Help!! We've Got the Flu and We Can't Get Up!

I must preface this by saying, we never get sick. That being said we've been sick more since we moved here just over a year ago. Evidently the country bugs are a little hardier than the city bugs.

It all started three weeks ago. Yep, three weeks ago. In my last post I outlined the start of it and ended the post with Ace having a fever on Sunday. I sent Peach to school on Monday as she had been fever free most of Saturday and all of Sunday. At one o'clock the school called and said she had a fever of 103. We ran over and picked her up, went to CVS to restock medicines and bought a vaporizer. Back home medicined up, then Momma started feeling bad. I had to call in the Nanna troops again and she picked up the boys and we started to prepare for them to stay the night with her because I wouldn't be sending anyone little to school the next day. By Tuesday I had developed the cough. On Wednesday about 30 minutes after I got up the fever rolled in and I spent most of the day immobile and on the verge of tears. I spent the entire day unsuccessfully trying to control my fever. I have never felt so miserable in my whole life. I can say without a shadow of a doubt I have never had the flu before. On Thursday I sent Peach back to school because I'm basically going to be homeschooling her for the next week in addition to her regular school work. As the day wound down on Thursday I knew I was going to have to go to the Doctor my cough came back and I felt like I couldn't breath. I was only able to sleep 40 minutes total that night, four different sessions of ten minutes. I could not lean back without having a coughing attack the only time I was not coughing was when I was leaning forward. Friday after Nan took the boys to school, she came by and picked me up and took me to the Direct Care Clinic I signed in seven minutes after they opened and the place was already packed. After an hour and fifteen minutes I was in and minutes later having a breathing treatment. Evidently there are medicines for the flu but they have to be taken in the first 48 hours. And either I've developed asthma or my body decided to react like I had asthma and I was having bronchial spasms. They sent me home with an anti-biotic and some Prednisone. After the breathing treatment I felt much better and he said after I took my medicine I would be feeling better in about 6 to 8 hours. I was still sort of in a daze and so I didn't ask alot of questions like, "What if I don't feel better in 6 to 8 hours?" or "What if the crackling noise comes back when I breath?". So Mom picked me up and deposited me back home and I took a shower and tried to stand up every once in a while. Mostly because my ass hurt from sitting in a recliner for the last 300 hours and I thought I was going to be able to sleep because I hadn't had but about 2 and a half hours of sleep out of the last forty eight, but could I sleep. NOOOOOOOO. At four o'clock the crackle started to come back. NOOOOOOOO! I changed the flu infested sheets (first time in a week) I put some towels in the wash. Because evidently when you start to feel a little better, your able to smell your own stench. I called Charlie and said "You're coming home straight up at 5:00, right?" Because evidently the second thing that happens when you start to feel better is that you realize you haven't eaten anything solid in over 36 hours. And the crackle started to get a little better as I got closer to the 8 hour mark. So Charlie hit the door with the little's, my dinner, and two movies. I devoured most of my food, and then decided I was going to see if I could sleep as my temperature was on it's way up. I intended to take some NyQuil to put the final kibosh on the coughing and to put me down for the count, but the Prednisone came with a healthy list of don'ts so I lowered the ante to two Tylenol P.M.s. And although I still coughed some through the night and woke up twice and found myself sweating like an ape, I can say for the most part, I had a nights rest. At about 1:00 today, Ace climbed up in my lap and had a fever. Charlie is now on his way to the Direct Care clinic with him.

I haven't been at the helm of my ship for a week. And what under normal circumstances should have been a week's HOLIDAY, was actually one of the Worst Weeks Ever. Charlie is ready for me to be better, he says he sucks at being a Mom. Mom had to bring John over for some books Wednesday afternoon and when they were on their way back to her house and he let out a big sigh and said "I feel better now." "What?" Nan said, "I feel better now that I've seen Mom." That old toughie. I still have the will to live. Just barely.

Post in Pictures

This is how God speaks to me at the end of every day. Most days he says. "See, you made it through another one. I bet you can do it one more time." That's because lately, everyday has been someone else getting sick. Remember a couple of weeks ago when everyone took turns with the stomach virus? This week it was the flu. Monday and Tuesday was Melee' , he went back to school on Wednesday, when I took John for his root canal and Peach who had a six year molar taken out because it had a large hole in it and another cavity that had to be filled (and one more cavity to be filled on March the fourth) because I am the worst mother on the face of the earth. Then on Thursday Peach got the flu which has kept her down until today, followed quickly by Ace who came in at 6:00 a.m. with a fever of his own.

This is Melee', whose team went undefeated and won first place in his age group. He got called out for his hair being too long last week, so I had to cut his hair in between handing out doses of Advil.

This was Peach on the one hundredth day of school. All of first grade dressed up like little old people. Benjamin Button's got nothin on us.

How much does your husband love you when he sends you flowers like this when you don't even have any co-workers to eww and ahh over them so that he gets extra-extra credit? He got extra-extra credit by bringing home Peach a peach rose of her own.

