Winter=sickness

In our house, the signs of winter also begin to point to signs of illness. All of the kids in this house get sick every single winter. This year was no different. Beginning at Christmas time the kids and Al all got a stomach bug. From there everyone had a really bad cough. The three kids, and Al, were all on Robitussin with Codine. Next up it was asthma time. Connor was put on an oral steriod of Prednisone. Once he improved he got worse again within a few weeks and was placed on an inhaled steroid Flovent. Next up it was Siobhan's turn. She spent a few days with a cold, and then all of a sudden it became awful with an extremely high fever and cough. We waited it out for a little while, making her comfortable with motrin, but when her fever hit 102.4 even with motrin and tylenol, off to the ER we went. Of course, a trip to the ER can only be done in the midst of a record setting snow storm; I think there's an unwritten rule about that.

In the hospital we did a chest x-ray to rule out pneumonia. They gave her some albuteral and made us wait there until her fever (Which had reached 102.7 at that point) went down. Once it did we were able to leave with the "yes she has a really bad cold, keep an eye on things" diagnosis. The trip home, which generally takes about 20 minutes, took over 90 minutes as I drove through at least 18 inches of unplowed snow in white out conditions. (Sunday night we had over 2 feet of snow in a record setting snow storm) I should probably have stayed at a hotel, but I really wanted to be home. Over the next few days we piecemealed it so she could stay home from school. By Wednesday we thought she was good to go back. However, at 2:30 I got the call that she had a fever of 100.5. So, she stayed home on thursday with my dad. On Friday I brought her to the doctor. They noticed an ear infection. they also re-examined her chest x-ray and said that she probably had RSV when we were at the ER, but that she sounded like she was on the mend (not wheezing and rattling and clearing her lungs when coughing; which is good). They did give her an antibiotic since it's taking so long to clear up. We're on day four of that. (Which of course means her stomach is awful).

Let's hope she continues to be on the mend. She still has a rotten cough which we are trying to keep under control with the inhaler. Connor is using his inhaler as well, although not as often. Thankfully Aisling has been okay thus far.

Someone asked me the other day what winter sports Al and I participate in. Our answer? Survival. I cannot wait for a year when we make it through the winter with no trips to the ER or hospital. It's draining.

I am eagerly awaiting the arrival of spring!