You'd think I'd be ready to post about how I'm over being sick. You'd be wrong though.
Still coughing. Still trying to get a nebulizer. I called the medical equipment place today and have them working on it from their end too now. So maybe the doctor's office and the equipment place will meet somewhere in the middle and I could actually get one at some point. Or maybe all hell will break loose and I'll end up with two. Whatever works.
I also called my doctor's office today to get a prescription for a cough suppressant since I've been up at night coughing the last two nights. And then I called the pharmacy after work to make sure it was in... nope. Nothing called in. Super. Does vodka suppress coughs? Huh, it'd be funnier if I actually owned vodka I guess. I think the strongest thing in our house is some of that Arbor Mist stuff. But it's too many points to drink.
Speaking of points, I have been doing really well on the WW thing. I was too sick to go to the Saturday meeting, but I had Tom drive me by there Monday after work just to weigh in and... Lost another 3.8 pounds! That's over 13 pounds in 4 weeks. Nice. Two more and I'll be at 5% lost. I can do this.
Nicky went for his follow up with the allergist on Monday. His coughing is not improving with the Nasonex. I actually woke up early Monday morning from hearing him cough. That got the doctor's attention and he realized that I'm not saying he's coughing occasionally. He's coughing a lot. The allergist thinks it might be asthma. The same kind I had which doesn't create a wheezing but has a lot of coughing. So Nicky now has an inhaler. He's very good about doing it. I think he appreciates a medicine that doesn't taste crappy. He still does the Nasonex, but only a half dose compared to what he was doing. And he's still taking the Zyrtec. That does stop the runny nose, but not the cough. We go back in another two weeks for a follow up.
I finally set up an allergist appointment for myself too. I go in next Tuesday and Thursday for testing. I thought maybe I could do it all in one day like Nicky did, but apparently for Nicky they did 20 sticks and for me they'll be doing 60. That's a lot of poking. I think we'll stick to the two days. The funny thing is that my second test will be the morning of the day we leave for Disney. HA! I better not have a bad reaction!
Tomorrow night is my sleep study titration too. I played with my machine and bumped it up a few spots and it seems to be working better. It will be interesting to see what the titration shows as being the right level. I just hope my being sick doesn't mess it all up! It's hard to sleep when you're coughing.
And that brings us to the end of this Special Mott-Edition of HealthWatch.
Next post: Trying to get my 3 year old potty trained and sleep-trained.
Tuesday, June 02, 2009
Friday, May 29, 2009
Go ahead, kick her when she's down
Hm, so you know that whole Rock Bottom post? Well, not even close.
Let's recap shall we?
Tom was sick for a whole week with a head cold/allergies/cough thing.
Friday before Memorial Day weekend (which was supposed to be Nicky and my chance to go on a vacation to see Grammie, Aunt Liz and Aunt Jodi): Nicky threw up all night long.
Saturday night, I start feeling crappy, hope it's just allergies.
Sunday I run a fever and feel worse. Seems maybe I caught Tom's cold.
Monday morning I wake up puking and have stomach flu all day.
Tuesday morning Tom wakes up and has stomach flu all day. I just start regaining my strength and being able to eat food again. Still have a cold though. Doctor says we just have a cold and a stomach flu that started going around last week and to push fluids and rest.
Wednesday I start running a fever again and feel horrible. My cold is now aggravating my asthma too. I call the doctor for a nebulizer since I had to return the last one. They never call back.
Thursday my voice goes and while I made it in to work for about 3 hours for a meeting I come back home early. Nicky comes home with a fever of 101. Tom's nausea comes back along with dizziness. I'd called the doctor again about the nebulizer, but again, no call back.
Friday my throat hurts so badly I can't talk at all without pain, my voice is just about completely gone and it hurts even with throat spray. Lucky me I still get to have a cough anyway. Need the damn nebulizer and seem to have possible strep along with laryngitis.
Come ON man! It was a ruined 3 day weekend AND both Tom and I have missed a 4 day work week too. Nicky made it to school Tuesday and Thursday, the only days that one of us was strong enough to drive, and he still managed to catch another bug.
We just booked our June Disney vacation for 3 days and I just hope we can all be well for that. I feel like at least one of us have been sick forever at this point!
Let's recap shall we?
Tom was sick for a whole week with a head cold/allergies/cough thing.
Friday before Memorial Day weekend (which was supposed to be Nicky and my chance to go on a vacation to see Grammie, Aunt Liz and Aunt Jodi): Nicky threw up all night long.
