Yes, I Know

I am well aware that today is May 25 and the last post that I made was around May 7. Now, I had every intention of posting a nice Mother's Day greeting and a couple of other posts in the past two and a half weeks. Unfortunately, I had a rather strange turn of events. Let me make the following statement before I begin.......I am in no way shape or form asking for pity or sympathy. I chose to have the family that I now have and would not trade it for anything in the world. I would just like to share with you a glimpse of our life the past two weeks.

Now I fully believe that I caused the events that occured starting on May 11. You see, I made the comment to various family members that life next year would be the easiest it had been in the past 8 years. I would not be pregnant, giving birth, had just given birth, building a new house, moving, or changing jobs. For the past 8 years one of the previous events has occured every year. The phrase, "Life will be boring" even crossed my lips. "Maybe I'll have to go back to graduate school, or work on adopting a child from China," I said to numerous people. I suppose at hearing these comments, God decided to show me that life would never be "boring" with four children, a very busy husband, and a full time job. So He blessed me with the week of May 11.

We had had a great Mother's Day round. We got back home around 10 pm and everyone headed off to bed. Somewhere around 11:30 pm Toni came into the living room and anounced that Bayleigh had thrown up ALL in her bed. What we didn't know is that Cody had gone and gotten into Bayleigh's bed and she had also thrown up on him, all the while he slept. So now we had two children covered in vomit along with sheets that needed to be changed. After the clean up duty, Bayleigh and I slept in the recliner until she had been vomit free for approximately one hour. The ending hour was around 1:30 am. (She had a couple of extra bouts of vomiting after the initial episode.)

Monday morning rolls around, and yes, I send them all to school, hoping it had only been something she ate. Around 3:15 pm the Day School called and said Bayleigh had woken up with a rash. Surprise, surprise, turns out we have Fifths Disease.

Tuesday, at least the school day, passes by fairly uneventful. Tuesday night is the band banquet, so Mom and Dad came down and watched the kids while I went. I get home, put everyone in the bed and start my normal evening chores. While washing the dishes, Bayleigh makes an appearance in the kitchen to inform me that Toni has thrown up all in her bed. Soooooooooo, I pretty much start Sunday night all over again. And yes, there was recliner sleep until about 1:00 am again.

We get up Wednesday, prepared to go to school. Toni of course is lethargic, and for some unknown reason Cody is extremely CRANKY. And then as he sits on his "Elmo Potty" to take his morning poop, it happens. He vomits all over the bathroom carpet. We are now staying at home, and I have to somehow find a sub in the next 30 minutes. Toni lays around all morning, but Cody seems to be doing well, until........around lunch. He is extremely cranky so I put him down for an early nap. He doesn't nap well, can't sleep for more than 30 to 45 minutes at a time. He gets up arond 2:30 and I notice that he can't turn his neck well. The more I watch him, the stiffer his neck seems to be getting. I'm thinking.......dear God, he has meningitis! Then around 5:00 or 6:00 Chris and I notice that the left side of his neck is beginning to swell. The swelling continues throughout the night. I give him Ibuprofen and Tylenol to help ease the pain at 4 hr intervals, but nothing seems to help. He cannot lay flat on his back or sleep for more than 30 minutes at a time without waking crying in pain.

I finally get him an appointment for 9:45 am on Thursday morning. The left side of his neck had swollen to the point that he could no longer completely shut his mouth and was drooling. Other mother's in the sick waiting area were moving their sick children away from him, and the sad thing is I didn't blame them. I would have done the same had it been me. After two hours in the doctor's office and labs, it was concluded from his high white count that he had a major infection (still unknown) that caused his lymph nodes in the left side of his neck to swell uncontrollably. We were given an antibiotic injection, oral antibiotics, and Tylenol with codeine. And were told to come back tomorrow by 9:00 am.

We picked up meds, went home, and then I somehow had to get ready for an academic banquet. The sleep schedule on Thursday night went a little better than that of Wednesday. Sleep came in 3 to 4 hr intervals (the amount of time the prescribed Tylenol lasted). However, Cody and I slept anywhere from the bed, to the couch, to the love seat, to the recliner.

Friday's appointment produced a lower white count, so we received a second shot of antibiotics since the first appeared to be doing its job. I was told that it could take up to two weeks for the swelling to subside, and it has taken nearly that.

Cody steadily improved through the weekend and went back to school with meds and a stiff neck on Monday. He is feeling much better and nearly has the full use of his neck back.

This past week was extremely busy with end of the year field trips, field day, preschool celebration, piano recitals, and gymnastic recitals. That doesn't even cover all the high school activities that had to be done (Spring concerts, TAKS reward trips, and much more).

After two weeks of not knowing if I could take much more, I have this to say, "My life will never be boring or easy. I got the message Dear God, I got the message."