Aren't we done yet?

For the past week, we've been sick in this house. There hasn't been a day when there hasn't been someone sick. It started with me. I woke up last Monday with a fever and a lump in the back of my throat that was very painful and made it difficult to swallow. (I can't imagine what I would have done without Russian Tea!) On Wednesday I found out it was strep and was given penicillin. Within 36 hours I was feeling significantly better. But I wasn't the only one sick.

Tuesday, the day after I first got sick, Rachel woke up with a fever too. But not once did she complain of a sore throat, so nobody thought she had strep. She had a fever for three days, as I did, but when hers broke, she ended up with a pretty nasty cough that no medicine could touch. She's doing much better now, with just the last remnants of the cough, so she's finally back in school.

It was a relief when she woke up Friday without a fever, but by lunch time, Tyler had one too. But his wasn't the 101-102 degree fevers Rachel and I had, his came in at 105!! After not hearing back from the doctor's office, I finally got a hold of a consulting nurse. She said as long as he had no other symptoms, wasn't getting dehydrated, and medicine was helping to bring the fever down (does it count when ibuprofen and Tylenol combined only brings it down to 103?), that he would be fine and there was no need to bring him in. We medicated him heavily and often, and he seemed mostly fine. But if we missed a dose, he became lethargic and miserable. Both my fever and Rachel's lasted three days, so we were all set to deal with his for about the same amount of time. Imagine our surprise when he got up on Sunday morning, just a day and a half after the fever first hit, with a completely normal temperature. He does have a slight cough, but nothing like Rachel's was. I just have to say, I do not like fevers that high. They scare me. And I hated seeing my little boy suffer like that.

Sunday morning Tyler may have woken up normal, but Becca did not. Each one of my kids has had slightly different symptoms for whatever this illness is. Becca's fever is about 102, which is closer to Rachel, but she's been the only one who vomited. And that she did just once, Monday morning. She didn't want to eat for most of the day, just wanted water, and nothing could get her off the couch. My other kids were at least active when medicated. We are on her third day of a fever, so I am hoping it is her last. It's been more than a week of sickness in this house, and I am ready to be done with it! We've washed all the bedding and disinfected all the surfaces in the house. Let's just pray Scott doesn't come down with it next!!

Fizzy joys: ibuprofen, clean sheets and blankets, Russian tea, snuggling with my kids, someone else to make dinner, Dr. Seuss books, sun breaks, fleece blankets.