Family & Sickness Visit for a Week

On Saturday, April 21, Mamaw & Papaw arrived from Florida with their Fun Finder. They had come up to celebrate Great Aunt Mildred's 90th birthday that weekend and stayed for the week. We met them at one of our favorite restaurants, Red Robin, that afternoon for lunch. The boys always eat well there - Joshua loves the chicken fingers and Caleb loves the grilled cheese. They both enjoy the chocolate milk as well, of course. Caleb sat next to Ryan and left his drink within reach of the baby. We caught it most times, but toward the end, Ryan was faster than us and it landed on the floor. At the same moment, Caleb stepped on it not realizing, so we had a bit of a mess. Other than that and a few baby squeals from my little guy that has somehow found his shrieking voice, it went okay.

On Sunday evening after the party, they stopped in while I was at the gym with just Caleb (Joshua opted not to go when Daddy was staying home but Caleb still wanted to come with me). Ryan had woken up from his nap a bit fussy so Shawn told me to go and he'd stay home with him while he was waking up. When I got home, Ryan's "fussy" had went to downright upset. He had a high fever and just didn't feel well. So, Shawn and the older boys went out to dinner with his parents while I stayed home and cuddled the baby. Poor little guy! He had literally just stopped taking the antibiotics on Friday and was sick again already.

I made an appointment for him the following morning, but the doctor said it wasn't his ears this time (even though he still had fluid on them). She diagnosed him with a virus called "hand, foot, mouth" which causes blisters to form on these three areas (and some times in the diaper region as well) and general not feeling well. Poor little guy! We started giving him tylenol or motrin to alleviate his discomfort and waited out his illness.

Shawn watched the boys while I was at school the following night, and then when I came home, I started feeling hot and cold. By the middle of the night, I was sweating but shivering. My skin was on fire and yet I felt cold to the bone. No amount of blankets seemed to help. I asked Shawn to move closer to me so I could feel his body heat. He told me I was burning up. Sure enough, I was sick too. :( :( :(

My last day of Study & Share was the following morning. I had told Shawn how disappointed I was that Ryan was sick so I was going to miss my last Bible study of the year. He surprised me by taking the morning off to watch the kids so I could go. But, when I was sicker than a dog, he stayed home simply to take care of the boys. I literally didn't get out of bed on Tuesday. I felt AWFUL! Shawn took Joshua to school with his snack and other than nursing Ryan, I didn't really do anything. By Wednesday when I felt like I could move without hurting, I called the doctor who told me that I looked like a classic case of Strep throat. But, the short test came back negative. She put me on a z-pack of antibiotics anyway, saying that my throat looked exactly like it (and it was SO sore!) and that the fever and everything went along with it.

I had taken both boys to school that Wednesday morning (Shawn had to go back to work, and my mom was away that day in NYC and couldn't help me). It was also spring fling for the preschool, so I had to take both boys labeled bikes & helmets to the school besides the kids and all their stuff. BUT, they had a great time. Both boys came home with medals from their Olympic themed spring fling, and they told me about doing the long jump and relay races and riding their bikes at school, etc. Joshua had to wear green to stay with his "country" as his large class was split into groups to do all the activities. I wish I would have taken a picture of them with their medals! But, when I wasn't feeling well, even to grab the camera felt like it would take more energy than I had.

So, with the two older boys at preschool, I only had Ryan with me at the doctor's. He wasn't thrilled to be there, but we got through and got my antibiotics afterward. We did dinner with Mamaw & Papaw that evening and I had soft chicken pot pie. I hadn't eaten anything in a couple days, so it tasted wonderful and I was starting to feel half human again by that evening.

Thursday it was Joshua's turn to go to the doctor's office. He woke up with a fever and sore throat, so off we went. I remembered him sharing drinks with Papaw the night before, and I was hoping we wouldn't make our visitors sick! Joshua weighed 41 pounds at the doctor's - woohoo! We made it past 40! :)

The Bean's short test for strep came back negative, but by the following day I received a call that strep did grow in his long test so I had to go pick up antibiotics for him. He took them like a champ, though! He would come to the area that we set up as our "medication station" (as he liked to call it). He was SO disappointed to miss preschool that Thursday because it was an extended day (the only one of the year) where he was going to pack his lunch to take and eat with his classmates. I knew he was really sick when he said he couldn't go because he didn't feel well enough to. I felt bad that he missed his opportunity to do lunch with the bunch. :(

He told me that God healed his sore throat that weekend, so I knew he was on the upswing. Upon hearing that Joshua had strep throat, I took Ryan back to the doctor's to ensure he didn't have it. But, they swabbed him and said that his tonsils aren't really all that big so it wouldn't hold bacteria like an older person's would. Sure enough, his short and long tests came back negative, and the blisters on his hands and feet made her confident the first doctor was correct in their assessment that what he had was viral.

So, I was truly shocked the following Monday when my test finally came back that I had a MRSA staff infection. I didn't have any of the skin issues related to MRSA (PRAISE THE LORD!!!) so I wouldn't have ever known it if it weren't for getting sick. They put me on a strong bacterim (sp?) medication to get rid of the infection and told me to stay out of the sun while I was taking it. But, I feel better, praise God!

The Bean didn't get sick until the end of Mamaw & Papaw's visit, so we still saw them quite a bit throughout the week, which was nice. And I'm grateful that they didn't get sick from being with us. We were doing so well throughout the winter but then had a rough spring. Hopefully we're done with illness for awhile!