the neverending sickness saga...

Well - if you recall, the beginning of June was filled with ear infections, antibiotics, and secondary viruses. We all managed to get better, for a whole week. Unfortunately, the 3 weeks of sickness left me in a depressed slump and a chaos breeding house. I was feeling so down and frustrated and behind and just depressed and over whelmed in general; that i just couldn't seem to make any headway with the mess. Tim did his best to help at night (which I felt bad about, since he was working all day, then coming home to my undone work...but I sure needed the help.) I was starting to feel a little better and was beginning to feel like there was hope of digging out, when WHAMMO! Bryan is sick again. I just want to cry!

Last week I started noticing Bryan acting fussier than normal, (downright cranky to be honest) but I just blew it off. Then Friday he had a temp of 101. Later that day (after we spent the afternoon at Payson lakes, which should be showing up as it's own post here soon) I discovered some little white blistery looking bumps on his tongue. I was 99% certain that it was just a virus and not worth making the trip to the Dr, but I called and talked to the on call nurse just to make sure. She confirmed that he (most likely) has hand, foot, and mouth disease. Now luckily for me, Brillig blogged a while back about one of her kids having this disease, and when she did I immediately thought of "hoof and mouth" disease that cattle and sheep get. The one I was sure wipes out entire ranches. Where they put down animals for miles around and everyone and everything is quarantined for eons... I do realize that I'm combining hoof and mouth disease and mad cow and who knows what else all together - but that really was the reaction I had when Brillig said her little boy had hand foot and mouth disease. I was waiting for them to put her whole family into eternal quarantine and call in the CDC to evacuate the city... (okay, maybe not THAT bad, but close!) ANYWAY... as is fairly typical for me, once I panic over something and plan out what I will do when we are evacuated from the city for who knows how long, I looked up the disease on the internet and learned that while the two names are very similar, but they are not even remotely related. PHEW! Happy day. And lucky for me, I had already learned all this before the on call nurse gave me her over the phone diagnosis. (Can't you just see the panic I would have had if I were still in my state of ignorance and I believed it was MY child and MY family going into permanent quarantine???)
Any which way - life is not fun for me right now. Bryan is miserable. He has sores on his hands, feet, and especially his mouth (probably where the name comes from EH?) and he cries pretty much non stop. He is so hungry and thirsty, because is just hurts too bad to eat or drink anything.
I am totally exhausted. Last night I went to bed right around midnight (I just had to get the kitchen floor mopped before I went to bed because I knew I wouldn't be able to get to it during the day, and I couldn't stand sticking to it any more.) and between 12am and 6:15am (when I got up to go walking) Bryan woke me up 4 times screaming. Throw in a couple time wakingup to feed Caleb, and you get the general idea. Tim siad this morning, "I think last night might win the award for our worst night's sleep ever." I think he might be right!

So now you are probably wondering why I am sitting here blogging at 10:30 at night instead of being in bed sound asleep. I can answer that in one word: BRYAN. He took enough naps during the day - and he hurts enough, that he is having trouble sleeping. I've been trying to get him to sleep since 9. No luck yet. I finally decided to blog for a few minutes, then try again.

Yesterday Katrina had a fever of 102, and this morning Aaron said his throat hurt when he woke up, so I'm just hoping that they get milder versions and not the full blown deal, and I'm especially hoping and praying that that by some miracle we can manage to keep Caleb from getting it. I just keep wondering when this will end! I'm not sure I can take much more.

Now you have a better idea of why my blogging has been pretty sparse. That's enough of the saga for now, and hopefully the final chapter. I'm off to try to get my little angel in devils clothing (jammies) to go sleep. Wish me luck - I have the feeling I'm going to need it.