Meet Patient Zero

We think this little guy brought this nasty bug into our house. Granted, he got it from somewhere, but we have been trying to see some humour in all of this and Vic and I have named him our little "patient zero". The primary source or origination of our suffering. Vic is home from the hospital today, weak but happy to be home. I am on my 3rd pill of a fairly strong antibiotic that hopefully will knock this nasty little lung infection back. I started to feel somewhat better last night when the ER gave me a double dose of the medicine. By the time I got home from the hospital visit, I could start to feel something working. What drives me nuts about being sick: - I have no desire for coffee. Maybe that is a good thing. - Prescription fees. Thank goodness for my work plan. - Not working out. I think that might bug Vic more than me. - People asking me why I am at work. Fair question. I likely should be getting complete 100% rest at home. I did take all day Monday and part of Tuesday off. Today I went in but really took it easy. It is hard for me to not be at work, simple as that I guess. I am not infecting people -- I am well beyond any point of contagion. I generally hole up in my office and can be relatively isolated.

What is interesting or good about being sick: - Sophie is being very sweet to mom. - Hearing other people's stories about their own pneumonia episode. Everyone seems to have one. Bonding time. - Not spending money on eating out. We have cut way back. No appetite, no eating out! - Not going too far away from home. Just hanging out and relaxing.

Pneumonia

Sunday morning Vic felt terrible. He was fatiqued, coughing and had no appetite. The ER wait was too long, so we all drove to Vernon to the walk in clinic. The doctor prescribed an antibiotic for him because there was a chance of a secondary infection in his lungs. We went home and he got worse. I texted my doctor and she recommended he get to the hospital. Vic was admitted last night with pneumonia. Frankly, I was relieved that they admitted him, as he was not getting better here and I could no longer look after him, Sophie with her strep throat, Fynn (just generally) and myself. I have been ill one day longer than Vic, and while I did not progress as badly as he did, I still felt miserable. I visited him today and he is on IV gravol and IV liquids. He had a bit of lunch and his face seems to have a bit more colour and he said he has not been coughing as much. He will stay there tonight as well. I took his book, slippers, shaving stuff, etc. When I woke up this morning I knew I couldn't go to work, nor could I look after the kids. The more running around after them I do, the more I cough. Patti came over this morning and took them to daycare, which was a blessing. Bryan was kind enough to move his truck off the street and into the visitors lot at the hospital so he doesn't get towed. I have taken care of all of the garbage and readied if for pick up tomorrow. Washed towels and done dishes -- trying to get rid of the visual effects of having so much sickness in the house for a week. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day. I have a chest xray in the afternoon to rule out "walking pneumonia" and will gingerly proceeding with my day. I don't look as bad as Vic and don't have all of his symptoms, but I have a rattley chest/lungs.

The Flu

Vic, Fynn and I have been battling one of the nastiest flu viruses around. It started with Fynn well over a week ago. He got a bad cough that would not go away and a stuffed nose. We took him to the doctor last weekend when we were concerned about his trouble breathing. He was given a prescription for his lungs. Apart from the occasional cough he is basically back to normal. On Saturday night last week, I came down with his symptoms. I fought it all week and would go to work but after a disastrous day on Tuesday when I needed to be at work but was drenched in sweat most of the day, I took Wednesday morning off. Felt a bit better Wednesday afternoon, enough that I could go back into work. Thursday was okay. I should say by this time, Vic had come down with it too. Thursday afternoon I got a call from Sophie's school saying she needed to be picked up because of a sore throat. Vic took her into the doctor's and she was disagnosed with strep throat. On medication for that. We medicated her with Advil so she could do her Friday a.m. ballet exam but that has been it for her. The flu and strep seems to have gotten her now too. I was back at work on Friday after Sophie's exam for a couple of hours, intent on us heading to Oliver to visit our relatives. We had our bags packed. By 1pm, I was shaking, feverish - almost exactly back to how I started. I barely could drive home. I got home and told

Vic there was no way we could go to Oliver. My shakes were so bad, I needed an electric blanket to keep me warm. Vic thought he was on the mend, as he tended to me and the kids. Late last night he woke up to the sames shakes, coughing, etc. So, he took the same turn that I did. Sophie is not well today. She has slept most of Saturday. Fynn has played inside with his cars and seems reasonably okay. I have made a run to the store for some groceries but that wiped me out and I ended up sleeping for two hours when I got home. We are all laying low tonight. Hoping that tomorrow is a better day. Sophie took this photo of me last night as I was recovering from the shakes.

