Sickness

We have had a rough couple of months around here, health-wise. Kari was sick with a fever, sore throat, cough, etc. for a week at the end of January. Grant got a sinus infection that week, so I had to take him to the doctor. I felt pretty crummy and run down the week after that. Then the second week of February, Joel and Kari both came home with fevers Monday after school and were sick that whole week. We all got flu shots in the fall, but according to the doctor, it wasn't very effective this year. I'm not sure if Kari got two different viruses or just never recovered fully from the first one.

Just as they were feeling better, Oregon decided it wanted an early spring, and all the flowers and trees started blooming. We are still having some frosty mornings, but pollen counts have been high, and my allergies got out of control. I ended up with a sinus infection the weekend of Aubrey's friend party--not good! It was antibiotics and a week of recovery for me. In the meantime, Grant was on his second round of antibiotics for an ear infection and sinus infection.

And then, as I mentioned already, Aubrey got sick the day after her birthday party and had a fever for the next 4 days. She got well in time for the busy weekend, but then Greg started not feeling well. His throat was hurting him, but it's been that way off and on for the last month, so I figured it just must be allergies. Well, it got worse and worse, and by Sunday he was really hurting. He made it through church and playing the drum on the worship team that morning and made it through Aubrey's party that started at 2pm, but an hour and half before our community group Bible study was supposed to start, he was hurting pretty badly. I convinced him to go to Urgent Care at 5pm. It's a good thing he went, too, because he had a serious tonsil infection called a peritonsillar abscess. They gave him two shots, one antibiotic and one cortisone, and sent him home with three prescriptions and a follow-up appointment for the next day. The strange thing is that I had this exact same thing a couple years ago, and according to the doctor, it's not very common. Odd. The pain medication helped him sleep that night, and he's been slowly but steadily feeling better this week. 

Grant finished his second round of antibiotics, but the sinus infection never did go away, and he started feeling and looking worse. He cried twice at preschool on Tuesday, which was very unusual. His teachers let me know when I went to pick him up, and they said, "He must be getting sick because that wasn't like him at all!" I decided I'd better take him back in and decided I may as well take Joel in, too, since he's had a bad cough and congestion since he was sick three weeks ago, and he has just been looking and sounding not so good. He's had no voice for the last week, which has been kind of funny but has been getting old. We came away from that doctor's appointment with antibiotics for both boys, and a referral to the ENT (good ol' Dr. Wobig) for Grant to get his big, ugly tonsils checked out and to see what they think about his ongoing sinus problem. 

I've been thinking about how it's a good thing I don't work outside the home right now. I'd never be at work! When I was feeling frustrated by all the sickness, that's what I chose to be thankful for. I thanked God that I could be home to take care of sick kids. The last time we had this much sickness was when Grant was a baby, and we ended up with Joel getting his tonsils out and Grant getting tubes in his ears. That year was much, much worse, though (multiple ear infections, RSV, multiple cases of strep throat). Hopefully, everyone will be all well here again very soon!