Health

It's been a horrible six weeks or so. At the beginning of November, all three boys were sick. It wasn't severe, so we didn't go to the pediatrician, though we did call them several times. By mid-November they were better, then John got horribly sick around Thanksgiving--a viral upper respiratory infection that he's still not completely over. Then Superhero & Artist started coughing and running a fever, so we called the pediatrician. After we walked through the doors, Fighter started coughing a bit, too, and running a low grade fever. He had the mildest symptoms, but was the sickest of the three--While Artist & Superhero seemed to be coming down with a cold, Fighter had an ear infection and had lost over four pounds in a month (he had also grown an inch in that time frame). So, Artist got steroids to strengthen his lungs, all three were given Mucinex DM for their cough, and Fighter got antibiotics for his infection, an iron supplement, and Pediasure to help get his weight up. Fighter and Superhero seemed to recover well from that, but Artist kept getting more and more congested. Last Monday, I woke up with a raging fever and a sore throat--I had sinusitis AND strep throat. The next morning, John had to take off from work to take Artist to the pediatrician again--his lungs were MOSTLY clear, so she suggested we switch to a decongestant (instead of Mucinex) and use a nebulizer. He used the nebulizer that afternoon and evening. Tuesday at midnight, he was having trouble breathing, so I gave him a nebulizer treatment. John gave him another at 4:30. at 6:30, I woke up to his extremely labored breathing, so after it took me ten minutes to wake him, I gave him another nebulizer treatment while John called the pediatrician. He was in respiratory distress, and got another breathing treatment as soon as the medical staff arrived at the office, went to the hospital for blood tests and x-rays, then got another breathing treatment at ten, along with a steroid shot. Wednesday night, Superhero spiked a fever, and both he and Fighter started coughing. Thursday morning, Superhero added a sore throat to his list of complaints. So the wonderful pediatrician saw Artist to check on his breathing, then prescribed some Orapred and antibiotics for the other two, as well. I'm pretty sure we've paid for a pharmacist's kids' next college semester, but everyone is finally on the mend. Fingers crossed.