Whoa is We

The truth of where I live.... seems there is always something that is emergent, demanding my attention, keeping me from being on top of things. Cleaning, discipline, homeschooling have been taking a backseat to health. Silas and I both had parasites, went on a strong round of antibiotics to kill these buggers. Silas had a hard time with tummy aches, I had ringing in my ears, general exhaustion, hard to wake up in the morning....

Thankfully we finished, looking forward to the promise of no more tummy aches for Silas, and more energy for me. After only a day or 2 of probiotics, which also seem to give Silas tummy aches, Silas got a fever that lasted from Friday until Monday night.

Concern is exhausting. How can I help this little guy with these tummy aches? He had fevers ranging from 100 with Tylenol to 103 and change when it wore off. He had coughing which kept him from sleeping, vomiting with nausea, and was totally lethargic. I usually give ginger ale or 7up for vomiting, but, it all has corn syrup in it, which would likely open a whole different pot of worms and tummy aches. So we opted for fresh coconut water(the electrolyte balance is well matched to human body. In wars people have been given transfusions of coconut water, it's that good of a match.)

My kids don't get lethargic when sick. Just slow down, so this was also concerning. Finally, his breathing after coughing fits looked too labored and retracted, so we went to the ER at 2a on Monday morning(aka Sunday night).

It was of course a long night. They did see us pretty quickly for an ER, checked his oxygen saturation, it was 95, so I felt much better. They gave him a proper dose of Tylenol suppository, 250 mg vs the 190mg I was giving per the box. FYI, 15mg per pound is proper dosing for acetaminophen. After that, we waited. A woman gave birth in the parking lot. That was exciting to see the husband running through the ER wild eyed with poop on his pants. At that point, I think the baby's head was out.

Silas got an X-Ray, showed some bronchitis, they gave us a whole paper with prescriptions. The doc said we should do the anti-biotics just in case. I didn't feel heard by the doc, or willing to give anti-biotics, "Just in case", so didn't start the antibiotics right away. Went to our pediatrician the next morning anyway. She had a cool test she did in the office. She put a swab up his nose then put in a vial with liquid, then put a test strip in and we waited for 1 or 2 lines, like a pregnancy test. 1 line = not influenza = bacterial = antibiotics. Before rushing off to ask for this cool test from your pediatrician, we were told she is a something with the CDC, so she has these test strips, but everyone else has to send to the lab. Lucky us.

Anti-biotics. Silas is having terrible stomach pains from them. He was already having such pain. Now when he has either anti-biotic or probiotic(at different times), he has terrible stomach pains. My heart breaks when this happens. So hard to see him suffering, there is nothing I can do to help:(

I just want him to feel better. The big boys are fighting too much. I don't tolerate fighting, but it's exhausting to put the kibosh on it. Just want a respit. Today is not as hot as yesterday, that is good. I kicked the kids out for 1 hour, 2 or more hours ago. They keep coming back in for different reasons. The hour starts over. They've probably been outside for 15 minutes by now!

As I'm laying out a diatribe of whoa's, Caleb had a bloody nose 5x yesterday! The heat! Oh, yes, and Lawrence started having a gout attack this weekend as well, then Monday thought he was feeling better, so didn't call his doctor for meds?! Well Monday night he was in excruciating pain, didn't get meds until Tuesday, and it will take more days before he achieves true relief! I'm pretty sure there is a stress component to his gout attacks. Sure he ate lamb quite a few times over the last month, but seems every gout attack has been adding fuel to a fiery family situation. Hmmm. Life. We're in the growth part of James chapter 1.