and it's getting wearing. So, tomorrow and the rest of the weekend we will lay low, stay home, and spend the time enjoying each other's company and all the new Christmas gifts.

How was your Christmas? What is your plan for the rest of the weekend?

Pneumonia Boy

My son is currently suffering through his third round of pneumonia in his two short years of life. We spent Wednesday night in Urgent Care after his breathing had become labored and the sounds his lungs were making were not from this planet. Two hours, three chest x-rays, an exam and breathing treatment later we were told he had pneumonia.......again.

Both kids have been sick for almost three weeks now with colds. My daughter is finally on the mend, yet like always a simple cold turns into a serious respiratory complication with my son. I called the doctor Friday who told me to just keep giving him nebulizer treatments at home and that should help clear it up. Against my better judgment I did not take him to Urgent Care over the weekend. By Sunday he seemed to be getting better until Wednesday morning when he totally relapsed. I do this every time. Play the waiting game in my head. Should I take him? What if it's nothing? Then I've wasted time and money, plus exposed him to whatever germs are floating around in the hospital. But what if it's something? And he's just getting worse? The times I don't take him right away and wait are the times he ends up with pneumonia, RSV, Bronchitis, etc. The times I take him right away are the times it is "nothing." I can't win.

So, it looks like we will be spending another week or so cooped up in the house. Then this past week I caught what the kids have had. I feel horrible. The worst part is the exhaustion and constant headache. This afternoon I had my grandmother come over to keep my daughter entertained. I then took a shot of whiskey and took a nap. I woke up an hour later in a puddle of sweat just dripping. Fever broke. So, I'm hoping I will start feeling better soon. As I type this, still not feeling better.

Here's my question/concern/dilemma......Everyone says this is going to be a nasty flu season (and by everyone I mean the reputable people I have spoken to...pediatricians, hospital doctors, friends in the health care field, etc....not the mass hysteria splashed all over the news....although they may be right). Even just taking away the risk of H1N1, the regular flu poses a great risk for my son because of these respiratory issues. I was told last night that the more I could keep him away from group setting, etc. the better. Because I stay home with the kids, this isn't impossible. I don't have him in pre-school or day care of anything like that. However, I do like to leave my house yet sadly every time I do the poor kid ends up hospitalized or close to it. I put my gym membership on hold yesterday for 3 months to wait out the "flu season" since both kids go to a child care facility there. May be extreme, but it's a sacrifice I am willing to make right now. I can work out at home if it will mean my son isn't getting constantly sick. However, I do have to go to church, to the grocery store, see other human beings, take my daughter to dance, go to doctor's appointments, essentially function as a social being in a world that is inhabited by other people....people with germs.

Needless to say these past few weeks have been crazy. The house is a wreck, dishes need to be done, clothes need to be washed, folded, and put away, kids rooms need to be cleaned. Honestly, I don't care though....which is saying a lot, because usually I am rather militant about having things picked up in my house the SECOND someone is done using or playing with it. I have neither the energy nor the inclination to play housekeeper right now. I guess I am more concerned that my son can breathe and in the process of taking care of him I don't keel over dead. :) Oh yeah, I could use a shower too. It's been about three days.

So, how are you all feeling? Worried about the flu season?

Sick and Tired

My kids have been sick for two weeks now, primarily with colds. Of course, my son always has respiratory complications so he is still sick and on breathing treatments. I knew I would end up sick, but I started thinking I may get through this unscathed when more than a week and a half passed and I still wasn't sick.

Then I woke up Sunday feeling crappy: sore throat, exhausted, sneezing. Full on cold hit today in addition to some type of stomach bug and cold sweats. Ugh. All I really want to do is crawl into bed and sleep the day away. While I am fairly confident that the kids wouldn't kill themselves or others I greatly fear what my house would look like when I finally awoke. So, for that reason I will suffer through the day, awake, and hope that for the first time in more than two months I actually can sleep through the night tonight.

Being sick sucks. Being sick and having to take care of others is downright torture. Can I get an "Amen?"

So, what do you do when you are sick and tired yet have kids to care for?

Driving 101

Today certainly could have been better. My daughter has been sick with a pretty bad cold since Friday so we planned to stay close to home today. My son and I seem to be coming down with a cold and so neither of us are feeling our best.