Saturday night, I start feeling crappy, hope it's just allergies.
Sunday I run a fever and feel worse. Seems maybe I caught Tom's cold.
Monday morning I wake up puking and have stomach flu all day.
Tuesday morning Tom wakes up and has stomach flu all day. I just start regaining my strength and being able to eat food again. Still have a cold though. Doctor says we just have a cold and a stomach flu that started going around last week and to push fluids and rest.
Wednesday I start running a fever again and feel horrible. My cold is now aggravating my asthma too. I call the doctor for a nebulizer since I had to return the last one. They never call back.
Thursday my voice goes and while I made it in to work for about 3 hours for a meeting I come back home early. Nicky comes home with a fever of 101. Tom's nausea comes back along with dizziness. I'd called the doctor again about the nebulizer, but again, no call back.
Friday my throat hurts so badly I can't talk at all without pain, my voice is just about completely gone and it hurts even with throat spray. Lucky me I still get to have a cough anyway. Need the damn nebulizer and seem to have possible strep along with laryngitis.
Come ON man! It was a ruined 3 day weekend AND both Tom and I have missed a 4 day work week too. Nicky made it to school Tuesday and Thursday, the only days that one of us was strong enough to drive, and he still managed to catch another bug.
We just booked our June Disney vacation for 3 days and I just hope we can all be well for that. I feel like at least one of us have been sick forever at this point!
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Rock bottom
Well if I thought our weekend was blown by Sunday, it was nothing compared to Monday.
Sunday night I dredged up the energy to write a post here and then do my homework up through Tuesday night. Good thing I did too! Because Monday morning I woke up early with really bad nausea. And then I got the full blown stomach flu. Fever, sore throat, stuffy nose, and the whole GI bit. Uphill, both ways. I spent all day in bed. I managed to hold down Gatorade by the afternoon and was eating chicken broth and half a banana by evening. I'm just glad I was able to avoid the hospital this time.
Today I'm weak and exhausted, but holding everything down and my fever might even be gone.
But now Tom's got it. So we're both at home resting today. I was able to drive Nicky to school this morning around 10:30 which allowed us to rest most of the day. I'll go pick him up around 4:30. Hopefully by then we'll be mostly coherent.
So my plan is to be able to go to work tomorrow. I'm not so optimistic about Tom though. We'll play that by ear.
Our next planned holiday is in just a few weeks. We're planning to take Nicky to Disney World. Hopefully we can avoid getting horrendously ill for that one! This is starting to be a pattern.
Sunday night I dredged up the energy to write a post here and then do my homework up through Tuesday night. Good thing I did too! Because Monday morning I woke up early with really bad nausea. And then I got the full blown stomach flu. Fever, sore throat, stuffy nose, and the whole GI bit. Uphill, both ways. I spent all day in bed. I managed to hold down Gatorade by the afternoon and was eating chicken broth and half a banana by evening. I'm just glad I was able to avoid the hospital this time.
Today I'm weak and exhausted, but holding everything down and my fever might even be gone.
But now Tom's got it. So we're both at home resting today. I was able to drive Nicky to school this morning around 10:30 which allowed us to rest most of the day. I'll go pick him up around 4:30. Hopefully by then we'll be mostly coherent.
So my plan is to be able to go to work tomorrow. I'm not so optimistic about Tom though. We'll play that by ear.
Our next planned holiday is in just a few weeks. We're planning to take Nicky to Disney World. Hopefully we can avoid getting horrendously ill for that one! This is starting to be a pattern.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Another 3 day weekend bites the dust
You know, I'd really like to have a holiday weekend where we all actually felt good!
So we ended up staying home after all. Nicky was fine by Saturday morning, but I called my mom and we all agreed that it would be best to give Nicky a break and just have some quality time with him this weekend. Saturday we just took it easy and by dinner he was eating ok. Earlier he was drinking fine, but just not really hungry. He had a few graham crackers but that was it for lunch.
Sunday Nicky was fine, but a little stir crazy. We were going to all go shopping and let him play at the playground in the mall (it's been raining daily all week and he needed to get out and play). But as soon as we all showered and dressed I started feeling crappy. You know it's not a good sign when it hurts to wash your hair. Tom took my temp and sure enough I have a low grade fever. So I stayed in bed all day and Tom took Nicky out. They had a good time playing at the mall.
I dredged up the energy to go out to dinner. We met Tom's dad and JM at Applebees and Nicky did pretty well for a kid with no nap. We curbed his crawling under the table though. I think his days of doing that are over!