This was Ace at his "Art Show" at his Parents Day Out. Where I bought his Jackson Pollock inspired painting. Charlie and I had a really big giggle when we saw it. We're going down the line of artwork, looking at each puppy, fish, splatter art, mermaid, then glancing down to the card that names the artist. Until we come to the one that looks like a square napkin where someone harked up their spinach. After the giggle, we came to the conclusion that he got his art gene from Charlie. I look forward to posting his art for you all to enjoy!

No one has seen John since he's learned that I upgraded our phones to unlimited text.

Who Says Diamonds are a Girls Best Friend?

For those of you who "warmed our house" (if you know what I mean), I wanted to show you what a hundred and fifty dollars of your warmth bought me. I mean us.

Behold....JEWELRY .....

Dropping Like Flies

I went to pick up Ace Friday afternoon and they were handing out notes. Notes warning that the stomach flu was going around.

I should have known better. Should have just brought him home and started the chicken soup I.V. But I didn't. I brought him home, loaded him up on chocolate ice cream and then took him to soccer sign ups.

You see he's been talking about soccer sign ups non-stop since the signs went up in front of the elementary school. Countdown to soccer season had begun. "When is sign up?" "Do we go get my soccer shirt yet?" "When does practice start?" "How many days till sign-ups, now?" "Do I get soccer shoes?" "Can we get me a new soccer ball? I need a new one to practice with." How could I NOT be the first one in line for sign ups? And I was. And so I had created the perfect storm when I dropped him back off with his Dad so that I could run over to the neighbors and pick up my Mary Kay order.

In the four minutes that I was gone, he went straight upstairs to the playroom and hurled everywhere. Charlie was two minutes into cleaning up the aftermath when I got home.

The rest of the weekend....just fine and dandy. Not another bit of trouble.

Until this morning when I went to wake Peach up for school, found Melee' had sleepwalked into her room and climbed in bed with her. I got him up and sent him back to his room to get started getting ready for school. She got up, went to the bathroom and blew chunks. (The writing is now on the wall for Melee'.) So she was home from school today and since I had moved John's dentist appointment up to today at 10:00 I had to scramble the troops and bring in Nana-forcements. By the time Nan arrived to hold down the fort she was up and around and Nan was convinced she was faking it. Off to the High School to take John, an hour and a half later he had a root canal scheduled for Tuesday. (A ROOT CANAL! HE'S FIFTEEN!) Back home, Nana was still convinced Peach was shining on, but after she left, poor Peach never got off the couch. When her Daddy got home, he came in groaning of stomach pain and joined her on the coach. John went to bed complaining his stomach didn't feel good, but he's convinced it was from the fluoride he ingested today.

I've already pulled out the trundle in Peach's room. Everyone that is not me, is now in quarantine.

News of Extended Silence

I know, I haven't written in almost a month. I looked on my camera and I haven't taken a picture since Christmas.

Help, I've fallen on my couch and I can't get up!

You see it all started at Thanksgiving. When we passed around one of the gag gifts and took our blood pressure, I suddenly realized why I was having a lot of headaches. Woops! So off I went to the Dr. and started on my Toporol prescription. The Dr. said, "Now I hesitate to say this, because sometimes, when a person hears about a side-effect, they'll think they have it. But that being said, Toporol sometimes makes people feel tired or fatigued." So sure enough, as soon as I started taking it, I felt tired. But really not so much tired as sleepy. But I thought "Well, maybe I'm making it up, or maybe I just need to get used to it." By the end of the month it had not gotten any better. No matter how much sleep I got, I still felt like I needed to go back to bed as soon as I got back from dropping off the kids.

I called the Dr.'s office and told them the deal and they called in a new medicine for me. I felt IMMEDIATELY better! I even started back to the gym. And then two weeks later I broke out in a rash.

Yeah.

So then I went back to the Dr. got a steroid for the rash, and a new blood pressure medicine. The next day...back on the couch. Rash free...but on the couch nevertheless. But I don't usually put two and two together right away. I spend a few days to a week thinking I'm crazy before I realize, "Oh, maybe it's this medicine I'm taking!" Another week on the couch and I'm back in the Dr.'s office having my blood drawn, and learning about Beta Blockers, Calcium channel blockers, and something else I can't remember. We decide I need to go back on the second medication to make sure without a shadow of a doubt that I'm allergic to it. So after two weeks of struggling to do ANYTHING, I take the medication, take the kids to school, come home and do three loads of laundry, make every bed, pick up every room, do two loads of dishes, vacuumed the living room including under the couches and chairs, and I never broke a sweat.

That night, you guessed it, I started itching. Technically, I don't have a rash yet, but it's not looking good for the Calcium Channel Blockers.

In the meantime, life has gone on. I hope to catch you up with some pictures of my new curtains, an exciting tale that includes cops, and more stomach flu - because I know you love a good vomit story.