Around noon I decided I would put the kids in the car and run to the bank quickly to deposit a few checks. I was hoping that at least my son would fall asleep on the way or way back. Car doesn't start, doesn't turn over, nothing. Totally dead. The good news is that I realized this today as I have a doctor appointment first thing tomorrow morning for both me and my son, dance class on Wednesday for my daughter, and a dentist appointment Thursday for myself. This is not the week to be without a car.

My plan was to push the car out of the garage so that I could get another car close enough to it to jump it, head to the store and have the battery replaced, assuming that it was the battery. Our driveway is on a downward slope and it's short. There's not a lot of room for error getting it out of the garage and secured before rolling into the street. I try to push from inside of the drivers door but am unable to get it to move. So, I keep the door ajar and head to the front of the car to give it a nudge. I realized I'd have to jump back around quickly and hop in to put on the brake. Well, the door got caught on the side of the wall in the garage, practically ripping the door off. Mercifully, it was the only thing that kept the car from rolling into the street. However, it did some damage to the wall and to the car door. From there it wouldn't budge. Couldn't close the door, couldn't move the car, couldn't close the garage as half the car was in and the other out.

My brother was able to come up and help me get the car back in the garage and get the door out of the wall and also jump me. From there we got the battery replaced (which is a whole other story about car dealerships and their service departments).

As a whole it was an aggravating afternoon. However, in retrospect the whole incident, now that it is over, is a bit funny. I am sure anyone watching this probably found great humor in the situation.

This evening I put the kids back in the car to pick up dinner and my daughter says, "Mommy, I hope the car starts this time." I told her that I hoped that it started too. She then said, "Or else you might crash the car again." Funny kid. Not so funny that I am wholly responsible for the body damage on both cars we own.

Super Bug that's Super Freaky

Almost a year ago my son developed really chapped lips along half of his bottom lip. The lip cracked in multiple places and then crusted over and spread down toward his chin. It looked awful and painful. We took him to the doctor where they started treating it just with aquafor, which did nothing. They then suspected impetigo and treated him for that, then a yeast infection, and after months of different treatment options we were referred to a dermatologist who put him on a steroid cream for two weeks. It cleared up the symptoms for the most part, yet returned within three days of stopping the cream. She put him back on the cream, which this time did nothing.

So, we go back to the doctor tomorrow as they are now suspicious that he may have MRSA (a bacterial super bug). They'll take a culture and we'll know for sure. At this point I just want to know what the heck it is and what treatment options will actually correct and fix the problem and not merely mask the symptoms. There has been talk of putting him on antibiotics for 40 days if it is in fact MRSA, which makes me nervous. He's been on antibiotics twice for pneumonia and both times it tore his stomach up. I try to avoid antibiotics at all cost so they don't build up an immunity (like declining it for ear infections that can clear on their own), but I know at this point he needs something and while I appreciate the doctors erring on the side of caution in his treatment, it seems like after 11 months of dealing with this they'd give him whatever it took to kill whatever he has.

I am tempted to just say, "I know you don't know what it is so just treat him for EVERYTHING you think it COULD be and hopefully one of your guesses will be right."

Worthwhile

My son became very ill Sunday evening with the flu. (Not the swine flu, just the old-fashioned flu..haha). He's had a very high fever, which has pretty much wiped him out. After dropping my daughter off at VBS the past three days we returned home where I have laid in bed with him, just holding him as he has dozed on and off. Yesterday, he was so sick and his fever so high that my mom thankfully offered to pick up my daughter so I could keep him in bed and let him sleep.

Sick kids break my heart, but this bout has especially tugged at my heartstrings. He just looks so weak and pathetic. In three days his feet have not touched the ground. For two solid days his body didn't leave mine; he was carried everywhere, held at all times, and slept on my chest. If I even thought about using the rest room he would cry pathetically and say in the saddest voice possible, "Hold me mommy. Please." It has been exhausting and I feel bad because my daughter has had to entertain herself for most of the past three days while I have been tending to her sick brother.

The plus side of this has been just getting to relax with him and cuddle with him so much. He's a pretty affectionate guy in general, a total mama's boy who is usually pretty willing to cuddle anyway. This has only exemplified that and while I have slept very little over the past three days just being able to comfort him while he has been so miserable makes it all worth while.

