When it rains, it pours...

It’s been a busier than usual few days, unfortunately. Ava’s little pneumonia bug has infected Lincoln and me. Bad. I think 6 weeks of sleep deprivation and the stress of being laid off finally weakened my immune system. It’s bad though, we’re really sick. I can’t seem to recover because I’m trying to take care of 2 sick kids and deal with the stress of being unemployed. Poor Lincoln has been poked and prodded and sent to the ER. Here’s how it all went down…

We started feeling sick Thursday night. Friday was rough – it came on fast. Lincoln’s cough started to sound nasty and he was extremely congested. He didn’t have a fever though… I called the on-call nurse for his doctor’s office on Saturday and she gave me the list of symptoms to watch for (fever, blue around lips, etc. etc.) and said to keep doing what we’re doing (humidifier, saline, etc. etc.). It was a restless night. He spit up the little that he did eat with a lot of mucous (on my bathrobe). The next morning he was even worse. He wouldn’t eat and he cried like he was in pain for 3 hours straight. That worried us. Though, he still didn’t have a fever. Since we were both feeling ill I tossed him in the car and we headed for Urgent Care. It was cold and rainy.

When we pulled into the parking lot I was relieved because there were only a handful of cars. I hurriedly made my way inside with poor Linc on my arm. There was a sign on the door, “Closed for the remainder of the day due to a building emergency.” Building emergency? It’s a brand new building. Looked fine to me. Whatever. We ran back out to the car and made our way to the less desirable Urgent Care in town, with everyone else apparently.

There was a line out the door. I had a moment of contemplation before ultimately deciding to just get it over with. The waiting room was full of sick coughing people and I wondered if I made the right decision bringing him in there. After a lengthy wait we got called back. Thankfully, Lincoln slept through everything – even his physical exam. He wore himself out crying all morning. The nurse practitioner said one of his ears was slightly red. She prescribed him amoxicillin pediatric drops. She checked me out and decided that I just have a cold and need sleep. That’s almost always my diagnosis.  She gave me a handful of sample prescription pills that were supposed to dry up my sinuses.  They did absolutely nothing for me.  

On our way home I stopped by the pharmacy to drop off Linc’s prescription. The pharmacist, an older gentleman, explained that they don’t have this drug and it’ll have to be ordered. He said, “Quite frankly, I’ve only filled this once in my career.” Red flag! I decided to get a second opinion on the antibiotic given the pharmacist’s comment. Chris called the on-call nurse when we got home to ask. She wasn’t sure so she wanted to check with the on-call doctor. Finally, the doctor called us back in a tizzy and had no interest in discussing the prescription. She was more concerned about Lincoln’s symptoms. She advised us to head to the ER immediately to have a RSV test done.

I put my tennis shoes back on and we headed to the ER. What a wonderful experience – truly! They took us back without delay. We had a couple nurses waiting on Linc and the doctor didn’t waste anytime checking him out. Low and behold he had a 100.3 temperature! The doctor said they treat little babies aggressively because they don’t like to take chances. So, Linc got a urine bag, blood drawn, an IV, a chest x-ray, an oxygen reading and 2 nose swabs. Phew! The insurance company is going to love that! He was a super champ – mostly because he was exhausted. Everything came back looking dandy. Just a viral infection (aka a cold). The ER doctor and Linc's doctor conversed and mutually decided to pump him full of some antibiotics, just in case, because after all they don’t take chances with the little babies. They also wanted a 2nd RSV test done the next day because sometimes the first test comes back negative when it's actually positive. After four hours in the ER we were sent home with instructions to keep a close eye on him that night. Chris slept on the floor in Linc’s room and I curled up in our bed. Hey! Doctor’s orders for me! We were up and at ‘em early this morning to get Linc to the doctor for another RSV test. We got the call this afternoon that his test was negative, again. Three doctors and numerous tests later to find out he just has a nasty cold. Better safe than sorry!

So yeah, we haven’t stopped going. So much for Chris’ 3-day weekend. Lincoln is in bad shape and it breaks my heart to see him so sick. Ava’s first cold at 6 weeks of age was nothing like this. Speaking of Ava, she is doing better. She’s not out of the woods yet, but she’s doing better. Maybe tomorrow I’ll finally get to work on my resume and focus on the job hunt. Chris still isn’t sick (knock on wood). I don’t know how he always manages to avoid the household illness… I’m starting to think he really is Superman… Hey! You have your fantasies and I have mine! Don’t judge.

On a different, yet slightly related note, I want to give a little shout out to the Neti Pot!
http://www.neilmed.com/usa/netipot_adword.php?gclid=CPrCsMjqmJgCFQO5GgodsHrFmA


If you’re suffering from sinus issues then you MUST try this. It alleviates so much pressure and really clears out the sinuses, temporarily. My brilliant brother recommended it to me. He saw it on Oprah, of course.

Time for bed. Here are a couple pics of Linc in the ER.