Family Member Down – My Husband Has Strep Throat

In this family, we usually get sick one at a time (thankfully), and this time it’s Chris’ turn – he has strep throat. It’s so bad that when he went to the doctor yesterday, she looked in his throat and said “WOW”. His throat is so swollen that the swelling goes up into the roof of his mouth. It hurts for him to even touch his tongue to it. His glands are so swollen that his ears feel clogged up, even though they aren’t.

It’s hard for me to see him like this, sleeping for hours and hours, then waking up in agony. I’ve been coaxing applesauce and pudding into him, but it kills me to do it because I know how much it hurts him to swallow anything. The antibiotics he’s taking are these huge horse pills, and after he swallows one, he feels it go all the way down no matter how much water he drinks.

He’s pretty much quarantined himself in our bedroom because he doesn’t want to get the kids sick. I debated sleeping on the couch last night but decided against it. If I’m going to get Strep, I’m going to get it, I might as well get my rest while I can. We’re all washing our hands a ton, just hoping to dodge the bullet.

My poor, poor, husband. Keep your fingers crossed that I don’t get Strep too!

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Diagnosis: Bronchitis, times three

Chris saw the doctor yesterday, I saw her today and Ryan saw his pediatrician today. All three of us have Bronchitis. Chris’ is the most severe, although Ryan had the highest temperature.

We were all prescribed the same antibiotic, Zithromax, also known as the “Z pack”. You take two tablets the first day and then one a day for four days and supposedly you are better.

Chris and I were also prescribed Albuterol inhalers, two puffs every four hours. Ryan wasn’t prescribed an inhaler, probably because his twelve year old never-smoked-anything lungs aren’t as traumatized as ours are.

So that’s the update. I wish I could post more, like oh, say, any of the half a dozen reviews and giveaways I agreed to do this week, but it’s taking all my energy just to sit up and write this. Hopefully I’ll have some interesting content for you next week.

Hope all is well with you and your families.

At least I’m not throwing up

Last Saturday night we went to the Ringling Bros. Circus at Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids. We had a great time. Sunday morning, my husband felt sick, with a stuffed up nose and a bad headache, and he was extremely tired. He slept most of the day. Sunday night, Nathan felt sick, throwing up several times. He stayed home from school Monday and spent most of it on the couch in the back room sleeping. When Nathan needs to sleep all day, he is really sick. By Tuesday morning he was fine. Tuesday evening I started to feel a bad headache coming on and I was really tired. I got into bed at 8:00 pm and didn’t get up until yesterday morning.

Yesterday afternoon, Kaitlyn woke up from her nap burning hot. I put her on the couch in the living room with a cup of water and a straw for sipping, and a DVD to watch. She got up, walked a few steps, and threw up. Three times. I cleaned it up, put her back on the couch, more water to sip. She threw up again. Three more times. Clean up, tiny sip of water, back to the couch. Chris came home, helped me give her some Ibuprofen, then went to Subway for sandwiches for dinner. Within about 30 minutes, Kaitlyn claimed she felt better and wanted to eat. I went up to the store and got a yogurt (probiotics for regulating digestion) and a can of Campbell’s Chicken Noodle Soup. She ate a few spoonfuls of yogurt and it stayed down. We both went to bed at 9:00.

This morning she was once again burning hot, whining, acting kind of out of it. I got her to sip some diluted apple juice and gave her some Ibuprofen. When her fever went down, she ate a few bites of cereal. And threw some of it back up. Of course. Clean up, change the nightgown, sip of water. Now she claims to feel great and would like to know if she can have a hot dog for lunch. Um, NO. Because there’s no way I’m cleaning that up if it comes back up. Ugh.

I’m so tired. I have a stuffy nose and my ears are both clogged shut, and I just want to get back in bed. We’re supposed to have a garage sale on Saturday with the rest of our neighborhood, and I’m supposed to be in the basement making a sale pile. But I don’t wanna. I wanna SLEEP. I want someone to bring me juice in a cup with a straw and turn my pillow to the cool side. I want someone to put my favorite movies in the DVD player. I don’t want to be the responsible one today. Waaah.