Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Sickness ...and more RAIN

So big Jack started running a fever Friday night, right before bedtime. Of course, my thermometer chose that night to have a dead battery. So I knew he was warm, but couldn't tell how high his fever was. Some parents would have ran out and bought a new thermometer, but I chose to give him a dose of Tylenol and put him to bed. Well, the next morning he was still hot, so I knew he was going to be sick.

With all the scary news about the swine flu I was scared not to take him somewhere. Being that it was Saturday we headed off to the Urgent Treatment Center. I am not a fan of these places, but when it is that or the ER, I will pick the UTC. What can I say, you get about what you expect at those places. We waited an hour and a half to see the Indian doctor. Nothing against Indian doctors or other foreign physicians, but I like to see an American that I can easily understand when it comes to matters of my child's health. So they don't seem to think it is the flu but say his throat is a little red. They do a strep test, but it is negative. They prescribe us an antibiotic and send us home. We wait about 20-30 min before going to the pharmacy to pick up his medicine. (We went to K-mart and purchases a thermometer.) Only when we get there, JACK hasn't had a prescription filled there before, so me and my sick baby have to wait another 20 minutes for the pharmacy to process the doctor's order. We left home at 10:15am and finally got done with everything about 1:15pm.

Well, that night he isn't improving and seems to be getting worse. On Sunday, he is really making a lot of noise when he breathes, is still running a fever, and feels awful. So Monday morning we take Madalynn to school and I start trying to call and get him an appointment with his pediatrician as soon as they open at 8:30.

We get to the doctor's office at 10:15 and right away the nurses see how sick he is. I absolutely love the staff at Dr. Lagrew's office! They are the sweetest ladies in the world. They give him a saline breathing treatment and right away he is doing better. He was so brave. He was scared of the breathing machine and cried a few tears, but did great! We wait 10 minutes and then they give him another one. We spend an hour there and leave with a prescription for steroids and some congestion medicine. They warn me before I leave that the "roids" may make him mean.


Well let me just tell you... they were right. My normally sweet boy (He wasn't even grouchy while he was sick over the weekend.) is aggressive and mildly violent. Today is the last day he has to take them if his symptoms are better and I will be so glad. He has pretty much laid around and watched Cars about 200 times. I am so tired of that movie. It is all he wants to watch though. I am so tired of being cooped up inside!


Meanwhile Madalynn complained of a headache and her teacher said she wasn't herself at school yesterday. She woke up with a croupy cough and a fever today, so we may have another week of this ahead! And it is raining here...AGAIN!!!!



I did manage to get outside for a few minutes yesterday and cut down my cornstalks from this summer and used them to decorate my gate and on either side of the driveway. I looked up how to tie a floral type bow and made a couple of those last night. I also found a grapevine wreath in the garage that I had put in there for my yard sale, but I am going to put it on the gate as well. I also managed to clean out my craft closet in the spare room. This particular task took most of the day and has been on my "to-do" list for a month. I am also proud that I have managed to make it a priority to have my quiet time each morning to study my devotionals and read my Bible. Not bad for a week like this.

I have been praying for my kids to feel better soon! My nephew is sick too! There is so much sickness going around. I sure hope Jeremy and I can avoid getting sick. I have been taking my vitamins and I am going to go drink a big glass of orange juice!