Sickness, sickness, and more sickness
Since the beginning of September, we have had almost a constant barrage of illnesses. Since then, we have had a total of 1 1/2 weeks where we were all doing well. Since it has been so crazy, I felt the need to document it.
We started September with Anders getting his tonsils removed and septoplasty with a turbinate reduction (which basically means he had his sinuses cleaned out and the septum from his nose straightened). That was a full two week ordeal-and Anders was totally miserable. After about two weeks, he was feeling much better, but still not good for at least another week.
During that third week of Anders recovery, I sprained my little toe. It doesn't sound like much, but let me tell you-it hurt! The first two days I hobbled around pretty good and then it started to heal. It was sore, but nothing too bad and I could function pretty normally. Well, a week after I first injured it, I tried to buddy tape it (that's what you're supposed to do) and as soon as I put pressure down on it, I completely re-injured it to the point where I couldn't walk. I headed to the doctor to check to see if it was broken. They informed me that even though my toe bone is shaped funny, it was just sprained. They gave me a little walking shoe that helped me to walk and sent me on my way. My last day in my walking shoe was the day before we headed to New York.
We had a lovely, healthy time in New York, until I got sick the last full day we were there. It started with a fever and me feeling pretty lousy, but it ended up being just a cold that I couldn't kick. I spent three weeks trying to get over it. I had a bad cough, headache, and ultimately ended up with a sinus infection that took two rounds of antibiotics to take care of it.
During my cold, Summer had a day and a half where she had a fever and Ellen & Summer both had runny noses.
Also, while I had my cold, Anders got extremely sick. He started out with very high temperatures (103-104 range) and his first trip to the doctor they said he just had a virus and to wait it out. He then developed blood in his urine and some other pain, so we took him back in. This time they put him on antibiotics and ordered a CT scan, full blood panel, and a Urine culture. The first two came back clean and the second one never got sent in (which took us three days to figure out because the Dr's office was not helpful). The antibiotics helped to bring his fever down from the 103 range to the 101-102 range. Ultimately, he had a fever for 10 days before it finally broke. He took three trips to the doctor during that time and he never got a diagnosis. We think a kidney infection, but since the urine culture was never sent in, we won't really know. Anyway, about the time the fever broke he developed a cough and some congestion that ultimately turned into pneumonia, so he did a second round of antibiotics. So Anders had about 2 1/2 weeks where he felt very crummy. He's doing much better now and we are all grateful.
After Anders had been on the antibiotics for a couple of days, Summer came down with the stomach flu and we had a good 24 hours of misery with her plus a few more days of recovery. She kept asking me "What happened to my tummy, mom?" It was really pretty pathetic. Once she got over that we had a few days of normalcy (we all went to church together) and then Summer came down with another cold. She had a fever for a few days (which kept us from traveling over thanksgiving) and still has a terrible cough that has been keeping her up at night and has made her vomit a few times. She is feeling relatively good (tired), but she sounds awful.
Four days after Summer developed her cough, just two days ago, Ellen got the stomach flu. We took her to the doctor today and he put her on Zofran in an effort to get her to keep fluids down. We're hoping it works and that we won't have problems with severe dehydration.
That brings us up to date on the Lyman sick house. Everyone is now taking a multivitamin and I feel like my house needs to be dunked in a giant pool of bleach. I'm hoping that since it is now the last day of November and we have had 3 months of illness that we're done for the winter. I'm not too hopeful though. Someone is bound to get Summer's cold. It's impossible to contain the germs from a constantly coughing three year old.
Thanks to all our family who has been so helpful and brought us food. You are all life savers. Also, thanks to Nisha, our personal nurse, for answering a million phone calls from us about medical issues.
Here's to better health and happy Christmas season!
We started September with Anders getting his tonsils removed and septoplasty with a turbinate reduction (which basically means he had his sinuses cleaned out and the septum from his nose straightened). That was a full two week ordeal-and Anders was totally miserable. After about two weeks, he was feeling much better, but still not good for at least another week.
During that third week of Anders recovery, I sprained my little toe. It doesn't sound like much, but let me tell you-it hurt! The first two days I hobbled around pretty good and then it started to heal. It was sore, but nothing too bad and I could function pretty normally. Well, a week after I first injured it, I tried to buddy tape it (that's what you're supposed to do) and as soon as I put pressure down on it, I completely re-injured it to the point where I couldn't walk. I headed to the doctor to check to see if it was broken. They informed me that even though my toe bone is shaped funny, it was just sprained. They gave me a little walking shoe that helped me to walk and sent me on my way. My last day in my walking shoe was the day before we headed to New York.
We had a lovely, healthy time in New York, until I got sick the last full day we were there. It started with a fever and me feeling pretty lousy, but it ended up being just a cold that I couldn't kick. I spent three weeks trying to get over it. I had a bad cough, headache, and ultimately ended up with a sinus infection that took two rounds of antibiotics to take care of it.
During my cold, Summer had a day and a half where she had a fever and Ellen & Summer both had runny noses.
Also, while I had my cold, Anders got extremely sick. He started out with very high temperatures (103-104 range) and his first trip to the doctor they said he just had a virus and to wait it out. He then developed blood in his urine and some other pain, so we took him back in. This time they put him on antibiotics and ordered a CT scan, full blood panel, and a Urine culture. The first two came back clean and the second one never got sent in (which took us three days to figure out because the Dr's office was not helpful). The antibiotics helped to bring his fever down from the 103 range to the 101-102 range. Ultimately, he had a fever for 10 days before it finally broke. He took three trips to the doctor during that time and he never got a diagnosis. We think a kidney infection, but since the urine culture was never sent in, we won't really know. Anyway, about the time the fever broke he developed a cough and some congestion that ultimately turned into pneumonia, so he did a second round of antibiotics. So Anders had about 2 1/2 weeks where he felt very crummy. He's doing much better now and we are all grateful.
After Anders had been on the antibiotics for a couple of days, Summer came down with the stomach flu and we had a good 24 hours of misery with her plus a few more days of recovery. She kept asking me "What happened to my tummy, mom?" It was really pretty pathetic. Once she got over that we had a few days of normalcy (we all went to church together) and then Summer came down with another cold. She had a fever for a few days (which kept us from traveling over thanksgiving) and still has a terrible cough that has been keeping her up at night and has made her vomit a few times. She is feeling relatively good (tired), but she sounds awful.
Four days after Summer developed her cough, just two days ago, Ellen got the stomach flu. We took her to the doctor today and he put her on Zofran in an effort to get her to keep fluids down. We're hoping it works and that we won't have problems with severe dehydration.
That brings us up to date on the Lyman sick house. Everyone is now taking a multivitamin and I feel like my house needs to be dunked in a giant pool of bleach. I'm hoping that since it is now the last day of November and we have had 3 months of illness that we're done for the winter. I'm not too hopeful though. Someone is bound to get Summer's cold. It's impossible to contain the germs from a constantly coughing three year old.
Thanks to all our family who has been so helpful and brought us food. You are all life savers. Also, thanks to Nisha, our personal nurse, for answering a million phone calls from us about medical issues.
Here's to better health and happy Christmas season!
Wow. I honestly don't think the last 3 months could have been worse for you guys! Hopefully, the germs stop now!
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