A gift in sickness

I've had some sick kids the last few days and it's been so sad.  Logan, who was recovering from a concussion (in addition to recent changes to his seizures & a subsequent dose increase) has had an insane sore throat and hadn't eaten anything since Friday until yesterday when I finally forced him to eat.  He's been either sleeping or wincing as he swallows pain meds. It's been pitiful and the saddest thing ever to watch.  It was especially a bummer over the long weekend when we had to cancel super-fun plans with my sister and her kids which my kids had been super excited about.

I finally got him in to see the doctor on Monday afternoon and even though his rapid strep culture was negative, his doctor felt that his symptoms were strongly matched with strep, so he gave us a penicillin prescription anyway.  As a precaution they also tested him for influenza and that was negative, which was a relief.

Monday mid morning, Wyatt started feeling lethargic, complaining of a headache and sore throat as well, so I called to see if they could squeeze Wyatt in too.  Luckily they could.  And just before we left for his appointment, Wyatt threw up and hasn't stopped since.  I don't think I've ever had a kid throw up for three days in a row.  It's bizarre cause he's able to drink, take medicine, even eat a few crackers.  And he'll seem fine for a while.  Then he'll get an upset tummy again and throw up.  I'm at a total loss.  I'm currently waiting for results of his long strep test.  I guess some kids will throw up with strep. So it may be that.  But my gut feeling is that he has something different from Logan because their symptoms are quite different and Wyatt never had a fever, whereas Logan's got as high as 103 on Saturday.

In addition to being up all night with sick kids the last three nights (needing comfort, needing medicine, sore tummies) I taught classes at 4:00am on Monday and Wednesday, so I was up for the day at 3:30am twice this week.  Brutal!  (And did I mention I am no longer drinking coffee since the new year?!?)

Thank goodness Josh had a bit of a mid-winter break for President's weekend and was off Friday, Monday and Tuesday, so he was able to pick up prescriptions, go grocery shopping and take Jack to school yesterday and watch the healthy two kiddos while I took the sick ones to the doctor.  After the first night of sleeplessness, Josh woke me up rubbing my feet, telling me what an amazing, patient, kind mama I was.  He said he was blown away by how I handled the kids in the night.  I yawned sleepily and said, "Really? I wish I wasn't grossed out by the smell of vomit."  He laughed and said that based on how I acted you would never know it bothered me.

The penicillin (taken on an empty stomach) had made Logan's stomach unexpectedly upset, and he had barely made it to the threshold of the bathroom before doing a "sprinkler-style" vomit session, covering the bathroom floor from the sink to the toilet to the tub, splashing puke everywhere.  As I tiptoed in my bathrobe, attempting to clean it up with Clorox wipes without dipping my toes in it, the cats started lapping it up, and I thought for sure I was going to lose it, so I hollered for back up, shouting Josh's name into the dark abyss of the hallway, praying he'd hear me and get the cats out of there before I starting throwing up myself.  We laughed as I cleaned the floor and we gently led Logan into the shower, finding him clean pajamas and steering the cats out of the bathroom.

Later when Wyatt awoke, he was in tears, his throat and head hurting so much. So I snuggled in bed with him, despite the tiredness in my own eyes, and the awareness that in less than two hours, I'd have to be up myself, teaching English to a bright eyed Chinese student in my virtual classroom.  I told Josh the following morning that what I really wished when the kids were sick was that all my needs (sleep, hunger, going to the bathroom even) could be shelved temporarily.

It was nice to feel that in those "in the trenches" moments I was truly at my best and it was especially nice to have Josh see me in those moments and recognize the beauty of what I do as a mom.  It was such a gift to be seen and acknowledged.

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