She's the Messy One

My son has caught whatever stomach bug my daughter had this past weekend. The poor guy has been throwing up for two days now and with great frequency. Last night was so bad I couldn't even keep up with the clean up. So, after I finally got him to sleep at 1 am I started trying to get the vomit out of the carpet, couch, off the floor, and began loads of laundry. Needless to say, our house smelled like death and looked even worse this morning as the vomiting continued.

My daughter has dance class every Thursday afternoon and so thankfully my mom came to pick her up today to take her. While she was gone and my son was sleeping I went to town disinfecting the house. I cleaned and vacuumed the carpets, scrubbed the bathrooms, stripped the beds of all sheets, scoured the kitchen, mopped the floors, and washed every ounce of clothing, towels, and bedding used over the past 48 hours. The house was pristine.

When my son woke up we got out some of the toys and played with them. Granted, he wasn't really feeling well so we didn't do much but everything we played with he put away. When my daughter arrived back home a few hours later it took only minutes for the entire downstairs to look like a tornado had blown through. Her shoes came off first and were tossed in the middle of the living room. Her dance bag was flung on the couch, her water bottle on the other couch. Then she started getting out all her little gadgets that she plays with and soon they occupied the end tables, the little cubbies in the entertainment center, and a portion of my dining room table.

That is when it hit me. It was her. All this time my husband and I have had this misconception that our son is the messy one. That the reason I spend every single night picking up is because he is a messy boy. We were wrong. It's our daughter. By the time my husband got home forty-five minutes later you could hardly tell that I had slaved away the better part of my day beautifying the downstairs of our house.

Oink Oink

I gotta tell you, I am not one to be an alarmist, but this whole swine flu outbreak scares me. It's frightening how fast something can spread all over the world. The US had its first reported death and my initial fear is that this is only the beginning. Arizona now has its first confirmed case and honestly that makes me a little uneasy.

We're not out and about a lot, but we do go to the Children's Museum regularly, the gym child watch area, the library, not to mention stores and restaurants. Truly, you can catch something just about anywhere you go, so I'm not really one to live in seclusion but I have to be honest and say I have been hesitant to go anywhere that is not absolutely necessary in the past few days.

I say this next part with some hesitancy because I don't want it taken the wrong way. However, we live in Arizona. Not only are we close in proximity to Mexico but there are many who come from Mexico regularly to visit family in town. With the outbreak starting in Mexico and seeming to be most severe there it is unsettling that these travelers could be exposing the rest of us to a potentially deadly virus.

It concerns me even more because our son has severe respiratory problems when he is ill. A normal cold virus in most of us becomes pneumonia with him. Something that may put us in bed for a few days puts him in the hospital. It makes me nervous.

Like I said, I don't want to be an alarmist but on the other hand I don't want to foolishly expose my family. I guess for now we will just be careful and stock up on hand sanitizer.

I'll Tell Ya Mine; You Tell Me Yours

This weekend was pretty good. Very busy and not truly relaxing, but as a whole it was nice. My parents are both in town so we went up to their house on Friday evening for a family bbq. It was fun and the kids were really excited to see their grandpa (grandma too....they just don't see my dad as often as they see my mom). My grandmother came over as did one of my brothers, my sister, brother in law, and their four children.

Saturday my husband had to go into the office for a couple of hours so the kids and I played at home, went on a long walk picking flowers, and pretty much just relaxed. Saturday afternoon I went and got a pedicure. I took my daughter with and they were really great with her. They let her soak her feet and then painted and decorated her toenails and fingernails. She loved it so this may become a ritual...although I only get a pedicure about once a year, if that. We ran a bunch of "necessary evil"l errands like to get toothpaste, deodorant, and floss. Nothing really fun.

