The Plague

I wish I could be posting all the fun Christmas festivities that our family enjoyed over the holidays. But instead we had a low key Christmas due to the fact that our family was stricken with a virus that I have coined "The Plague".

Chris got ill at the beginning of December. He was still recovering from a cough/cold that he obtained while out in Boston in November. He developed a fever that peaked at 104.9 and was very ill. We got him in to see the Doctor and they told him he probably had caught the flu and gave him some Tamiflu and sent him on his way. He was very sick for about a week, but had to go back to work after 2 days because he could no longer miss any more days. He finally started feeling a little better.

Then the Sunday after he started feeling better, I got the worst food poisoning. Nausea, Vomiting, diarrhea, and the worst stomach cramping. I could barely get out of bed. And Chris developed a sharp pain on his left side that hurt every time he took a deep breath. When I listened to him I felt like he had a pleural rub. So both parents were incapacitated. Thank goodness for my mom and dad for rescuing us by taking Max to their house for a sleepover so I could rest and recover from being poisoned and Chris could rest. He went to the doctor the next day. He got a chest x-ray. Results = Pneumonia. So he started antibiotics.

I was frustrated because we have all been so ill multiple times in 2011. When were we going to catch a break?

Then the following Tuesday I was at work. I started feeling nauseated and tired and feeling really crappy in the afternoon. By 5 pm I had a fever of 101.5. I felt awful. Over the next five days I continued to have a fever, body aches, and malaise. And the worst was the coughing. Instead of having a normal "tickle" in my throat that makes you cough, I had chest tightness that left me feeling short of breath most of the time. I feel like I've developed some asthma symptoms. Instead of having an audible wheeze, every time I cough afterword it would sound like there were pop rocks (or soda bubbles) in my airway. I coughed so hard that my diaphragm hurt and I hadn't slept well for 3 days.

So finally on Christmas Eve I drug my butt to Instacare to see a doctor and get meds. I felt like they gave me the usual run around. Could be pneumonia. Could be a virus that there is not treatment for. But it's so hard when your suffering and you just want relief! I had a chest x-ray which showed bronchitis with a RAD (asthma) component. I got antibiotics and a narcotic cough syrup. Finally on Christmas Morning at about 2 am my fever broke. I woke up in the biggest sweat where my hair was soaked. But no more fever at least. I am still coughing and have some chest tightness to this day (3.5 weeks later).

Then poor Max.

He was about 2-3 days behind me. He had fevers for 8 days total. After about 7 days of fevers I brought him to the pediatrician where he had his nose sucked out and the doctor said if his fevers continued to see them in 2 days. I went to work the next day and Max was with my mom. She said he had a fever and didn't want to drink all day. When I saw him that night he was really working hard to breath and very restless. He had the same "pop rock" cough that I had. I wrestled with the decision whether I should bring him to the emergency room (It was about 10:30pm). The MOM in me wanted to take him in to somehow give him relief. But the NURSE in me wanted to wait and see. Because I knew he wasn't bad enough to be admitted. He was breathing hard, but I could here air movement throughout his lungs when I listened with a stethoscope. I figured that they would probably suck out his nose (a small form of torture) possible poke him if he needed IV fluids, put him on a pulse oximeter to watch his oxygen levels, and send us home 3-4 hours later. So did I really want to sit in a ER (without Chris who could not miss another HOUR of work and needed to stay home and sleep) After a nearly 13 hour shift and RUIN Max's entire night of sleep just to be sent home. So I just decided to watch him. He finally fell asleep and I listened to his lungs, and watched his breathing for about 20 minutes before I felt comfortable enough to go to sleep myself.

The next day I took him in. He was looking better, but still breathing kind of fast. We got a Chest X-ray for him and gave him an albuterol treatment. Then we were sent home with some antibiotics. His x-ray showed viral process with an RAD component.

So in December ALL 3 of us had "The Plague". All 3 of us had fevers, horrid coughs, chest x-rays, antibiotics, and at one point or another wanted to die.

But we are slowly recovering. Slowly I say because Chris caught a minor cold after the plague and Max now has it and I have been suctioning buckets of snot out of him. But we will get better and hope we don't catch anything else.

It wasn't a very Merry Christmas for us, but I am grateful for family. Especially my parents for helping us out so much through this, even if Christmas was not the same for them with 2 of their 3 daughters not in town/home for Christmas and their only daughter who is... completely incapacitated with illness. They are amazing.

Here's to Hoping that 2012 will be so much better, and HEALTHIER!