Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Life...

I think my title pretty much sums it all up. I probably could leave it at that and everyone would have a general idea of what has been going on around here. That does seem a little boring though, so for those who are interested, I'll go into details.

It all started the afternoon of my last post (the one before yesterday's).

I was sitting outside in the driveway, visiting with my neighbor's parents who were in town to visit during Spring Break, (my neighbor was at work) while my kids and the neighbor girl rode bikes and kept us entertained with all sorts of child-minded theories.

Trenton came to me to tell me something and his voice was somewhat horse. As he got a little closer I could tell he was feeling feverish. As the weekend progressed he became very lethargic. Saturday evening I decided I needed to take him in to see a doctor but with how late in the day it was, all the urgent care offices around were closed. I gave him Tylenol. After church the next day I took him in. He had a low-grade fever of about 101. The doctor said his throat was red and guessed it was probably strep, but didn't do a culture test, just prescribed some antibiodics and sent us home. He was feeling better by Monday. Thank goodness!

So for the start of Spring Break, everyone was well. We spent the day at my mom's doing some scrapbooking. Well, mostly the girls did and I just helped them. The boys played on the Wii most of the time. My mom couldn't do much because of the surgery she had on her hand/arm the Thursday before. But it was nice to be able to sit and visit with her.

Monday night we went down to BounceU with my brother and his wife Leslie. The kids enjoyed it. That's all I'm going to say about that.

Tuesday and Wednesday we spent at home. The girls and I did a little bit of scrapbooking, we went down to the park, the kids tested out the pool which was still way too cold in my book, but it was after spending time at the park and getting rather warm, so I figured I'd let them get in for a bit. They had been dying/begging to for several days at that point...I didn't want to totally ruin their SB!

Thursday we spent the day at my mom's again, doing more scrapbooking. This time we had gone by the scrapbook store on the way over for the girls to pick out some papers and embellishments to use for this one layout that they both really wanted to do. Again, I mostly just helped them with their pages and didn't really do much of my own.

By Friday Camden was suffering from a sore throat, cough, congestion, etc, but I never noticed that he was feeling warm.

Friday night Josiah & I went out to eat at Texas Roadhouse then we went shopping. I bought Easter Sunday clothes for the kids and then we went home. I had the girls try on the dresses that I got them but decided I didn't like them all that much so Saturday morning the girls and I headed back to the mall to return them and find something else, which thankfully, we were successful.

Saturday afternoon I took the boys with me and headed over to my mom's, for one last visit before SB was completely over. This time I actually did a scrapbook page all for myself.

Sunday morning before church Alyssa complained of a headache so I gave her some Tylenol and didn't really think anything else about it. Josiah was on call for work and after we were all dressed and ready to go, he had work stuff that he needed to take care of before everything broke completely! I headed to church with Rylie, Alyssa and Trenton, and since Camden wasn't feeling well, he stayed with Josiah until he was done working and was able to head over for the remainder of church.

By Sunday evening when we sat down for dinner, Alyssa was complaining again about a headache and didn't feel like eating. I felt her head and sure enough she was feverish. I gave her some Tylenol and sent her off to bed.

After our busy Spring Break, I was ready to get all the kids back to school so I could get some stuff done around the house. Well, Monday morning rolled around and Alyssa was still feverish and eventually threw up. Needless to say, I decided to keep her home from school. Rylie and Camden got ready for school and just a few minutes before we were ready to leave I noticed a tiny pimple-ish looking spot on Camden's nose. I got a little closer to examine it, mostly because I thought it was kinda funny that he had a 'pimple' at 6 years old so I was curious if that's what it acutally was, and realized he had one right under his nose as well. As he reached his hand up to touch them, I found another on his knuckle. By this point "chickenpox" is what goes through my mind. I didn't know if I should just send him not knowing? Or if I should just keep him home? Afterall he was still a little horse. Well, after calling my mom and googling, I decided I'd walk him down to the school and take him right into the nurse (Josiah had already left for work for the day so I didn't have a car to just take him to the doctor.) to see what she thought. After examining it herself and asking if he'd been vaccinated (he had recieved both shots) she suggested that it could possibly be a mild case and that I should take him into the doctor to confirm it.

