"The" Illness..

It all started on a Sunday night.  Joelle woke up crying in the middle of the night and wouldn't stop.  I went up to get her and of course Brecken woke up too.  They both came to bed with us and were wide awake and crazy from 12-3.  We wised up and sent them back to bed and let them cry.  It didn't last long since it was now 3am.

Middle of the night Monday::Joelle woke up with a fever.  Not terribly high but I knew we would be at the doctor in the morning (because of her kidney issues).

Tuesday::Joelle's fever has climbed to 104.  I gave her Tylenol, which I'm not supposed to do until I can get it recorded at the doctor's office, but I don't like 104..  Arrive at doctor's office, cath her, check every other orifice and organs.  Find nothing wrong other than the high fever.  Dr W. told me I would be back.  

Cost::$30

Finally fell asleep here.  Seriously, just rolled over and went to sleep. :(

Middle of the night Tuesday::Joelle's fever would not come down even on Tylenol and Ibuprofen.  Stayed in the high 104's all night.  I "slept" holding her hand because I was terrified she was going to have a febrile seizure.

Wednesday::Fever is gone in the morning but it might have something to do with the, literally, back to back dose of Tylenol and Ibuprofen I gave her at 5am.  Comes roaring back after her nap.  Now along with a nasty cough.  After calling ZP and discovering their phones were off for no good reason (later discovered it was for an office Christmas party) decided to go to Urgent Care.  While at Urgent Care the PA can not hear/see anything wrong with her but, given her history, decide to do a chest xray.  We have already been there an hour and a half.  Get the chest xray and wait.  And wait.  And wait.  Find out that the xray machine decided to malfunction on only Joelle's xray.  Finally, after an hour, the PA can view it.  Suspect pneumonia.  Put on Amoxicillin.  Still up all night with her Wednesday night but at least she's on meds now.

Cost::$70 for urgent care, $15 for meds

Thursday::Brecken sleeps until 10:30.  Mildly unusual but nothing terrible.  After nap Brecken comes down with a fever.  Again, nothing that slows him down (because nothing does).  Start him on a Tylenol/Ibuprofen drip.  He's up once or twice during the night but he covets his sleep so we don't hear from him much.

Friday::I decide to take Brecken to the doctor.  Call ZP.  Our doctor is unavailable.  Again.  So we see the PA.  She just saw Brecken last week for ringworm.  The boy has never been sick since he was a newborn and now he's been in twice in a week.  He does sick well.  She looks him over, diagnoses Pneumonia but thinks that Influenza A is the culprit.  Swabs him for Influenza A, comes back positive.  Discuss Adelyn and Joelle.  It is decided that they both *probably* have it but are outside the window needed to get Tamiflu working.  Puts Brecken on Amoxicillin and Tamiflu.  Strongly encouraged to keep Brecken and Joelle on Ibuprofen for a couple days after fever breaks because Influenza A is one of the worst for aches/pains/chills.

Cost::$30 office visit, $15 Amoxicillin, $60 Tamiflu (no generic, stupid)

You know the mister is sick when he will actually sleep with us.  He was up off and on all night for meds.  When he woke at 7a I kicked him and Eric out.  When I woke up at 9 this is what I found::

Saturday::Everyone is about the same.  Joelle has been fever free for about 36-48 hours but it comes back Saturday night. 

Sunday::We wake up to Will Smith from Hitched.  Eric brought Brecken downstairs and I was like "what happened to his face?!?!"  I was horrified..and thought it was hysterical.  I promptly took a picture and called the on-call doc.

I, seriously, couldn't get him to smile and have his eyes open.  I realize this is not quite as Will Smith like...but his left eye was pretty swollen, left cheek and ear were too.  

This is a pretty pathetic one ;)

Sunday cont::Ended up talking to Dr. Lund.  She was on the fence about me taking him in because facial swelling is pretty serious but decided she would be ok with it if I started him on Benadryl and promised to bring him in, if it didn't help after the first dose.  Also, had to stop all other meds and go in on Monday to be re-evaluated.  Had to go get Benadryl.  Kept him up until 9 so I could get a good three doses in him before he went to bed.  Joelle still has a fever.

Cost::$8

My two cuties waiting up to receive some druuuuugs.

Monday:: Once again, our regular doctor is all booked.  So we see the PA.  Whom I now love.  I decided we were going to be "those" people.  I had questions about all three so I brought them all with me.  My wonderful mother came with too :)  It was pretty much a disaster from the beginning.  My mom ended up leaving with Joelle.  Brecken was making me sweat because I didn't want him touching anything and getting another disease..and he didn't want me to hold him.  She looked over Brecken.  His lungs were still wheezing so she put him on Zithromax and concluded I was correct on the amox allergy.  I'm allergic to it and so is my dad.  What was their first clue?!  Humph.  I ask about Joelle and she said her meds should probably be switched too, but she couldn't do it because she wasn't the primary doc.  She sends a note to Dr L.  I ask about Adelyn and she listened to her lungs.  She didn't like how she sounded so she wanted her seen...but didn't have time to look everything over herself because she was now an hour behind.  Whoopsies.  We  have now been there an hour and a half.  Go back out, send my mom home with Brecken and Joelle, get Adelyn registered and wait again.  We see Dr. H.  She looks Adelyn over and decides that her lungs are wheezing more on the upper end and its more of a URI than Pneumonia.  Then she hears her cough.  And decides her cough IS super nasty so she orders a chest xray.  We get chest xray done and it is now 7:15pm.  We arrived at 4.

Cost:$60 for two office visits, $18 for meds.

Tuesday::I call the doc in the morning to ask about Adelyn and Joelle.  Neither Dr L or Dr H are in.  The note for Joelle was never answered and the chest xray wasn't read yet.  Now my questions are being directed to God knows who..  Call back at noon about Adelyn.  Chest xray came back clear so there is nothing they can do since the doc that saw her is gone.  Still has a nasty cough..and a terrible attitude..and is sleeping a lot.  Get a call from Dr W's nurse about Joelle.  "It's just the Influenza and that's a virus.  So we can't change her meds."  Thanks for all your help.  It's not the Influenza I'm concerned about, it's the Pneumonia.

Wednesday::Back-up plan day.  Brecken and Joelle had their well-child visit today.  For the first day, in a long time, B and J's lungs sound great!  Hooray.  She listened to Adelyn's and was a bit concerned about the wheezing so she put her on Albuterol.
Cost::Freeeee because they were well-child, $10 for meds.

  Don't forget about the 3/4 bottles of Tylenol/Ibprofen we went through either, $15-20ish.

Healthy children are priceless ;)  And thank the Good Lord for Flex Spending.