We Should Be Quarantined!!

First it was the little ones with sore throats, runny noses, and high fevers.  They each missed several days of school, and of course mommy was the one who had to take temps, clean up used tissues, and provide hour upon hour of cuddles because she was the one at home and daddy (lucky duck!) got to go to work.

As soon as they got better and resumed school, the older son started with the sniffles.  He never got the fever, but for him it dropped into his chest and the doctor ended up diagnosing him with pneumonia on a Friday.  He was put on antibiotics, steroids, and a nebulizer and seemed much better by Sunday, but by then I had started with the sinus issues.  I used half a box of Kleenex in 4 hours.

Monday morning I sent all the kids to school, and even remembered to send the oldest with his gym excuse for the week. Hubby had to work from 7am to midnight, and I was actually OK with that for once because all I wanted to do was lay on the couch cuddling my box of tissues and pretending I was dead until the kids came home at 3.

This, of course, did not happen.  By 9am, my phone was ringing and my oldest's school was demanding I come get him.  He had a dizzy spell and felt faint.  It took a lot of convincing to keep them from calling an ambulance for him.  They told me his blood pressure and pulse were fine, but they still wanted to call an ambulance.  I KNEW he was on the mend, and I certainly didn't need an ER and ambulance bill for nothing. He took his medicine before school, then barely touched his breakfast or any drink, and then tried to assist with the gym class for the younger kids despite his doctor note saying no gym class.  (What on Earth the school was thinking allowing that is beyond me.)  Of course he got dizzy.  I would have, too. I still had to go get him though, which was in itself a new difficulty.

Hubby's car had had issues and was sitting in the driveway waiting to go to the shop on payday. (the end of the week)  Luckily for my, my mother-in-law lives very nearby, and she was actually home!  She agreed to drive me to the school half an hour away to get the boy. I think she almost cried when I climbed in the car holding a box of Kleenex that I couldn't stop using.  I could feel her resisting the urge to drive with her head out the window like a dog to escape the contagion that was ME.

When we got there, they brought him out in a wheelchair which was clearly massive overkill, based on how fast he sprung out of it and sprinted to the car.  The nurse proceeded to tell me he had a temp of 99.8 and therefore couldn't come to school Tuesday either, and continued trying to get me to take him to the ER.  I'd already spoken to the doctor's office who let me know it wasn't pneumonia after all (x-ray was clear).  Home we went.

I got to spend the next two days home, getting no rest, while his Prednisone perky butt played video games and wanted food, food, food; and I continued to use Kleenex at an unprecidented rate.  By Tuesday evening, my asthma was acting up and I was the one needing the nebulizer, cough drops, and asthma inhalers that I only ever need when I am very sick.



Wednesday I HAD to go to the store for more Kleenex and "sick Jen supplies" like OJ, ginger ale, and cookies to try to entice myself to eat anything because I really hadn't had anything but coffee and tea for two days. (It didn't work.  The kids ended up eating them after a few days.) Obviously I went overboard on the cough drops, but they have a tendency to disappear in my house, and I hate being tied down to just one flavor. I also grabbed Chinese food for dinner while I was out because I         couldn't stand the thought of cooking.

Thank goodness my super sick had held off until payday, or this takeout would not have been an option.  This was the extent of my wasteful spending this month, but I think it was absolutely worth it to have a night off from cooking when I was that sick.

That afternoon, hubby got sick with some kind of stomach bug.  So much for my "I'll rest some on his days off Thursday and Friday" theory.  Man Sick is always so much more debilitating than Mom Sick.  Wimps.

Seriously though, my hubby doesn't fit the stereotype for "man Sick".  I just enjoy picking on him.  He is just as likely to try to help me when I'm sick as I am to try to help him if we are sick at the same time.  Ideally, we manage to alternate our needy phases with our helpful ones and muddle through.  We take turns sleeping (or napping) and manage to get the kids to school and fed their dinners.  They may watch a lot of TV during that time, but the necessities are met.

By Wednesday night, I had officially used four and a half boxes of Kleenex and I was wheezing and rattling when I breathed.  It was time to make a doctor appointment.  Of course, the one I usually see didn't have any openings so I got to choose between the very green new girl or the grumpy older lady obsessed with bloodwork.  I took the new one and hoped for the best.

It turned out she was ok.  She prescribed me antibiotics and Prednisone, too, and sent me for the same x-ray my son had to go have with a diagnosis of suspected pneumonia,

It's been a couple weeks now.  I've finished all the meds and although I didn't get the usual Super Woman feeling from the Prednisone, I did gradually get better.  I'm still not 100%, but I'm getting there.

Until the next round of ick starts it's run through the house.