A Season for Sickness

I took the pic in awe of the mess Liam had made with his breakfast in a very short time. But see how sick he looks... miserable!

A little hard to see in the pic but I think the rash is Fifths.

yes, for everything there is a time and a season.

In her prayers tonight, Julia said "thank you that we can be healthy, thank you that we can be sick...."

I am not sure what that meant to her, but I do try to find the up side to the challenges we find ourselves immersed in at times.

We have recently experienced a variety of ailments in our family. It started a while back when Liam got an ear infection - it dragged on because it was mild and he was asymptomatic and I convinced the pediatrician to let me try to treat it without antibiotics. Then, still seeing fluid in his ears when we went to follow up, we took the antibiotic route. This made him miserable - and significantly more sick ... and led to an emergency room and a different antibiotic.

During this time, I had a UTI which progressed to a kidney infection just as Liam was getting over his stuff. I went begging for antibiotics to an OB that I work with and was down for a week with fevers and chills, lethargy, nausea and vomiting (the latter was probably from the antibiotic - because that persisted once the fever had resolved until my last day of treatment).

Then, the next week Mila came down with a fever and a couple of days later, the rash that you see above. At this point I called all my pregnant friends and warned them that it appeared Mila had Fifths Disease and we commenced a quarantine of the whole family!! Mila continued with a fever hitting 102 F -103 F on and off for the next week while I waited to get her in to an ENT. Eventually I called 5 days before the appointment date they had given me and told them I was concerned she may rupture her ear drum. She told me she heard a fire alarm in her ear - just not as loud! They got us in the next day ( and I wished I had made more of a fuss initially when I made the appointment!) We discovered she had a significant ear infection as a complication of the virus . This was Mila's first ear infection, despite her propensity to harbour fluid in her ears to the point that her hearing is all but lost. She had also perforated an ear drum, which the doctor seemed unperturbed about and said it should heal quickly. This explained the overnight improvement in her hearing though!

Through all this Julia was the only one who stayed remarkably healthy (Kurt also battled a viral something) . She did nap frequently in the afternoons (which just doesn't happen anymore) but besides an intermittent runny nose did not succumb to the germs!

But what I really wanted to write about is how wonderful it felt to feel well! I can deal with my family being ill to a much greater degree than my own ill health. And the day I stopped the antibiotics I was overwhelmed by gratitude for my health. I felt renewed and invigorated just by the experience of feeling weak and helpless. Somehow, even now, weeks later I feel inexplicably stronger than before I got sick. For this I will join with Julia in thanking God for being sick! I also enjoyed having Mila home from school before the school vacation, and cuddling with each of my children. I enjoyed reading a lot of books as we lay in bed feeling sorry for ourselves. I treasure the afternoon when Julia stated " I am tired, I am going to lie down" and actually did! She just walked through the lounge and up the stairs.... and when I was looking for her 15 minutes later I found her fast asleep in her bed! This kind of thing is typical of Mila, and happened frequently over the couple of weeks she wasn't well - but very unique for Julia!

Lessons Learned:

1. Practice what you preach and always pee after sex!

2. Antibiotics do have their place ( this is the first time anyone has had antibiotics in our family - but we have made up for that in the last month!)

3. Trust and act promptly on your instincts.