The big "deal" of the weekend was supposed to be Sunday. My grandmother wanted to take me, my daughter, my mom, my sister, and her two daughters out to brunch at this very fancy establishment here in town. It has been planned for months. This morning my daughter wakes up and looks horrible. She says she doesn't feel well so I spend the morning cuddling with her and giving her some sympathy. Right before I was going to go get us ready to leave she starts vomiting everywhere...all over me, herself, the blankets she was wrapped in, our carpet, our couch and cushions. EVERYWHERE. VIOLENT. PROJECTILE. VOMITING. I cleaned her up, cleaned the house up, cleaned myself up and needless to say left my daughter home with my husband, which was disappointing. She really wanted to come and I really wanted her there. By the time I got home a few hours later she seemed a bit better, so hopefully it is nothing serious (like the swine flu..I say that only partly kidding) and something she'll recover from quickly.

So, this evening we are taking it easy. Like I said, it was a busy but nice weekend. Tell me what was on your agenda for the weekend? Anyone reading a good book right now?

Decisions, Doubts, and Second-Guessing

Our son has had respiratory issues since he was 8 months old. Every time he gets sick my husband and I wait and see if the wheezing begins before starting the breathing treatments and praying they help. Often times they don't so back to the doctor we go. There's always this dilema though of whether or not should we take him. Is he sick enough? Should we wait another day or two? What can the doctor really do anyway if it's viral? We're not those people that run to the doctor with every cough and sneeze, but sometimes we have been those people who have waited too long, kicking ourselves for not taking him in sooner. This appears to be one of those times.

Both kids have been sick for almost six weeks now. It started with both of them having a cold that lasted for two weeks. The runny nose stayed, the coughing got worse, and the sneezing increased. I started suspecting allergies but the allergy meds didn't do a thing to relieve any of the symptoms. While our daughter seemed to start improving, our son did not so after week 3 we called the doctor. She saw him, said while he was wheezing a bit she thought it was more a result of his asthma so recommended we continue giving him albuterol treatments. She said his ears were a little pink but not infected and she and I both are on the conservative side when it comes to medication so she prescribed nothing.

Well, two more weeks passed and neither one was better. Last week I debated daily whether I should call the doctor and each time I convinced myself that he may be better tomorrow, so I never called. After taking a turn for the worse on Monday night I called the doctor yesterday, they could hear him hacking in the background and so we made an appointment for first thing this morning. Well, I am glad I did because last night the poor guy was coughing so much that he started coughing up tons of dark brown phlegm, which then led to vomitting, I think as a result of so much phlegm being coughed up. It was gross and I am still trying to get the smell out of the carpet, couch, and any other crevice the vomit managed to find itself stuck in.

Long story short we saw the doctor, she wanted chest x-rays, and we walked away with the diagnosis of bacterial pneumonia, double ear infections, sinusitis, and an exterior lip infection (lip got so chapped, it split and is now swollen and infected).

So, now I feel horrible. The poor guy has been miserable for almost two months and while he wasn't as bad the first three weeks, had I trusted my gut and taken him in last week he could be on day 7 of a 10 day course of antibiotics and on his way to feeling better. Instead, he is miserable and on day one of the antibiotic treatment.

In Your Face

The sound, smell, sight of vomit repulses me whether it be my own or someone else's. Obviously when having kids you kind of get over that and deal with being thrown up on, pooped on, and a host of other disgusting things. My son has been sick since Saturday with respiratory issues as usual. Poor kid has been so congested and he coughs and coughs and then chokes on the phlegm.

Today he has been beside himself. Totally out of it, crying, wheezing, and hacking up a lung, possibly two. So, I have spent the day holding him, rocking him, consoling him, etc. All was starting to go better until he looked at me and then vomited (a ton of phlegm) all over me, face included.

Oddly, it didn't gross me out, send me into fits of dry-heaves, or otherwise repulse me. I must be getting the hang of this parenting thing. :)

Germs, Germs, Everywhere

I can't even begin to tell you how frustrated I am that we have spent the last 6 months overwhelmed with illness. It is seriously getting ridiculous. I used to be sick all the time when I was teaching. Instead of becoming immune like most teachers, I spent 5 years catching every little illness each of my students brought into my classroom.

When I stopped teaching over three years ago it was like a whole new world. I was healthy for massive amounts of time. I even went an entire year without so much as a sniffle. My daughter was the same way. In the first two years of her life she had one cold. She was a machine. Then my son came along and at 8 months was very ill and hospitalized. Since then the poor guy catches everything.... and I mean everything. There also seems to be a major increase in the amount of illnesses my daughter and I now catch. So, I was totally bummed when our son woke up Saturday with a horribly runny nose. I knew it was only a matter of time. He's now sick, I woke up sick yesterday and my daughter woke up sick today.