I did well at Applebees I think. I did a salad and tomato soup instead of the appetizer and then had a potato, steak and broccoli. Dinner had to be a little point heavy since all I'd eaten was breakfast. That's a good position to be in for dinner! But I was starving when we arrived, hence the salad and soup I had them bring right away.
Oh, and I did make it to a weight watchers meeting Saturday morning! I lost another 3.6 pounds. That's 9.6 in two weeks. Pretty good! I know it'll slow down to about a pound a week soon, but this immediate gratification at the start is awfully nice.
Well, I have a homework assignment to bang out. Then I'm headed to bed. Scratchy throat, stuffy nose and a fever. Ugh. I hope I feel better by Tuesday. At least Tom is finally starting to feel better. He's been sick for over a week.
So we ended up staying home after all. Nicky was fine by Saturday morning, but I called my mom and we all agreed that it would be best to give Nicky a break and just have some quality time with him this weekend. Saturday we just took it easy and by dinner he was eating ok. Earlier he was drinking fine, but just not really hungry. He had a few graham crackers but that was it for lunch.
Sunday Nicky was fine, but a little stir crazy. We were going to all go shopping and let him play at the playground in the mall (it's been raining daily all week and he needed to get out and play). But as soon as we all showered and dressed I started feeling crappy. You know it's not a good sign when it hurts to wash your hair. Tom took my temp and sure enough I have a low grade fever. So I stayed in bed all day and Tom took Nicky out. They had a good time playing at the mall.
I dredged up the energy to go out to dinner. We met Tom's dad and JM at Applebees and Nicky did pretty well for a kid with no nap. We curbed his crawling under the table though. I think his days of doing that are over!
I did well at Applebees I think. I did a salad and tomato soup instead of the appetizer and then had a potato, steak and broccoli. Dinner had to be a little point heavy since all I'd eaten was breakfast. That's a good position to be in for dinner! But I was starving when we arrived, hence the salad and soup I had them bring right away.
Oh, and I did make it to a weight watchers meeting Saturday morning! I lost another 3.6 pounds. That's 9.6 in two weeks. Pretty good! I know it'll slow down to about a pound a week soon, but this immediate gratification at the start is awfully nice.
Well, I have a homework assignment to bang out. Then I'm headed to bed. Scratchy throat, stuffy nose and a fever. Ugh. I hope I feel better by Tuesday. At least Tom is finally starting to feel better. He's been sick for over a week.
Saturday, May 23, 2009
It's 2am and I know exactly where my son is
If you're eating, or squeamish, move on past this post. Don't even bother trying to read it. Seriously. You've been warned!
It's 2am on the Saturday of the holiday weekend. I was halfway packed for the trip Nicky and I were taking to go see his Grammie, Aunt Liz and Aunt Jodi. Nicky had already had a good dinner (we'd gone out to TGI Fridays and he'd eaten pasta and broccoli and then later he had a small ice cream from McDonalds. He'd had a fun bath with Daddy and about 4 stories and a nice long rock-a-bye with Mommy.
We were all set to be packed tonight and leave early in the morning for our three-day weekend extravaganza. Just Nicky and me. Tom was staying home to watch the dogs and work on the house.
And then about 20 minutes after Nicky fell asleep...he started coughing and then calling for me. Now, this isn't unusual. Nearly every night he comes to his door and calls for me or Tom to come do rock-a-bye with him some more. And we usually tell him to go to sleep for a while and then, depending on our homework situation, one of us usually will go in and rock him for a few minutes and put him back down.
But tonight I sensed he needed me more than normal. He wasn't crying like he usually tries (kind of a fake, manipulative cry usually). Instead he was just calling for me. I put down the stuff I was packing to go give him a quick rock-a-bye, but when I opened the door he was standing there covered in vomit. His bed was covered, pillow, animals, the wall behind his headboard... even the carpet on both sides of his bed had some. It was pretty icky.
I figured he'd been coughing from his allergies, as he'd been doing for months, and this time it just made him puke. That happened to me a lot as a kid with my allergies. I was super nice to him, because I know how it feels to be in that situation, and gently led him to the bathroom to clean him up. I put him in a warm bath and cleaned him off. He didn't want to get out of the tub, so I let him be there for a bit while I cleared off his bed and stuff. Tom was getting the car ready for our trip and bringing in Nicky's carseat to clean it. He took over cleaning the bedclothes outside with the hose before throwing them in the washer.
