Day 4 (and a sickness update)

Before I talk about Day 4 (I realize this is Day 5), I have to add something to Day 3.  We were all wearing our pajamas (at noon) when we went outside for Sydney to ride her bike.  Sydney was wearing fuzzy pink pajamas with monkeys printed all over them, dressy black shoes (her choice), and a floppy white sun hat (also her choice).  We all looked a little ridiculous (and, yes, we ran into and chatted with the neighbors in this state).  I'm pretty sure it was 3:00 p.m. before I got dressed for the day, which, in my mind, meant I was excused from wearing makeup since the day was already 3/4 of the way over.  Just another perk of being a stay-at-home mom (if you count 'looking like a hobo most of the day' a perk)!

Day 4: I am thankful for the wonderful health care we are entitled to as military members and dependents!  I've heard people complain about "Navy medicine" (and other military health services), but I've had nothing but good experiences.  That being said, I would love a break from taking full advantage of said health care!  Here's what I mean...

Tuesday, October 9th: I took Syd to the doctor for a cough and other typical cold symptoms (no fever though).  Normally I would not have been worried, but a little girl on our street had pneumonia, so that made me a little paranoid.  Sydney was fine; she just had a cold.  The cold went away a few days later.

Saturday, October 13th: After taking our family pictures at 4:00 p.m. (more on that later), Sydney was irritable and did not want to eat.  She threw up at bedtime, and many times after that until about 2:00 a.m.  After that, she was fine (and THANKFULLY it was isolated to her!).  But we had to skip church the next day.

Wednesday, October 24th: The day before we left West Palm Beach, Sydney started coughing again.  Thankfully I brought with us the Robitussin she was prescribed two weeks earlier.  She continued to cough into the next day (the day we left WPB), and her nose also started to run.  By that evening (Thursday, October 25th, while we were in Tallahassee) she had a low-grade fever.  We gave her some fever reducer and put her to bed, but she woke up at 4:00 a.m. coughing up a storm and with a really high fever (103.5).  I called her doctor, and they suggested taking her to an ER or Urgent Care Clinic.  So we did.  We arrived at the nearest hospital's Urgent Care Clinic right after they opened and didn't have to wait long before she was taken back.  The doctor said it just sounded like a cold, but he ordered a flu swab and a chest x-ray, just to make sure.  Thank goodness he did, because the chest x-ray showed fluid in her right lung (pneumonia)!  The clinic gave her two shots and prescribed an antibiotic, and we were on our merry way. 

I just re-read the previous paragraph, and it made the whole event sound downright cheery.  It was not.  Even though we didn't wait long in the waiting room, we were at the clinic 2+ hours.  Lorelei and I had to leave in the middle of the ordeal to go back to the hotel to pack up our belongings and load the car.  We had also run out of diapers by this point, so Lorelei was sopping wet.  When we left the clinic, Chet had to repack the car in the parking lot (I didn't have time to do a good job back at the hotel).  Both girls were crying the whole time.  We finally got in the car and made our way to the nearest Target, where we filled Sydney's prescription, bought diapers and a few other supplies, ate lunch, and made one last bathroom stop.  By this point it was 1:00 p.m., and we were 5 hours away from home.

Sydney was miserable in the car.  We thought it was because she was exhausted and had a super runny nose, but, no, it was because the antibiotic had upset her stomach.  She proved that by jolting awake from her nap and throwing up.  Thankfully, we were about a mile from the next exit, where we stopped at a McDonald's and cleaned her up.  Chet cleaned up Syd and changed her clothes while I cleaned out the car seat.  We got back in the car, but then Lorelei was mad because she thought it was time to get out.  The girls finally settled down, but at the next stop we realized Sydney wasn't wearing shoes...Chet had put them on top of the car at the McDonald's, and now they're somewhere along I-10.

We arrived home that night (Friday, October 26th), and Sydney threw up again after taking her 2nd dose of antibiotic (one of the listed side effects was nausea).  The next day, and all the days after that, she did not throw up, but had other stomach issues as a side effect.  She is usually great about taking medicine, but this one must have been disgusting, because she did NOT want to take it.  Twice a day, for 10 days, we had to pin her down and force her to take it.  She had her final dose last night, and we let her throw the medicine bottle and the syringe in the trash.  Woo hoo!

Let me back up a little...

Monday, October 29th (three days after Sydney was diagnosed with pneumonia): I took Lorelei to the doctor, just to make sure her lungs were clear (she had a little bit of a runny nose and cough).  My maternal instincts told me she was not sick (especially not with pneumonia), but I wanted to make sure, AND she needed her 12-month immunizations.  Since she was given a clean bill of health, we were able to get 5 of the 6 shots she needed.  Which one were they out of?  The pneumonia immunization!  Ha!  We have to go back in 30 days to get that one, along with her second flu shot (she has to get two flu shots this year since she did not get one last year).

Tuesday, October 30th: Sydney had a follow-up visit with her own doctor.  She was doing much better by this point, so we were given no special instructions.  I asked when she could get a flu shot, and the answer was once she finished the antibiotic.  I plan to take her tomorrow (November 6th).

Thursday, November 1st: Lorelei started running a fever.  Frankly, I was shocked she had stayed healthy that long.  She had no symptoms other than a fever, which is typical for her when she gets little viruses.  The fever broke yesterday (Sunday), and all was well...until she woke up this morning with a cough and runny nose!  Ironically, she was scheduled for her 12-month well-baby appointment this morning at 10:00 a.m. (details to come), so it was nice to be able to get her cold symptoms checked out too (she is fine).

The last bit of drama...

Saturday, November 3rd: We went to a birthday party (Sydney's friend Maggie's) at a park in Ocean Springs, MS.  Almost immediately upon our arrival, Syd bumped her head.  (She likes to swing from the crossbar over the slide, like a gymnast.  She's been doing it for several months now, and was bound to slip sooner or later.)  Anyway, she was swinging from the crossbar, slipped, fell flat on her back and continued to slide down the slide.  We knew it hurt, and she cried hard, but she calmed down and continued to play.  About 45 minutes later, Chet noticed a HUGE bump on the back of her head.  It was disgusting.  Ocean Springs is only 4 miles from the ER at the Air Force Base (as opposed to the 20-mile drive from our house), so we decided to take her to the ER.  Again, my maternal instincts told me she was probably fine, but it was hard to say no to the ER on a Saturday afternoon (it wasn't crowded) when we were so close distance-wise.  And I knew if we didn't take her in that I would continue to worry, so that was the clincher.  We were in and out of the ER in an hour, and she is fine (although they acknowledged it was a nasty bump!).

Whew!  Hopefully we can stay out of health care facilities for a while after Syd's flu shot tomorrow.  Again, I am super thankful for TRICARE!