Wednesday, February 29, 2012

A family that's sick together...

You know that old saying...


Anyhow, on Thursday of last week (Feb 23), Dean was starting to really get the sniffles.  So much so, that Mandy asked that I come home early and bring some juices etc...


Not really much was going on at work, so I figured, why not.  (well, there's always something going on, but I had been through the heavy of it, and was coming out the other end...)


Well, that settled, I went to band.  After giving the members a good reaming about how we only have 21 more practices until the Centennial, I get a call for me to come home, Dean's fever is starting and she wants to take him to the hospital.


I rush out... 'cuz hey, family first.  And Dean is just sluggish and tired.  We can't find his (ear) thermometer anywhere, so Mandy has Greg bring over an oral one.  Dean won't use it whatsoever, so I rush out and buy a forehead one (in addition to some medicine to try to bring his temperature down).  I finally get a reading.  Not in the warning zone, but he's HOT.  Just his whole body is warm.


Next day is work, and Mandy's folks are watching Dean at our house.  I get to leave a little early, to find Dean has been just a slug on the couch the entire day.  Something is not right, so Mandy takes him to the walk-in.  (I head to the workshop... which my other blog post will talk about).


The walk-in tells Mandy to just go to the hospital "tell them I sent you; don't let them send you home".  At the ER Mandy learns he has a 'raging' ear infection in his left ear, and the start of another in the right.  At this point I'm now at the ER and the doctor tells me (Mandy went to find a drink) that it's a real "rip-roarin'" ear infection and Dean will be admited for 1-2 days and will need IV antibiotics.  A little panic sets in.






So, while we eventually get Dean ready for his room in paediatrics he subtly coughs.  The admitting nurse notes:  "nobody said anything about a cough... coughs + fever = instant isolation" ... which means we get our own room.  Yay.  Then Mandy and I argue about who'll stay the night.  Mandy's cold by this point is quite raging in its own right.  However, Mandy's argument of "I won't sleep at home regardless" and her stubborn attitude wins me the scorn of the nurses as I tell them I'll be back in the morning.


In the morning I rush in with some breakfast for the group, and it looks like Dean's getting some energy back.  Mandy looks tired.  Back to the workshop I go.  I visit again at lunch.


After the workshop I pop in and it turns out an old highschool friend is the attending doctor, and he lets us know that Dean should be well enough to go home (but he'll have to take his medicine on his own).  Yay, so not 2 days.






At home, Dean does NOT take his medicine... grumble.  That next morning (now Sunday) he spits up MUCH of it, and then I rush off to the only open pharmacy to get his prescription filled.  The guy there is awesome, especially for 6am.  He tells me we can mix it with juice or chocolate milk (a plan is hatched).


So, I head back with that knowledge and then head off to the last bit of the workshop.


At home, Dean is in much better spirits, but still won't take medicine (but I think he's catching on that the chocolate milk tastes funny).  However, after all this our own health has deteriorated ... to the point that I take 2 days off work.  Mandy is just horrible as well.


It doesn't help that Monday is a huge dumping of snow that I have to try to shovel out... walking up stairs winds me out... shovelling is a huge marathon of endurance.  Mandy did a good job too.


Well, Mandy went to the walk-in yesterday (Tuesday) and it turns out she has bronchitis.  Yay... we've all been sleeping in the same bed lately as we only have the one humidifier... however, I think it's causing the illness to quickly spread to each other.


Now, only for me to go to the walk-in myself and find I have pneumonia or something... my ear does bother me, but I think it's psycho-somatic more than anything else...


le sigh...

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