January: the scourge and the plague

WARNING: this post is about being sick. If you're squeamish, skip this one and come back later this week when I'm hoping to post about a bunch of things that I've been loving recently. If you're not too squeamish and enjoy bitter diatribes, here you go.

January was the WORST for me/us this year. I'm not a winter-hater, so it wasn't the worst because it was cold or anything (I loathe spring allergies and being hot/sweaty, so I legit prefer fall and winter to spring and summer. Very few people understand this philosophy, but so it is.). It was the worst because, apparently, my immune system gave out completely and handed me over to the Illness Demons. I'm just now barely crawling out from the misery that was January. And frankly, guys, I blame much of my illness on all the people who return to society (or send their kids back) before they are no longer contagious. This is a real problem, folks. STAY HOME until you are WELL.

We got back from Christmas travels and poor Brad was sick with a sinus infection and ear infection. He got started on antibiotics a couple days after we got home, but everything just lingered and clung on, bless him. He very sweetly moved into the guest room so that he wasn't sharing his germs with me in our room. I started loading everyone up with Emergen-C (thanks, Costco, for running a great sale!) and requiring excessive hand washing. NOTE: we all got flu shots. We always do. 

But then I went to Bible study.

I'm a small group leader, so you know...I needed to be there. Unfortunately, several people showed up who had literally had flu symptoms 48 hours before. Actual flu. And several folks took their flu-ish children to the nursery (with my children). At that point, all was lost. I started symptoms the very next day, although, I assumed I was showing sinus infection symptoms. Not flu. By Sunday, though, the aches had set in and my coughing was OUT OF CONTROL. I actually pulled a rib muscle, thanks to that wretched cough. By the time I talked to one of the midwives, it was already too late to start Tamiflu, and I was stuck with "comfort treatment." Guess what. Pregnant gals can take basically nothing when they're sick. Nothing effective, anyway. Robitussin DM did absolutely nothing for my cough (though this didn't deter me from going through nearly 2 bottles in a desperate search for relief). I used essential oils. I used nose sprays and saline. I used 4 different heating apparati for aches and pains. I slathered on Vick's and showered with Johnson and Johnson's vapor relief body wash. There was no relief.

It took well over a week before I could really get out of bed. And truthfully, I'm still dealing with sinuses. Yes. A MONTH later. Partway through my week of flu, both girls started getting sick (even though I quarantined myself), and my heart sank. We kept Claire home from school, and Brad took them to the doctor. No flu! Colds + ear infection (for Lily), though. I was sad to tell Claire that she was going to have to miss school, but providentially, the snow came, and school was canceled anyway. I'm kind of thinking the Lord sent the snow/canceled classes so that everyone who was "sorta sick" was forced to stay home. Like a reset on the spread of illness at school.

Well, we were almost all well when we traveled to Tennessee for Papaw's funeral. We were mostly well while we were there. The day after we got home, Lily woke up from her nap, crying, which is very unusual. When I went in to get her, I realized there were two piles of vomit in her crib. She was extremely upset about the mess and acted out for us what happened, so that we would understand the trauma she had endured. Brad and I were simultaneously so sorry for her and CRACKED UP at her reenactment. She threw up again at supper that night and was generally not feeling well. I also moved into my obsessive rehydrating routine. I'm unbelievably fixated on hydration when everyone is healthy, so when anyone has been sick, I hover so bad trying to get electrolytes down everyone's throats. I blame it on my time in Senegal. 

On Tuesday evening (the next day), Claire started throwing up (Lily was no longer vomiting but her diapers were frightening). It was at this point I felt doom and despair. I knew we were all going down. A few hours later, I started (can I remind everyone that I had a stomach virus a mere 2 months ago? How is this fair? On top of all the vomiting I've done this pregnancy...I HAVE PUT IN MY TIME.). For about 6 hours, Claire and I were in the throes of it together. I gave Claire a towel and vomit bowl in her bed, but she was insistent on throwing up in the toilet, so I was hustling her to the toilet every time (I had sent Brad to sleep in the guest room and told him to let me deal with Claire, in hopes that he could escape it. Spoiler: he did not.). At one point, I was helping Claire be sick in her toilet and realized that I had to be sick, too. So...we were simultaneously vomiting in the same toilet. Claire has been scarred for life, guys. 

It was at this point that I realized I should just put her in bed with me so I didn't have to keep hustling across the hall every time she needed to vomit. This was a good idea, as it was about 45 minutes until the next round. :/ This time, she got the toilet, and I ended up with the sink. I've Lysol-ed since, so it's ok, guys. She was done at this point, but she was so excited to be sleeping in my bed with me that she wouldn't go to sleep and kept jiggling the bed, triggering my sickness several more times. After a few hours of this (and hearing Brad start his own journey with the virus in one bathroom while I was being sick in another- PRAISE JESUS FOR SEVERAL BATHROOMS), I decided Claire was probably done and could move back into her bed so that I might have a chance at being still for a while. It sort of worked...but not entirely. I was sick approximately twice as many times as everyone else. Again. How is this fair?

The next morning was just pitiful. Everyone was lethargic and miserable. Lily was very dehydrated, and it took every last ounce of energy I could muster up to get her to suck on ice chips. It took hours to get her back to a remotely hydrated state. We basically let the girls watch movies all day while Brad and I traded off taking naps. 

We all missed school, Bible study, and social engagements for the next few days. And then I insisted on keeping the children home from church on Sunday because I wanted to make sure that we didn't share anything OR catch anything with our compromised immune systems. I am not playing around with staying healthy. I am OVER being sick.

I went for an OB appointment a week after the stomach virus, and I felt ridiculous trying to explain about ALL the January illnesses and that all my fasting glucose numbers were jacked up because of being sick all night every night. Thankfully, they took that into consideration and didn't start changing up my treatment after such a nutty month. Thankfully, we've all been able to get reasonable rest over the past week and are hopefully on a good trajectory now. 

Although, the weather keeps swinging, so I'm not entirely optimistic about our sinus situations... Pray for us, friends. It's like trench warfare around here.