Notes from the Infirmary

Long time no post, huh? Here's a recap of our life since we got home from Amarillo...

Tuesday, 6/6 -- On our morning walk, Lucy rolls in dog doo. As I stand in the backyard wearing rubber gloves to scrub her down, I think at least the day has to get better than this. Wrong. A few hours later, John crawls out of the bathroom with an empty Advil bottle. How long has it been empty? How many pills were in there? Panic and chaos follow, and we race to Children's Hospital. The doctors and nurses observe him for a few hours and then send us home with a clean bill of health.

Thursday, 6/8 -- John wakes up and throws up. Cancel playgroup at our house. Try to get John to eat ice chips and Pedialyte. He spends the day sleeping, mostly on top of me or next to me. At least it's forced relaxation for Mom!

Friday, 6/9 -- John's still sick and pretty lethargic, but starts to perk up around lunch and even manages to keep down some broth and noodles. At least, he kept them down until we were walking through Babies R Us. You know that clean bill of health from Tuesday? Doesn't cover the infectious germs passed around a children's ER.

Later that night, it hits me and Tommy. Of course, we sensed this was coming and were foolish enough to order in Chinese food anyway. I end up in the ER that night for fluids.

Saturday, 6/10 -- We all spend the day in bed together, watching movies and generally feeling lousy. Tommy takes John to the doctor to make sure he's not too dehydrated. John throws up on Tommy as they are leaving the doctor's office.

Sunday, 6/11 -- More of the same, except that now when John's awake, he's crying. Loudly. Won't eat, won't drink, and obviously miserable. At least Tommy and I are feeling somewhat better.














Monday, 6/12 -- Even more of the same, but now John's coughing and has green junk coming out of his very swollen eyes. And he still won't drink. Fever spikes to 101.6

Tuesday, 6/13 -- Head out to see Dr. Griggs first thing in the morning. As soon as John is in his carseat, he revisits all that we've managed to get in him for the last 24 hours. And Britax carseat covers aren't machine washable. But back to the doctor we go -- John's lost 15 ounces in 2 days, and is diagnosed with a stomach virus, croup, and pinkeye. Tommy stays home with us that afternoon.

Wednesday, 6/14 -- The cough is getting worse and worse, and he cries every time. Ointment seems to be helping his eyes, at least. Tommy and I start sniffling a little bit. Turns out the same virus that gave John croup is giving us an upper respiratory infection. Oh yeah, and in the middle of all this, John takes his first step.

Thursday, 6/15 -- John's eating and drinking voluntarily now. His eyes looks great, and his cough is slowly getting better, at least during the day. However, Tommy and I sense imminent disaster on our end. I wake up miserable, and Tommy stays home from work in the morning to help.

Friday, 6/16 -- Now Tommy has pinkeye (but seems to be recovering from the upper respiratory virus). I still can't breathe through my nose, and we spend our Friday night taking turns standing over a pot of boiling water on the stove.

Saturday, 6/17 -- I just woke up with pinkeye.

So there you have it -- our week in review. :-) I hope to have better news and more pictures soon!