I called Josiah to let him know that I may need him to come home early...depending on what I found out when I called the doctor. The nurse had mentioned that they may not want me to bring him in, incase he was contagious. It was still too early to speak to a triage nurse, so I left a message and waited about 3 hours before one ever called me back. Once I mentioned that he had been coughing and stuff the previous few days, she suggested I bring him in. I called Josiah again and he was able to be home within 45 mins or so. According to the doctor, it was the varicella virus, but since he'd had both vaccinations, it would just be a very mild case and he shouldn't be contagious. She wrote a note saying he was safe to go back to school and we left.

Alyssa laid around and slept for most of the day Monday. She wasn't able to eat much and by Monday evening, she threw up again. Tuesday morning when she woke up, she seemed to be feeling more normal but her face was really pale and she looked like she might pass out any minute. I figured this was due to how little she'd eaten in the past few days. I decided she should stay home one more day. Of course once she realized she had honor choir that morning she was really hoping I'd take her down there for that and just pick her up afterwards. She didn't want to ruin her perfect attendance. I agreed for a bit and then after thinking of her having to walk the entire way to the school and then back, just made me wince for her. I could just picture her passing out either to or from and finally convinced her that her health was more important than her perfect attendance. She eventually was ok with it.

By that morning something had also hit me. I was all congested and was suffering from a cough and running nose. I napped for a couple hours that afternoon. By Thursday I was feeling a little better but even still today, I have a bit of a drainage problem.

(warning: slight diversion)
Thursday morning Trenton had a dentist appointment which had actually been scheduled for the previous week, but because he was still on antibiodics and still had a cough, I opted to reschedule, not knowing how he'd do sitting there having to have his mouth wide open and if he needed to cough. Anyway, so we show up for his appointment and right away the girl at the desk reminds me that they plan to use the Nitrous Oxide, since he's so young, but that it was going to be an extra $50. Ugh! I'd forgotten about that part and hadn't figured it in to how much we would possibly be spending. I knew we had the $50 copay, and then whatever else ontop of that for what they were doing that our insurance wouldn't cover. I figured they knew best so I told them "ok" on the gas. While we sat there waiting, the dental hygenist was making conversation and asked how my day was going. I thought it was kinda funny because my only response was..."Pretty good! Being here at the dentist is a nice break from what I've been dealing with the past 2 weeks at home!" They got Trenton started on the nitrous oxide and waited a good 15 or so minutes while that set in, then they came back to do the shot which lead to more waiting. It was entertaining to watch Trenton on the gas though. He went into a couple giggling fits. He was suddenly very outgoing which is so not Trenton. They finally got started. They were drilling his very back tooth for a cavity and found soon after that they were going to have to finish it off with a "baby root canal" as they kept calling it. I guess because it's in a baby tooth? I dunno. Anyway, they deadend the nerve and put a temporary filling in and then proceeded to pull the molar in front of that one, which had already been breaking apart. (Rylie had the same problem with that same tooth on both sides when she was the same age. My poor kids! Between mine and Josiah's families, they have no hope!) They prescribed him some antibiodics and off we went. We get to take him back this Thursday to finish the root canal and put in a spacer. YAY! I may pass on the gas this time....I think he'll be fine with just the shot. (end diversion, Thank you!)

By Thursday evening the bug found Rylie. She started complaining of a headache. I offered her some Tylenol but she refused. She does NOT take medicine well/easily. I asked if she wanted to stay home from school the next day but she said they were studying for AIMS testing and that she needed to be there for it. She didn't seem to be feverish, so I let her go.

Saturday evening I had Pinewood Derby which I had planned on having everyone come with me. Josiah started to feel nauseous by Saturday after lunch sometime. I realized he wasn't going to feel up to coming with us, so I offered to let anyone else stay home, but all the kids wanted to come over with me even knowing there wasn't going to be anything for them to do but watch. While we were gone Josiah spent some time bowing to the "porcelain god." Upon arriving home and hearing this news, I knew right away that I'd be teaching our primary class the next day, even though it was Josiah's turn. I didn't even question him about it.

Sunday morning Rylie was complaining about her stomache so I told her to just stay home with Josiah. Sunday evening she ate dinner but by Monday morning she was complaining about her head hurting again. She couldn't even eat her breakfast she just laid her head on her arms at the table. I could tell by her face that she didn't feel well. She was red and she had dark circles around her eyes. I hadn't really noticed a fever at this point but I was able to get her to take some Tylenol for her headache. The AIMS testing was starting but I knew they were going to have make up days, so I figured I'd keep her home and hopefully she'd feel better by today. She went back to her bed and ended up sleeping until noonish, when I finally woke her up and gave her a smoothie that I'd made for her. She only sipped a little of that and by now, I could tell she was feverish.

