The Sick House

Normally we sail through winter dodging the major flu bugs and illnesses that seem to make their rounds. We have our occasional ear infection and a smattering of colds but nothing that warrants too many doctor visits. We have been to the doctor so much lately that yesterday the doctor joked with me about us having our own personal room with pictures of the kids faces on the different colored flags outside the door. He said we wouldn't even have to call to make an appointment. Just come in, pick out which kid needed to be checked, flip out their flag and wait for him to come in.

There has been so much sickness in this house over the past week that I can't even remember the timeline of things anymore. Suffice it to say that I am getting quite tired. I will highlight the main things. The three younger ones started with high fevers about 10 days ago. The fever only lasted for a little over 24 hours but they also got awful, gross looking sores on their tongues. The sores made it difficult and nearly impossible to eat. About the time they all started seeming better Mark got hit with a nasty flu bug. Or so we thought. Today is day 7 for him and it is the first day that he has felt even a tinge of energy. Throw in 2 different snow storms in the middle of Mark not feeling well and he was pretty run down.

Thursday of last week Judah started running fever and having diarrhea. By Saturday night he was having severe stomach pains that were waking him up. I was waiting for Mark to get home from plowing (he had left at 4:00 that morning) and about the time he got home Judah vomited a lot! His pain continued even after the huge puke fest so I loaded him up and headed to the ER at 11:00. We arrived back home at 6:15 Sunday morning. Fun times pulling an all nighter at the ER in their uncomfortable chairs. After having numerous tests to rule out appendicitis they found that his liver enzymes were very elevated. They didn't ever tell me what levels they were at. They just said they were alarmingly high! Awesome, right? He had a full Hep panel done and we got the results back today! Everything was negative!! So thankful. He will be rechecked tomorrow by the pediatrician and have blood work done to see how his liver is functioning. What they have concluded is he had a bad virus that attacked and inflamed his liver. He was also very dehydrated from such severe diarrhea so he had iv's during his hospital visit. He seems to be on the mend and is in school today! So very grateful he is doing better.

Rewind to yesterday. Heidi had a recheck on her ears since she had an ear infection a month ago. We sure do love the doctor!! Sunday night Eden and Tristan were both crying about their ears so it was decided they should also be checked. Tristan is a breath away from a double ear infection. We will watch him and if his fever gets higher than 101 I am going to call the doctor and he will just call in a script for him. He has a possible sinus infection too.

Eden was bouncing off the floors and walls quite literally while in the exam room. She didn't look an ounce of sick. I felt slightly crazy telling the doctor she had been crying the night before about her ear. She had just been in to see him a little over a week ago for a follow-up appointment after her asthma diagnosis a month ago. We walked out of the doctor's office yesterday with a little girl, who according to him and the help of some x-rays, had a raging double ear infection and significant pneumonia! Oh my goodness!! I almost cancelled her appointment because she didn't look remotely sick. He looked equally as dumb founded after checking her.

Those are some of the highlights. Today I am running a low grade fever which doesn't surprise me at all!! There hasn't been an abundance of sleep for me over the past week. I am the only one that has come through things relatively unscathed which is only God's grace! I do think we are through the worst of it and are on the upside of things. Although Shane is home today with a low grade fever and stomach pains. I thought he was over his sickness!

The doctor told me yesterday that for a mom of 5 sick kids and 1 sick husband I was remarkably cool, calm and collected. I told him that at 5:30 Sunday morning in the ER I so badly wanted to cry. I was so very tired and knew in that moment that I could either laugh or cry at the situation. I chose to laugh at the absurdity of it all. I may still end up crying at some point but up until now I have literally felt sustained by God's grace! Cannot say thank you enough to all who have offered to help in whatever way we need help! It is so encouraging to see the Body at work!