Really there should be a limit on the number of times one should be allowed to get sick in a year's time. I'm thinking three.

Self Diagnose, Self Medicate

I once dated this guy who was pre-med and he would attempt to diagnose any ailment I had. While at first it was impressive it became quite annoying and in time made me paranoid. Talk about a solid reason to be a hypochondriac. Anytime I sneezed I waited for him to conclude that I had only weeks to live.

I think because of that experience I have always been reluctant to take myself to the doctor. I don't want to seem like I am overreacting. So, I end up waiting until I am horribly ill and end up walking out with 17 different medications as opposed to if I would have taken myself when I was first sick and could have been cured with one. (I am fortunately not that way with my children).

So, the internal struggle has begun. I'm fairly certain that what I have is a virus, in which case there is nothing they can give me. I am also 99 percent certain I have ear infections. I am prone to those and end up with serious infections and a boat load of medication almost everytime I get sick. The fact that my ears throb so badly that the pain has radiated to my jaw and kills so much I can't even lay on the right side of my face makes me fairly certain that my diagnosis is correct.

That being said I still don't want to drag two kids to the doctor where I am sure I will have to wait, so I rummaged through my medicine cabinet and found antibiotics from when I was sick a few months ago (yes, I know that's bad...I didn't take the entire course of them). In the interest of self-preservation and cost cutting measures I am self-medicating with a 10 day course of amoxicillian. Shhh! Don't tell anyone. That's probably about as good as the doctor could do anyway.

On that note, I am going to take something to knock me out and go to bed...something I should have done hours ago.

Weekend Recap

So my kids were sick for most of the month of December. My son is still battling a cough and runny nose. Imagine my surprise when Christmas came and went and I was still not sick. I mean, come on, I catch everything. Well, my glee was short lived. I came down with the same crud that is going around on Saturday and I am now miserable. Add to this the fact that my son has decided to start waking up every hour all night long and I'm about ready to claw my own eyes out. Or the fact that my daughter stands in her door way in the middle of the night crying about wanting to "sleep with mommy." I love that they love me but I'd love it more if they'd love me less during the hours of 10 pm until 7 am.

On more uplifting news my husband and I have made great progress in our "house purging" endeavor. I was able to clean out both kids' rooms, closets, dressers, toy boxes and put up new beds in each. My husband gutted his closet and dresser and I mine and I even managed to "spotlify" (yes, it's my made up word for the epitome of cleanliness) the laundry room. So, our upstairs has only the office remaining and if all goes well I hope to clean that out this week. My illness has thrown a bit of a curve into the plan, but I think I'll power through. Then hopefully next weekend we can hit the kitchen, the storage closet, and the garage. We have someone coming today to pick up 17 bags of donated clothing and bedding from our closets and drawers. Craziness...I am just glad all that stuff is not in my house anymore.

So, tell me about your weekend. What did you do? What's on the agenda for the week? Have you managed to stay healthy during this "cold" and "flu" season?

On the Mend

So as you know our son has been really sick (thanks for all the kind words, thought, and prayers). He seemed to just have a lingering cold for the past couple of weeks but by Christmas Day had gotten much worse. I probably should have taken him to the doctor sooner, but we were out of town and for viral infections there is nothing they can really do anyway. Christmas night our son was having difficulty breathing, uncontrollable coughing, wheezing horribly, so we started to get worried.

We'd been down this road before and he ended up being hospitalized for three days last February with RSV and Bronchiolitis. We debated if we should take him to the ER Christmas night and in retrospect probably should have. Friday morning we took him to the doctor. She listened to him, checked his oxygen levels, and sent us off to the hospital. We spent the day there with him receiving breathing treatments every 30 minutes for four hours. Unlike last time, he responded to the treatment and his oxygen levels slowly increased and we were fortunately released, with yet another Bronchiolitis diagnosis, instead of admitted. They had us continue the breathing treatments at home all weekend every four hours.

