SNAFU Weekend - Strep Throat

First, let me say that Poppie is home from the hospital and recuperating well. Praise the Lord and thank you Baptist Hospital!

Last week was a pretty normal week for us. We worked and played and carried on with our routines. On Friday afternoon, I picked up Caleb and took him to buy a new coat. We were hoping to go to the Lights of the Ozarks on Saturday night and maybe even go see Santa. While we were out shopping, I started feeling a little jittery. We finished up our shopping and headed home. I felt really tired all night and just couldn't get warm. At one point, I was in the floor by the fireplace, wrapped up in a blanket. Anyone who knows me well knows that I don't usually get cold. I'm the first to wear short sleeves in the winter because I typically run warm...and I get cranky when I'm hot. So, me sitting by the fire with a blanket is out of the ordinary. When Rudy put Caleb to bed at 8:00, I went too. I slept like a rock all night and most of Saturday morning. I got up on Saturday and did laundry, but had to sit down between loads and ended up taking a nap. My throat was sore and splotchy with huge tonsils, but I wasn't running fever, so I discounted the idea of strep. I thought it was just tonsillitis.

Rudy and Caleb played all day on Saturday and I loved listening to them laugh and have fun - even while I was feeling crummy. I just wished I could join them! They went out for pizza on Saturday night and brought the leftovers home to me. I could hardly swallow the pizza, but it tasted so good. Shortly before bedtime, Caleb told us he didn't feel good. This was the first time he's ever done that, so I wasn't sure if he was serious or if he was saying it because he knew that I didn't feel good. Again, Caleb and I went to bed around 8:00 and I was out like a light quickly! At 2:30, I woke up to the sound of Caleb crying from the other end of the house. I shot out of bed and went to his room. I didn't even have to turn the light on to know that he had thrown up. The smell was awful! I picked him up out of his bed and took him to the bathroom to clean up. Rudy was hot on my heels and took the unpleasant job of cleaning up the bed. He actually had a t-shirt tied around his mouth and nose. If it weren't the middle of the night and if our child wasn't sick, the whole scene might have been a little bit funny. But - it wasn't. Caleb never threw up again. I put a folded sheet on our bed (just in case) and put him in bed with me. Rudy slept on the couch. We woke up Sunday morning and Caleb was fine. He watched cartoons in bed with me for a while and then I took him to Rudy. I was feeling absolutely horrible. My throat was almost completely swollen shut and both of my tonsils were totally white. Ugh. I went back to bed and Rudy and Caleb alternated between playing and watching TV most of the morning. I alternated between sleeping and finishing laundry the rest of the day. Rudy cooked a wonderful dinner that I could hardly eat and we called it a night early.

This morning, I woke up still feeling gross. I went on to work because I'm already starting to run short on sick days. When I got there, I went straight to the nurse's office. I asked her to take a look at my throat and told her I hadn't had any fever, but was worried that it might be more than tonsillitis since it was still hanging around. She told me I needed to go straight to the doctor for a strep test. I gathered some things from work and went to the walk-in clinic. The doctor there took one look at me and said that there wasn't even any reason to do a strep test. She could tell me by looking in my mouth and listening to my symptoms that I had it. She prescribed an antibiotic and sent me on my way. After an hour and a half wait at WalMart for my prescription, I stopped at McDonald's for a milkshake and some lunch. The milkshake was wonderful, but I couldn't swallow the lunch, so I threw it away. Do you know how hard it is to throw away hot McDonald's fries???? I came home and got in the bed - goofing around on the computer for a while before falling asleep for the majority of the afternoon. Now, I'm going to try to get some work done and maybe get started addressing the Christmas cards. The doctor said 24 hours on antibiotics and I should be good to go back to work. That's a good thing because I have a crazy schedule this week!