Sophie's Ballet Exam Day

Here are some photos of Sophie's ballet exam day. I was not allowed to watch (nor was her teacher) so these are of the prep this morning.

Ballet bun, lacing up her ribbons. No make up, earrings, nail polish.

Results will be here in 6 weeks. So proud of the munchkin who battled strep to make it this morning.

Tummy Troubles

Sophie has had some tummy troubles the past few days. She had been complaining of a sore tummy which seemed to be getting progressively worse. I made a mental note to have her checked out by our doctor this week. However on Saturday night she woke up at around 1am complaining of a sore tummy. Not wanting to take chances (I always worry about appendicitis) I took her to the ER. She was checked out by the ER doctor who said she was likely constipated. She was given a glycerin suppository (which she did not like) and we were then released to go home. About an hour after we got home she woke up again, this time with diarrhea and vomiting. It was a big mess, and Vic and I spent the better part of 4:00-5:00am cleaning up. Sunday was uneventful. Sunday night I put her to bed and about 10:30pm she woke again complaining of a stomach ache. Thinking for sure something must be wrong; we went back to the ER. The same doctor was on. This time he took a blood sample, since in appendicitis the white blood cell count is usually high. He also ordered an x-ray of her stomach. He called me over to look at the x-ray.

What we saw was interesting: her intestine contained quite a bit of stool (poop) stuck in it. This was likely what was causing the stomach pain. It really was a bad case of constipation. Again, she was given a suppository which really didn’t do too much. They wanted to watch her so we slept on a gurney in the ER for about 2 hours. Finally at 2:30am, I woke up and asked the nurse if we could leave since it appeared that she wasn’t getting any worse. The doctor wanted us to come back at 7am to check her out before his shift was over. In the back of my mind, I was thinking, not a chance – I couldn’t imagine going back in a few hours. I was exhausted and I needed a bit of sleep so I could work today.

She has been drinking lots of water, eating fruit and drinking prune juice. So far, a bit of action has been happening – and her tummy doesn’t seem to be bothering her as much. We have an appointment with our family doctor tomorrow to have her checked out. We are both hoping for a quiet night with some sleep tonight. Needless to say, constipation is not a fun thing. She is going to start liking prune juice!

Day 9

How I start my day. Every. single. workday.

Non fat vanilla latte from this place.

I needed it after the morning I had. Sophie woke up with an earache. The kind of thing I didn't want to send her to school with. So I phoned her daycare but because she is part of the out of school afternoon program, they can't due to licensing regulations have her in their care during the daytime with the younger kids.

Moment of panic at 7am. I thought quickly of who I could call. I took a chance at 7:10am and called Dory a super nice woman who is retired from the daycare and has watched the kids a few times. She knows Sophie well. Luckily she was at home today. I'm not sure what would have happened if she was not going to be available since I had meetings at work. We would have juggled something I'm sure but it would have been tough. Then I needed to figure out how to get her a prescription for her ear infection. Fortunately our doctor is a good friend and I called her on her cell and was able to get a prescription phoned in. Crisis averted.

In other news, the tooth fairy wil be visiting our house later tonight. Sophie lost her first tooth eating a Purdy's Chocolate Santa. She is quite thrilled to have reached this milestone.

Father's Day -- never a dull moment

Our day started out nice enough....some presents for Vic and then he went on a nice bike ride with his buddies.

He got back and we all went up the Community Centre pool for Sophie's friend Cami's birthday.

We left at around 3:30pm for a trip to Vernon so we could take Dad out to the White Spot for dinner (photo via iPhone). On the ride home Sophie started wailing that her ear was sore -- really sore. By now we were close to Salmon Arm and I told Vic that we should take her to the emergency room at the hospital since the walk in clinic isn't open on Sundays (grrrr). Vic droppped Sophie and I off and came back 25 minutes later and we were still waiting...and waiting....finally at 9pm, Dr. Phillips saw Sophie (she is the mom of one of Sophie's classmates). I was glad we came in to get it checked out because she had a huge piece of wax that she removed that was obstructing the view of a very red ear. She didn't think it was caused by swimmer's ear since it didn't have some of the usual signs, but still, who knows if all of her swimming the past 2 days caused it. She inserted some drops and a strong dose of Tylenol settled it down and before we knew it her and Fynn were doing their silly penguin walk in the ER.

never a dull moment around here.