I finally got Nicky out of the tub, into a clean nightshirt and diaper, and set him in the chair in his room while I made his bed. He just sat there looking at a book. A bit pale and wan.
We got him settled into my lap for rock-a-bye. He wouldn't let me leave him to go change so I was still wearing pukey pants, but I figured he'd fall asleep soon. He did doze off pretty quickly and then rolled on his back in my arms and was sleeping nicely. I was just about to put him to bed when he coughed twice and started throwing up again.
How great that I finally got to experience that age-old tradition of catching your child's puke in your hand. I calmly called for Tom, who brought a towel, and then got Nicky into the bathroom where he finished puking in the toilet. Tom must have called the doctor at some point around then. I held Nicky for a bit, but then put him back down to sleep in his bed, on a towel.
Maybe 45 minutes later I heard him throwing up again and ran to him. Got him back to the bathroom and after this I didn't even bother putting a new shirt on him. I just wrapped him in a towel and held him. The doctor called back and Tom talked to her. Basically we were told to try the tsp of Gatorade every 30 minutes and take him to the doctor in the morning. Thank goodness our pediatrician has Saturday hours.
After putting Nicky back to bed again he was down for an hour or so. Tom went to the store and bought Gatorade.
My laptop decided to crap out at this point. For some reason the screen won't work anymore. Tom helped me hook it up to the big monitor we have for our desktop, so I can still access my stuff. Guess I'll be giving Dell a call tomorrow too.
And then we heard Nicky again. When I came in he'd just started coughing and I was able to get him to the edge of his bed to the trashcan I'd left there. Mostly it went in there this time. Tom got a washcloth and I cleaned him up. Nicky was so exhausted by this time that his legs were collapsing under him, so I just held him for a while, wrapped in a towel.
I just put him down a few minutes ago again. Tom and I are up and now it's 2:30am. We're kind of afraid to go to sleep. I'm thinking I might move my machine into Nicky's room and sleep in there with him tonight.
Nicky's not running any fever at all. If anything he's cooler than normal. His stomach is really gurgling and he's burped quite a bit since this started, so we thought maybe it was just he ate too much or something. But we'd have expected it to stop after one or two times. The last few times though it's just bile and dry heaves, so that doesn't seem like just an upset stomach to me.
We did eat out, so I'm concerned about possible food poisoning, but I would expect a fever with that. He doesn't seem to have any pain or swelling in his abdomen when it's palpated, so an obstruction seems unlikely. I would expect a fever with a virus or a bacteria, so I just don't know what this could be.
I feel a little queasy myself, but that didn't start till after all this, so I think that's just a reaction to seeing, smelling and cleaning up puke. (Although I'm pretty sure Nicky has no idea that I think it's gross. I've been very calm. A+ for me!)
I'm off to Google symptoms now and will probably convince myself it's something really wild by the time I take him to the doctor tomorrow. At first we thought he'd probably be fine and we could still go, but I'm thinking we're pretty much grounded for the weekend now. Darn it! I promise we'll get down there soon Mom!
UPDATE:
Well, according to my Googling, it looks like the most likely culprit is food poisoning. That's the only one listed on the Dr. Sears site that says it often has no fever. Nicky was crawling under the table at one point, so who knows what kind of bacteria he could have picked up. The site also indicated this is usually short-lived (12 hours or so) so he might be fine soon. But I hear him now!
UPDATE 10am:
He seems ok this morning. He's holding down Gatorade fine. I'm going to give him some toast soon and see how that goes. Am I crazy for thinking we might still be able to go?
It's 2am on the Saturday of the holiday weekend. I was halfway packed for the trip Nicky and I were taking to go see his Grammie, Aunt Liz and Aunt Jodi. Nicky had already had a good dinner (we'd gone out to TGI Fridays and he'd eaten pasta and broccoli and then later he had a small ice cream from McDonalds. He'd had a fun bath with Daddy and about 4 stories and a nice long rock-a-bye with Mommy.
We were all set to be packed tonight and leave early in the morning for our three-day weekend extravaganza. Just Nicky and me. Tom was staying home to watch the dogs and work on the house.
And then about 20 minutes after Nicky fell asleep...he started coughing and then calling for me. Now, this isn't unusual. Nearly every night he comes to his door and calls for me or Tom to come do rock-a-bye with him some more. And we usually tell him to go to sleep for a while and then, depending on our homework situation, one of us usually will go in and rock him for a few minutes and put him back down.
