It's been an awful Christmas for sickness in our family.
To begin with, Micah and Aslynn and Judah all had stubborn coughs that began halfway into December. Then Aslynn and Micah lost their voices. I kept them all home from school on a Friday and took them all in to see our family doctor. He told us that he figured it was just a virus and told us to give them hot lemon and honey on a spoon. Before we left, he swabbed Micah's throat just to be sure.
On Monday we got a phone call from the pharmacy informing us that Micah's prescription was ready. "What prescription?" we asked. "Amoxicillin - be has strep throat." The doctors' office failed to inform us of a positive diagnosis when the lab results came in. But the prescription was only for him because no one else was swabbed. Judah was on the med, still coughing at night, but doing better. Aslynn was not getting better. So we booked another appointment for her with another doctor because ours had left for vacation. She skeptically swabbed Aslynn and handed Faith a prescription to fill if it came back positive for strep.
The doctors' office called with ominous news. "You need to come in so we can discuss Aslynn's test results." We had a prescription in hand, but were told not to fill it until we saw the doctor on the following Monday - when we would be gone to Faith's parents' place. The office wouldn't tell us over the phone the diagnosis, but reluctantly booked us in with another doctor earlier than the following Monday. Besides, the doctor told us that strep shouldn't go beyond 10 days without being treated - we were getting close to that line. Sure enough, it was strep. And that was only the beginning.
We got to Faith's parents' place with sick kids in tow. Micah was finished his mess and Aslynn was just getting into hers. And then she became lethargic and feverish. Then she had a poor appetite. Micah started having her symptoms. Aslynn also had a mild rash. So on Christmas Eve she made a trip to the Innisfail hospital to get checked out after 36 hours of these symptoms. We had no answers - probably just a virus, but keep an eye on it.
Eventually Judah joined in the fun as Aslynn was recovering - all except for the rash. Then her cousin Noah got a rash, similar to Aslynn, only he had hives with it. We left for home, put our kids to bed when we arrived, and plopped down. What was going on? We were supposed to be heading to my parents' place the next morning - how could we go knowing the kids were ill? Micah even td us that he didn't want to go feeling like he did because he just wanted to sleep and wouldn't be able to keep up to his cousins. We thought we would wait out the night and see what the situation was in the morning.
The next morning we again adjusted our plan - I would head to GP with the gifts and see my brothers and sisters and leave the sicklings behind with Faith. Maybe they would be well enough to go without me for New Years. Because things were not getting any better. I decided to book another doctors' appointment for Aslynn. Again, a different doctor. Her rash now covered her whole body. I was fortunate to get in on a cancellation since they weren't taking walk-ins. We still waited more than an hour past our appointment time to see the doctor for 5 minutes and inform us that Aslynn was reacting to her medication. Great. Time for Benadryl.
And as I started out the door, Faith began to feel ill... Fantastic. Being sick at Christmas is the worst.
"I'm getting sickness for Christmas
Mommy and Daddy are MAD
I'm getting nothing for Christmas
'Cause I ain't felt nothin' but bad."
2 comments:
I'm so sorry that you guys are going through this at this time of year (or any time of year, for that matter). If it is Strep then the rash could be scarlett fever. My three had it a few years ago. Scarlet fever is related to strep and it treated the same (except maybe to add antihistamines for rash). I'm surprised the Dr's haven't clued into this. It was explained to me that Scarlet fever is what happens when strep is untreated. Of course, it was a few years ago so my memory may not be accurate. I do know that the two are related (same virus). Also, if it is mono, the body can react with the antibiotics to have the rash. I had that happen to me when I was 20. I was given meds for strep but it was actually mono. I hope you get it figured out soon and that your little (and big) kids get better.
Well, we just went another round with Judah. Only this time he was a fountain from both ends and I was awake with him until 4 am. Most of that was doing clean-up since he ruined three sets of sheets and pajamas and splattered an entire bathroom ankle high. Nastiness. He is better today finally after two days of recovery.
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