Sick, Sick, and More Sick

The kids are on Spring break...finally! Everyone was healthy for the holiday, the sickness kicked in the next day. Helen didn't want to eat lunch, which is not like her. She was in the living room with the other kids, playing video games. When she started crying, the girls came and told me something was wrong. When I got to the living room, Helen was sitting on the couch with her head buried in the cushion. She wouldn't talk to me and wouldn't lift her head up so I could take a look at her face. I rubbed her back until she stopped crying and then asked her if she wanted to come by me. She told me no, she wanted to stay and play video games. I went back to cleaning and doing laundry. About a half an hour later I heard Helen crying again, I found her on her bed. I grabbed her and brought her into my room where we laid down on my bed. She finally settled down and fell asleep for three hours. When she woke up, she had a fever. I gave her Tylenol and kept an eye on her. I noticed she wasn't drinking either, so I thought maybe she had caught Robbie's strep throat. I called the doctor's office, they called in an order to the lab for Helen to get a strep test done. The lab closed in twenty minutes and Helen needed socks on and I needed to change. We got there with five minutes to spare. There were two people at the check in desk, one was on her way out. She told me the other person would be with us in a minute. Then the phone rang, and the clerk decided to answer it and then proceeded to take care of the patient on the phone while Helen and I waited....five minutes. When I finally got to check in and told the clerk Helen was there for the lab, she started to tell me we wouldn't be able to get the test done. I didn't even let her finish, I said to her, "Oh no, we were here in time, she needs this test done!" She told me the lab technician had already logged out, I again repeated that we were there in time. She left and went and spoke with the lab, came back and started checking us in. When we got back to the lab, I could see the technician wasn't happy at all. She was young, and I could tell she wanted to leave. Helen sat in the chair and the tech tried to get her to open her mouth so she could swab her throat, but Helen would have no part of it. I tried talking her into cooperating, and when I touched her mouth, she threw up...everywhere! I was trying to clean it up when she got sick again, this time it was more than the first. The tech was gagging like crazy, I could tell she was mad. Come to find out, she had plans to go to the Brewer's game that evening. I told her what a way to start her evening, I was being sarcastic. Helen finally let her get the sample, I cleaned up as best I could, I apologized, and then we left. She had to stay until the rapid test was finished and then she had to run a 24 hour, and a 48 hour test on it. I'm guessing she didn't get out of there until about 5:45pm....karma is something!

Helen's tests were all negative, so she didn't have strep. I think it must have been a touch of the flu. She was okay the following day, but then was up during the night getting sick. Last night she had a restful sleep and is doing much better today. Grace is fighting a cold, she is blowing non-stop. Her poor little nose is all red. I'm feeling a bit of what everyone has had. My stomach hurts a little bit, my throat is dry and scratchy, and my nose is stuffy...lucky me! All my plans of getting things done while the kids were home went out the window. I haven't gotten anything done this week. I'm guessing the rest of the week is going to be spent getting myself better. On Sunday, the kids are supposed to walk in the Greek parade in Chicago. I'm hoping we are all better by then.

Until next time-
Take Care,
Sue