Unfortunately, our son hates the mask that administers the medicine. He screams and fights and it ends up taking much longer because he holds his breath. By day three he resigned himself to the inevitable and while he no longer fights to the death, he begins to cry the second he sees me pull out the mask and medicine. It's rather sad. He looks at me and cries, "No, no mama."

There is nothing worse than having a sick kid and feeling so helpless. Truly, I don't know how parents of terminally ill children find the strength and courage to go on day after day. As sick as my son is he was/is not close to dying and yet still I have worried non-stop about him. I continue to worry about him and what this means for his future health.

Monday morning I took both kids back to the doctor for a follow up. Our daughter's lungs are clear even though she is still battling a virus, but our son's are still squeaky. Fortunately, his oxygen levels were not low enough to warrant a trip back to the hospital. But, we were sent home with a nebulizer and inhaler treatments for the duration of his illness and they prescribed further treatment anytime he starts coming down with a cold in the future. He apparently is susceptible to respiratory complications; the doctor is hoping it will be something he will outgrow but only time will tell. He was also put on antibiotics for two ear infections. The nebulizer came with a cute duck mask and a spare fish mask so our son is very receptive to the treatment now and will even sit there holding the mask to his face by himself.

So, for now we continue to be housebound. I did manage to shower and dress myself in something other than sweats and an inside out, snot encrusted shirt for the past two days now. Hopefully by weeks end he'll have responded to the treatments and be much better.

Our son has managed to fight some with his sister today so he must be feeling better. He also mustered the strength to tell me "no, no, no", which he's been not feeling well enough to do lately. So, those are both good signs. On a random note my daughter taught him to say, "Happy Birthday" so he's been saying that all day. (I age yet another year tomorrow).

It seems like respiratory viruses are going around. Our friends' son ended up in Urgent Care with bronchitis, and the Pediatric ER was filled with kids all receiving breathing treatments. What's the deal?

So, I thank you all again for your kind words and it looks like little man is on the mend.

What I Would Do For A Night Alone

My husband left town again today on business. When he arrived he called to tell me about his room. Apparently, he is in some luxury hotel and his room is bigger than our first house. He had just stepped out of his personal hot tub and into a comfortable robe. He was then going to lay in bed, watching TV, getting at least a solid 8 hours of sleep.

I can't even begin to tell you how jealous I am. I would kill for a few nights like that....seriously, KILL!

I am home with two sicks kids, one who spent time in the hospital this past week (more on that later), being kept up all night by my son who I have to hold upright all night so that he can breathe, and giving breathing treatments round the clock every four hours for the past three days. Are you jealous yet? Did I mention I'm in sweatpants and a shirt I just now realized is inside out? Sexy.

Seriously, one way to endear yourself to me forever would be to offer to watch my kids for a night and let me sleep, completely undisturbed, for 8 solid hours. I will be your friend for life. I swear! Any takers?

The Kid's On Fire

When our son was 8 months old he was hospitalized with RSV and Bronchiolitis. It was a horrible week with him hooked up to oxygen, pulse monitors, and the like. I stayed in the hospital with him while my mom and husband alternated caring for our then 2 year old daughter. It was a very upsetting experience (compounded by the fact that my brother almost died from a similar respiratory problem when he was close in age to my son at that time).

Because of this experience whenever our son gets sick I worry a bit more than I normally would. He unfortunately seems to have been cursed with my inferior immune system, so when he gets sick he gets hit really hard. Two days ago he came down with a 102 degree fever. While that's high, I wasn't overly worried. Aside from the fever and a runny nose he didn't have many other symptoms. By Tuesday morning he was beside himself, crying, whining, staggering around. His fever had risen to 103. We dosed him with tylenol and ibprofen as often as we could, put washcloths on his neck, under his armpits, and on his groin to try to cool him down and otherwise just tried to wait it out.

By last night, he was on fire. I took his temp. and it was 104.5. By this time I'm really nervous, worrying about a potential febrile seizure. It's 11 pm and both our doctor and urgent care are closed, leaving the ER our only option if it came to that. Fortunately, it did not.

Long story short, I was up with him until 3 am trying to bring his fever down. The lowest it went was 102.7, which is certainly more manageable than 104.5. He is still sick today but his fever is only 102.3 so I am hoping he is on the mend.