Saturday, January 20, 2007

Damn day care germs

On Wednesday evening, Harmon started to cough a bit. He also coughed a lot overnight but we thought it was just another damn day care cold. When we arrived at day care to drop him off on Thursday morning, two of the teachers wanted to warn us about cases of bronchitis and pneumonia. Evidently, several kids were out due to this. When we got him home Thursday night, his cough had worsened and by Friday morning (after another rough night of sleep), it was bad enough for me to call the doctor. Almost every other time I’ve taken him in, they’ve looked at me like I had lobsters crawling out of my ears and told me it was just a cold. This time, though, I was glad I trusted my instincts and took him in because he quickly diagnosed with bronchiolitis. GD day care germs! So, while we were in the exam room, we did a breathing treatment and he got juiced up with some steroids. We also were sent home with a prescription for the steroid, prednisolone, which we are to give once a day for three days, and another prescription for albuterol, which we are to give him a minimum of four times per day through a nebulizer. Basically, he has to sit and inhale this misty medicine every four hours or so. So far, we’ve given him five of these breathing treatments and it’s gone OK. It sounds like the cough is moving up in his chest and he seems to be better during the day but the night coughing is the worst. After waking up four times last night, Kevin finally decided to have a slumber party with him and sleep outside in the living room. After this, he was able to sleep until 8:30 a.m. this morning and he had two really good, long naps today. And, as usual, he handles sickness so well. He’s his normal, playful self and he’s eating and drinking like a horse. We put him to bed for the night a little while ago so, cross your fingers.

Of course, while all this is happening, I have to feel like crap too. I’m not sure really what is going on with me. On Thursday night, I had the chills and an upset stomach. Yesterday, the chills were gone but they were replaced with full body aches. Today, what a surprise, I’ve developed a sore throat and a headache to go along with the body aches. Who knows what tomorrow will bring. I feel so guilty about feeling sick because it puts such a burden on Kevin and I hate that. It’s just not my nature to sit around and let him do all the work. ANYWAY, here’s hoping Sunday will be a better day for Harmon and me. And, please dear Lord, don’t let Kevin get sick too. Yikes!