sick, Sick, SICK!!!!!!!!

Alright, I know you're all waiting on a post from Zach's birthday. I promise it'll be here within the next few days! But for right now, allow me to tell you about the fiasco in this household.

On May 19th, (the day before we flew off on our 3 week "vacation") I had Mikie in to the Pediatrician because he had just gotten over a bad cold which he was put on a nebulizer for 4 days. While there, I asked the Dr. to look in Zachary's ears because he'd had a runny nose for more than a week. Yep, you guessed it...DOUBLE ear infection. So that meant antibiotic #1.

We flew to Iowa and then on to Washington where he finished the 10 day meds and seemed to be doing better. Then, Las Vegas....towards the end of that trip he obviously wasn't feeling well again. I got back to VA on 6/11 and took him to the Dr. on the 14th. One look in his ears and we were on to antibiotic #2!

Over the next 10 days he didn't seem to be making much improvement and life at our house was getting very "whiny" (including some whining from Mommy). On Monday, June 23rd we saw the pediatrician again and switched to anitbiotic #3. By now the Target pharmacy knew me on a first name basis. This 3rd medicine seemed to be the worst...he was finally poking at his ears and would not play at all. By Friday evening (6pm), I'd had enough and went to the E.R. where we sat, got examined, Zachary got his blood drawn, and probably picked up a few more germs while crawling on the disgusting floor and playing with his favorite toy (a soft baseball) that one of the nurses gave to him (I don't even want to know where it came from!) Six hours later (yep...midnight) we headed home with no new remedies or meds, just a P.A. telling us to continue the antibiotic and see our Dr. on Monday. That weekend was bad!

Monday finally rolled around (June 30th) and the pediatrician said there was still no sign of improvement and recommended the 3 day shot series of Rossefin (sp?) which turned out to be 6 shots (it's too thick to put into one shot so they break it up into 2) over the course of 3 days (the second day was his 1st birthday :( how horrible!) This drug seemed to be the magic one because he was a totally different little boy for those 3 days. He was HAPPY again! But, as you may have guessed....it was short lived. By Saturday (the day of his party) he was back to his irritable little self and I was glad he had his well (Ha Ha Ha) baby check up on Monday (7/7).

I was surprised to learn that the infection appeared to be gone but there was still fluid in his ears and a trip to the ENT was going to be necessary. Since he was due for them, he got his vaccinations adding another 3 shots to the total for the week. While he was screaming his head off, I noticed he was getting a top molar! Could that be the reason for all of this? I hope not....he still has so many teeth to go! On Thursday 7/10 he was crabby and not eating/sleeping well, so I called the doc. She had just seen us 4 days ago so she went ahead and phoned in antibiotic #5 (remember 4 was the shots). So, back to Target I went!

Which leads us to today....his ENT appointment. Apparently this ear infection is now officially "cleared up" and there doesn't appear to be any fluid in his ears. Great news...for now! But if he gets another one, we might be looking at tubes.

So that takes care of the sick, and Sick part of my post. Now do you want to know why I wrote SICK!!!!! For that, we have to go back to Saturday at midnight when Mikie wakes up with a fever of 105.8! The next day, I discover blisters on Zachary's mouth, hands, and feet. Today, Mikie has them. So now, BOTH boys have HAND, FOOT, and MOUTH disease! We're sequestered to our house for at least the next 3 days and I think I may just end up on this sick list as well.......MENTALLY SICK!!!!!!!!!!