Time Change!
It has seriously been ONE THING AFTER ANOTHER around here the past couple weeks! It all seemed to start with the time change...and I only noticed that because the week after the time change, which also happened to be the week of FRIDAY THE 13TH, quite a few friends also complained about things going down hill for them. Seemed EVERYONE got sick that week. The Monday of that week all 3 older kids stayed home from kindergarten and preschool. All for DIFFERENT symptoms, which had started the afternoon before. Chloë suddenly got a horrible headache while we were at a classmate's birthday party. The party was at a fun park with skate park, playground, food and games....with a bunch of Chloë's friends and classmates from school. Chloë lay face-down on a picnic blanket and fell asleep, missing most of the party. She couldn't even muster up enough energy or motivation to eat the cake...so you KNOW she's truly wasn't feeling well. That afternoon Eli suddenly was holding his ear and crying and complaining. Then Owen got a tummy ache. What?!! I THINK Ella was okay? I can't even remember, it's all a blur. So they all stayed home on Monday. I think by Tuesday Ella was sick, too. Tuesday afternoon Chloë had her 6 year physical and had the TB test done. It was either Tuesday or Wednesday when I lost my voice....which I didn't get back for 3 days. So that was fun (though I think Myke actually enjoyed it). Thursday we had to go back to the doctor to get the TB test "read". I ended up taking Chloë AND Eli as he had been complaining about his tongue hurting all week. I had seen some white sores/spots on his tongue so I figured he had a canker sore. He had stopped eating strawberries and other acidic foods because they hurt to eat...so I figured that's what we were dealing with. He had even ASKED to go to the doctor so I let him tag along and figured I would have Dr. Jennett check it. She looked in his mouth and said, "We are dealing with a REAL illness here". I guess his glands were pretty swollen, there was puss on his tonsils (EWW!) and white sores on his tongue and insides of cheeks. She checked his torso and he suddenly had a rash appearing all over it (as in it WASN'T there before we got to the office...or at least no one had noticed it). She did a quick strep test, which came back negative, and told us this was most likely a viral issues and that he could go back to preschool the next day as long as the rash was gone. She mentioned that they probably wouldn't want him to come with a rash due to current measles scare....and as she said this I noticed her voice slowed and her eyes widened... and it apparently dawned on her that Eli just MIGHT have measles! She stepped out to do a little research...she had never had a patient with measles in her 17 years of practice so she wanted to follow the correct protocol before moving forward with us. Yikes! So here I am sitting in a little doctor's office with Chloë & Eli, the latter of which is crying intermittently about his tongue hurting. Long story short, after further mouth, rash, and temperature checks and a few calls to the County Health office it was decided it was unlikely that Eli had measles. Solely due to the lack of fever he had at the visit. If he had a fever at that point we would have had to have the County Health folks come to our house for further testing. So there were a few moments of mild panic....hadn't I heard that my father's hearing loss in his right ear was due to a case of measles he had suffered from at age 3?! ...but in the end, after 3 hours of "fun" at the doctor's office, we were able to go home. Phew!
That was Thursday afternoon/evening. The next day (Friday the 13th, itself) Chloë stepped off the step from the foyer into the living room and rolled her ankle. After she lay on the floor crying for 10 minutes we decided that maybe she wasn't just being dramatic and took her a bit more seriously. I know that sounds like we are mean parents...but this girl can be DRAMATIC! I often tell people it's going to be a real-life Boy Who Cried Wolf scenario one day with her. Anyways, I ended up talking with Urgent Care and it sounded best we go in to have it looked at, as it had swollen and she wasn't able to walk on it without limping. So an X-ray and a few hours of fun at the Urgent Care on a Friday night we came home with an ace bandage and orders to keep it on, ice it and take ibuprofen every 6 hours for the next three days. She had a "Grade 2 Sprain". They wanted to give her crutches but figured she wouldn't do well with them given her young age...so she just limped around for 3 days with only one shoe on. I DID make her squeeze her bandaged foot into a Croc for school on Monday but by the time I picked her up she was only wearing a sneaker on her "good" foot and the Croc was in her backpack. Yes, she went to school in one Croc and one sneaker. I gave up on dishing out fashion advice to her a long time ago!
Fast-forward to Wednesday morning. I moved in a "weird" way at an exercise/cardio class and pulled out my lower back. Getting old is no fun! And did I mention that my mom flew back to the east coast just the night before??? When the injury happened pain shot through my entire body and I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to walk out of the class. Luckily, I was able to get home but from there the pain got worse. So, luckily (or unluckily, depending on how you look at it) I have a husband who is all too familiar with back pain and how debilitating it can be. He also knows what I should and shouldn't be doing in order to take care of the pain. Soooo, I have literally been laying down for the past 2 days straight. Either on the couch, in my bed, or on the floor when I attempt to play with the kiddos so Myke can work. I've had ice packs and heat pads rotating and am taking high doses of ibuprofen and a muscle relaxer. This morning when I woke up it was so bad that I had to crawl on my hands and knees from the bed to the bathroom. Any pressure on my lower back such as sitting up, standing, walking it excruciating. So I thought it was getting worse, when suddenly mid-morning it started feeling a bit better. I think I'm on the mend now. Myke is still insistent that I just rest it and let it get better before I start pushing myself. It's so hard to do since I know how much work it is to do everything on his own. He's been SUPER-DAD for sure. He's been doing the meals, cleaning up, keeping the dishwasher running, packing lunches, running out to the store to get snacks for Chloë's Daisy Troop meeting tomorrow, taking care of the dog, waiting on me with fresh ice packs and hot pads, water and snacks, taking all the kids out for pizza and to the park tonight so I could rest in quiet, giving them all baths and putting them all to bed, etc. And not complaining at all. Completely insistent that I don't lift a finger and try to help. I'm feeling good that by tomorrow I will be able to get around more, at least with a lot less pain. I definitely won't be exercising or running any time soon, which is frustrating as I'm on a mission to take off the 10lbs that I've gained since I stopped my half-marathon training last November. Ugh!!
Okay, I promise I'm done venting! Overall, we are all doing well. My back is on the mend, the kids are seeming healthy now...AND it's Friday tomorrow! Yay! I realize all the above are miniscule...I have a friend who is at Children's Hospital right now dealing with seizures with her 3rd child who only just turned one. They have been there for a few nights, gone through a myriad of tests, and are still waiting on concrete answers. I can't even imagine. I feel awful that I'm laid up and can't even go down to visit. I also feel bad that I'm "complaining" about all my "problems" when she's dealing with that. It really puts things in perspective.
Okay, my Super-Hubby is back from his night-time errands with his carton of take-out food. Going to close. Good night!