But tonight I sensed he needed me more than normal. He wasn't crying like he usually tries (kind of a fake, manipulative cry usually). Instead he was just calling for me. I put down the stuff I was packing to go give him a quick rock-a-bye, but when I opened the door he was standing there covered in vomit. His bed was covered, pillow, animals, the wall behind his headboard... even the carpet on both sides of his bed had some. It was pretty icky.
I figured he'd been coughing from his allergies, as he'd been doing for months, and this time it just made him puke. That happened to me a lot as a kid with my allergies. I was super nice to him, because I know how it feels to be in that situation, and gently led him to the bathroom to clean him up. I put him in a warm bath and cleaned him off. He didn't want to get out of the tub, so I let him be there for a bit while I cleared off his bed and stuff. Tom was getting the car ready for our trip and bringing in Nicky's carseat to clean it. He took over cleaning the bedclothes outside with the hose before throwing them in the washer.
I finally got Nicky out of the tub, into a clean nightshirt and diaper, and set him in the chair in his room while I made his bed. He just sat there looking at a book. A bit pale and wan.
We got him settled into my lap for rock-a-bye. He wouldn't let me leave him to go change so I was still wearing pukey pants, but I figured he'd fall asleep soon. He did doze off pretty quickly and then rolled on his back in my arms and was sleeping nicely. I was just about to put him to bed when he coughed twice and started throwing up again.
How great that I finally got to experience that age-old tradition of catching your child's puke in your hand. I calmly called for Tom, who brought a towel, and then got Nicky into the bathroom where he finished puking in the toilet. Tom must have called the doctor at some point around then. I held Nicky for a bit, but then put him back down to sleep in his bed, on a towel.
Maybe 45 minutes later I heard him throwing up again and ran to him. Got him back to the bathroom and after this I didn't even bother putting a new shirt on him. I just wrapped him in a towel and held him. The doctor called back and Tom talked to her. Basically we were told to try the tsp of Gatorade every 30 minutes and take him to the doctor in the morning. Thank goodness our pediatrician has Saturday hours.
After putting Nicky back to bed again he was down for an hour or so. Tom went to the store and bought Gatorade.
My laptop decided to crap out at this point. For some reason the screen won't work anymore. Tom helped me hook it up to the big monitor we have for our desktop, so I can still access my stuff. Guess I'll be giving Dell a call tomorrow too.
And then we heard Nicky again. When I came in he'd just started coughing and I was able to get him to the edge of his bed to the trashcan I'd left there. Mostly it went in there this time. Tom got a washcloth and I cleaned him up. Nicky was so exhausted by this time that his legs were collapsing under him, so I just held him for a while, wrapped in a towel.
I just put him down a few minutes ago again. Tom and I are up and now it's 2:30am. We're kind of afraid to go to sleep. I'm thinking I might move my machine into Nicky's room and sleep in there with him tonight.
Nicky's not running any fever at all. If anything he's cooler than normal. His stomach is really gurgling and he's burped quite a bit since this started, so we thought maybe it was just he ate too much or something. But we'd have expected it to stop after one or two times. The last few times though it's just bile and dry heaves, so that doesn't seem like just an upset stomach to me.
We did eat out, so I'm concerned about possible food poisoning, but I would expect a fever with that. He doesn't seem to have any pain or swelling in his abdomen when it's palpated, so an obstruction seems unlikely. I would expect a fever with a virus or a bacteria, so I just don't know what this could be.
I feel a little queasy myself, but that didn't start till after all this, so I think that's just a reaction to seeing, smelling and cleaning up puke. (Although I'm pretty sure Nicky has no idea that I think it's gross. I've been very calm. A+ for me!)
I'm off to Google symptoms now and will probably convince myself it's something really wild by the time I take him to the doctor tomorrow. At first we thought he'd probably be fine and we could still go, but I'm thinking we're pretty much grounded for the weekend now. Darn it! I promise we'll get down there soon Mom!
UPDATE:
Well, according to my Googling, it looks like the most likely culprit is food poisoning. That's the only one listed on the Dr. Sears site that says it often has no fever. Nicky was crawling under the table at one point, so who knows what kind of bacteria he could have picked up. The site also indicated this is usually short-lived (12 hours or so) so he might be fine soon. But I hear him now!
UPDATE 10am:
He seems ok this morning. He's holding down Gatorade fine. I'm going to give him some toast soon and see how that goes. Am I crazy for thinking we might still be able to go?
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