Update from the House of Sick

Well it's Saturday, and while I'm still sick, I do think I'm getting better FINALLY. Today I only ran a fever once, which is a huge improvement. I was also able to sleep all night and then for most of the day today, which I'm sure is helping too. My ears popped last night, and for a few minutes I could hear, then the left one, the worst one, did it again just a little while ago. It's stopped up again, but maybe this means they're starting to drain and heal. I am running low on the Tussinex, which is scary, but we'll see. Maybe I'll be feeling even better tomorrow and won't need it anymore. I'm hoping I can return to work Monday. It's driving me crazy that I've had to take all this leave when I really need to save every bit for maternity leave, but there was no way I could have worked this past week.

While I've been sick, work has progressed on the nursery. The walls are all sheetrocked, and taped and sealed. They'll be ready for primer now and the new door to be put in. Then it'll be painting and flooring and base boards. Maybe another week or so I guess. I'd have taken more photos, but I've misplaced the camera and am too tired and sick to search for it. That's one thing I will look forward to doing when I'm well again, getting the house organized! It drives me nuts to have it all in disarray. Tom's been working on the important stuff, like laundry and dishes and cooking, but the organizing has had to take a backseat to everything else with both Nicky and I sick.

Which speaking of that, I don't know if I posted about Nicky being sick or not. He'd seen the pediatrician the Thursday before last, same day as Tom went to his doctor. While Tom got an antibiotic, Nicky was declared to have a cold and just need over the counter stuff to handle symptoms. He started running a temp (about 101 or less) on Sunday night though, so Monday Tom called again. They asked about his activity level, which was still high, and said he'd be ok, just keep giving him OTC meds.

Then Wednesday night he was up coughing hard. I know that cough. That's the cough I had so often as a kid where you'd cough and cough till you threw up. I was in there soothing him and helping him blow his nose, patting his back, all the tricks I know. And then he finally did spit up a bit. I carried him into the bathroom and called Tom for help. It was about 3am, and Tom was sleeping. Poor Nicky was so upset and feverish. He kept coughing and finally threw up again a time or two. When he got his bearings he saw he'd thrown up on my shirt and said "Oh no, Momma!" he was so upset. I just kept soothing him and telling him it was alright.

I got him and I both into a steamy shower and we just let the water wash it all away. The hot water and steam helped keep him warm and eased his breathing (and mine, because face it, I was as sick as he was). After a while I called Tom to get ready and handed Nicky out to him to wrap in a big towel. We got him all settled back down and medicated with what little we could. He'd already had the Delsym, which is 12 hour, so we gave him the Mucinex Cold medicine and a fever reducer. After getting him settled back down to bed, which took forever, I told Tom that he had to call the pediatrician in the morning and that I wanted Nicky seen today. And if they weren't giving him an antibiotic then I wanted a better cough medicine and decongestant for him.

Tom called in the morning and got Nicky in for an 11am appointment. I was too sick to move, so they went without me. Turns out Nicky had a double ear infection (the nurse couldn't figure out why he wasn't screaming in pain) and probably was developing pneumonia. I knew there was something going on with him. He has a very high tolerance for pain, and the same thing happened last year with his ears. He just doesn't slow down, even when really sick. They came home with amoxicillin, same antibiotic Tom and I are on, and an albuterol inhaler. (How they expected a 3 year old to use an inhaler without a spacer or a nebulizer is beyond me. But we're trying to get him to use it as properly as possible.)

Fortunately Nicky has bounced back nicely. Ever since starting the antibiotic he's been feeling much better. Less coughing already, and no more episodes of throwing up from the coughing. He's slept better too. We did manage to keep him somewhat subdued for Thursday and most of Friday, but today he was back to his normal self. He even played outside in the backyard (temps were in the 70's today here) and got filthy dirty. That's gotta be good for him right? A nice warm bath after that and he seems to be doing pretty well. No more fevers either.

Now if I could just bounce back like that!