Three weeks and counting ...

... and there are still traces of sickness in our house.

We returned from our trip to Florida three weeks ago today ... Charlie came down sick on Saturday ... really sick on Sunday ... and by Monday, William was glued to me. Elizabeth had it Tuesday, Carolyn had it Wednesday. I caught it Thursday. All of us were feeling better by Friday and I thought we were through the worst of it. Friday night, I learned otherwise. William was up all night crying. I tried to sleep with him on the couch, but he'd cry with his eyes closed. The poor little guy. It was impossible for him to sleep - impossible for me to sleep. I suspected it was probably an ear infection. We scheduled an appointment with the "after-hours" Pediatrician for 9 AM with all three babies Saturday morning. My suspicion was confirmed. William had an ear infection - a double ear infection ... as did Elizabeth. Carolyn's ears looked clear, so the doctor gave us a prescription for Zithromax for W&E. I mention that we had the prescription for Zithromax because Elizabeth, had a horrendous allergic reaction to amoxocilin with her last ear infection in January. There's nothing worse then seeing your baby covered in hives. Here's a picture of that, for those who missed it.
Saturday night was a repeat of Friday night. Although, this time, it was Elizabeth up all night. Again, so was I. Apparently, the antibiotics take about 48-hours to "kick-in." By Sunday morning - everyone seemed to be feeling better. Although, after a short while ... Charlie started to complain that he might be taking a downward turn. What? There are "generations" to this bug?! At 6 PM on Sunday night, Carolyn fell asleep in her highchair. She never does this. Her temperature spiked 103 and she was lethargic. I gave her a dose of Tylenol, got her in her pj's and put her to bed. By 7 PM, I was feeling lethargic. Oh, oh....

Fast forward to this week. William and Elizabeth are back to themselves. Charlie is feeling much better. Carolyn is winning the war on what turned out to be a viral respiratory infection. Fortunately, she avoided an ear infection, all together. She's doing much better and remains happy - except for those times I go near her with a bulb syringe to clear out a stuffy nose. If the truth be told - everyone is doing better then me.

I'm still sick. It's been a solid two weeks. I've lost 11 pounds. I finally dragged my sorry self off to the doctor yesterday and he told me that I was acting like a dumb ass. I wasn't offended ... I had to agree with him. (edited to read: OK - this is killing me. See, this is how I have it entered in to my journal - but in actuality - he agreed with me. I don't want people thinking my doctor is rude and calls his patients bad names). He's the dad of 9-month old twins and a really nice guy. He's always managed to squeeze me in last minute, which was particularly important when I needed a prescription ... post haste for mastitis last year (on one, two, three occasions). Why it took me two (2) weeks to go see him, when every day I felt just as bad, if not worse than the day before ... is plain dumb. The reason that I was so apprehensive to go, is because I'm stubborn - like an ass. I thought that I'd be able to "beat" it by myself without getting on an antibiotic. Aside from which, when do I have TIME to go to the doctor?! The 48-hours aren't even up since I've started my prescription - and already - I can tell that the antibiotic I've been put on is zapping this nasty bug in it's dumb ass.

Nonetheless, this whole sickness thing has really got me thinking.

1. It's rotten to be sick.
2. It's even more rotten to have your spouse be sick at the same time you are sick.
3. Nothing is more rotten then when you, your spouse, and all of your babies are sick. At the same time.
4. When you're sick ... if you're not better within a few days, don't be a dumb ass. Go see the doctor. Chances are - there is something they can give you to make you better much faster then if you were trying to "fight" it on your own.
5. If we can put a man on the moon and check our e-mail from a blackberry ... WHY can we not come up for a cure to the common cold?
6. The advertisements on TV with sick people that take cold remedies and feel "good as new" are phooey. Those people aren't really sick. I think this is a bunch of false advertisement. Even when I didn't need an antibiotic to feel remotely human, I've spent a load of money on stuff to help me get through the day like the guy in the Sudafed commercial and sleep through the night like the lady in the Nyquil commercial ... and neither product worked the way I thought they would. Maybe it took the edge off - but I wasn't close to being right as rain. The only thing that really works as good as they say it will, are Puffs with Lotion.
7. I am scared to death to participate in playdates because I don't want to go through #1, #2 or #3 again.

This is only the third time our kids have been sick. The first time happened a few days after their 1-year birthday party. It's a no brainer that they got sick because there were sick kids at our house. The second time they got sick, was when a friend came over ... with her sick little girl ... for a playdate. Whamo. Within three days, we had runny noses, fevers and fussiness. I'm at the point where I never want to leave our house our yard again. At least not until our kids can blow their own noses.

Here's the problem. EVENTUALLY, we have to expose our kids to the outside world and not be such a bunch of germphobes. People have told me that your child being sick only helps to boost their immune system. I don't get it. That makes NO sense to me. I was sick a lot as a kid ... and I still get sick now. If I didn't get sick now, then I would agree that maybe this "logic" holds merit ... but it doesn't. Our pediatrician, who knows everything even told me so. He said that there is no reason to expose your kids to people that are sick - because all it is going to do, is get them sick, too. Unless it's something like Chicken Pox, that they get once and are then immune to - there is no limit on the number or severity, of colds and flus we can have in our lifetime.

So. I'm planning to ride out the rest of "cold" and "flu" season in our house. And when I do step outside, I will be wielding a can of Lysol and bottles of Purell. But even still ... something tells me that with every precaution I take ... we will be sick again. And when that happens ... I for one, will not be a dumb ass.