I had cub scouts at 4:30 which everyone came with me to. Josiah was helping go over pocketknife safety with the boys. Rylie laid on the floor the entire time. She looked awful. After I was done with cubscouts, I decided to take her into the Urgent Care. After a super long wait we were taken back where they took her temp and found that it was at 105.2!! Geez! I was sure glad I'd taken her. They decided to do a chest x-ray, which the doctor said that there didn't seem to be anything that should cause too much concern. He mumbled something about Valley Fever and I didn't make much sense out of what all else he said, he had a strong accent. I googled it once we got home and then I realized what he was saying. He mentioned that there were some nodules in her lungs or wherever they are, but they appear white on the x-ray which means that her body had already started to take care of them. If they were grey, there would be reason to be concerned. Anyway, he prescribed some antibiodics and some ibuprofen but of course the nearby pharmacies were closed by this time (7:00pm) so I just grabbed some Motrin from Walmart and against all rules, I just gave Rylie some of the antibiodics that I had on hand from Trenton's dentist appointment. I compared the label to the prescription and it was the same name, (Amoxicillin) same strength. Josiah called our home teacher and asked if he'd mind coming down to help administer to Rylie. Within an hour she had broken into a sweat.

I had planned to send her to school this morning. She looked much better when she woke up and didn't seem to be feeling sick. I gave her another dose of the antibiodics and fixed her some breakfast so she could be all good to go on her test taking. After just a bite or 2 and a sip of her orange juice, she started gagging. I didn't know what to do. I hated the thought of her having to make up 2 days of testing. Alyssa had honor choir at 7:50, so I decided that when I walked her down there, I'd go into the office for advice. They informed me that it would be better to just keep her home because if she started the test and ended up throwing up, they'd have to throw out the test and she wouldn't be aloud to start over. I was glad I found that out. They have several days of make up and they don't make the kids do it all in one day, so she should be fine.

Anyway, that's it in a nutshell.......

Here are a few pictures of the highlights...

Bounce U



The next 2 are a little blurry, but you can see that they are having fun.




Josiah and my brother Jeremy duking it out...


At the park...








After the park...





My most recent basket of fruit...

I volunteered that day so I got an extra thing of strawberries and a couple extra avocados.

Last Friday Camden had a field day and he asked if I could come down to hang out during it...










Trenton enjoyed being aloud to participate and Camden loved showing him off to everyone!

Lastly are the scrapbook pages that we got done and the layout that we got inspiration from...(most of them are still missing pictures and the title, but for the most part you get the idea)

Alyssa's page...

She got her inspiration from here...


Rylie's page...

She got her inspiration from here...


Another page that Rylie did...

She got her inspiration from here...


Here's the page that the girls were fighting over...


I had the kit and they both wanted to do it, which was when I decided to just take them to the scrapbook store to pick out their own papers/embellishments to make their own.
This is how Rylie's turned out...

And Alyssa's...


And the one page I made...

And my inspiration...


Anyway, I need a vacation after this long post! Hope everyone is doing well!

6 comments:

scrappiemom said...

I am so glad that Rylie is doing better. I hope that she continues to improve. You guys should paint your doorjams with blood so that the "sickness" bug will "passover" you a few times. Love you and your family. Mom.

The Thomas Crew said...

Oh man Sarah I hope you guys all get over you bugs :( Sick kids are not much fun. If you need anything pls just gimme a call.

Tanya said...

just an FYI from your RN sister...for any of your kids (but especially Rylie since she doesn't take meds well) Motrin (Ibuprofen) is better to give for a fever because it lasts longer (Rylie wouldn't need to take it as often), but keep in mind it can be rough on the digestive system so if they're having nausea/vomiting/diarrhea then you might wanna stick with the Tylenol. Anyway....glad everbody is feeling better!

Jenna said...

Holy cow. What an ordeal! At least it made its way through the family fairly quickly? Is that positive enough?

The scrapbook pages are darling. Obviously the girls take after their mommy.

idahohubers said...

WOW! It is awful when everyone is sick. Sounds like we visited at the right moment - before all this hit! It was SO, SO good to see you again. Except for the part about my yearbook message being torn out - still a bit mad about that! Anyway ... Stay cool. Don't change. and KIT ok! :)

YogaNana said...

Good grief!!!! I remember times like you describe. You deserve to have everyone well for a long time now -- that was enough!

And thanks for the pictures, as always. I do love seeing my family, even if I can't often *see* my family!