What an interesting weekend.
Yesterday, I find out, I have shingles. So, I get my meds, start taking them. It's itchy, it's tingly and it aches a bit, but otherwise, it's been bearable so far.
Today, my poor Grady-bug comes up with a fever above 38, breaks out in a weird pinprick looking rash that he'd scratched, so it was bleeding a bit. All very suddenly too. All afternoon, he was happy, playing. Then he went downstairs and watched some tv, came up, laid on the chair in the living room and fell asleep. That was around 445. When I touched his forehead, he didn't feel feverish, so I didn't think much of it.
He stretched out, placed he legs on the floor and woke up around 500. Then he came to me, and I realized how hot he was. I put a "Fever Bug" on him to see what it said. They give a very general temperature, but then I knew he had a fever. Around 600, I realized he was getting this rash on his arms. I called Health Link (I had already called my mother in law about the fever, and she had company, so I didn't want to keep bugging her...) and with the rash, fever and the fact I have shingles, they felt I should go in and have him looked at right away.
Wow. So, I call my babysitter and ask if she can come watch the older kids right away. They were here within 15 minutes and we were on our way. After a quick stop for coffee and snacks, we got to the hospital.
Once I told them what was going on, and that I had shingles, they put us into a quarantine room to keep us from the other little kids we could infect. Totally understand. Our doc came in, checked Grady and thought perhaps it could be strep. She came back a little while later with her boss, they checked him over again, took a swab and gave me my instructions.
I'm feeling a little numb, overwhelmed, but I'm okay. I came close to tears a couple times, just because my little guy was sick and I didn't know why. He wasn't himself, he was so hot and rashes are rarely a good thing.
I've been through strange times with my kids on my own before and I never fail to marvel at the things that I can go through to take care of them and make sure they have what they need.
When Olivia was first born, I had a day from hell. I measure all my "bad days" against that day and if it doesn't meet that day, then the day wasn't as bad as it could be. It involved a hot day, dark elevators, parades, puking 3 year old, getting locked in the back of my SUV and then my newborn crapping in the bathtub. That's the abridged version. I made it through that day to look back on it and laugh.
Also after Olivia was born, I got really sick. I had a weird cyclic stomach issue, but I made it through that. I've had nights sitting on the floor with a sick kid, sick myself, just praying to get through to the other side of it. And still, I manage. I always manage. And so many of those days happened before I was diagnosed with my anxiety disorder. After I was diagnosed, things were better, for sure, but still, I found it hard to get through everything and it was easy to see the negative side instead of knowing another day was coming.
Today, after everything that's happened, I'm feeling surprisingly calm. I mean, I definitely worried, I was anxious, shaking and upset for a bit, but I calmed down, got to the hospital and now we're home. My Bug is safe in his bed, his fever is down and he was happy and being silly. I still have these crazy shingles on my back and they could get worse, but I'm prepared for it. I have what Grady needs, I have what I need, I have support all around me.
These past two days definitely measure up and probably surpass that bad day when Olivia was tiny. And that's okay. Bad days are just that. Bad days. Tomorrow, another day will come, and another event will happen, and I will handle it, take care of my family, move on and make it to another day. And that's how we live. Day by day. Apparently, I can't predict what will happen anyway, so why bother? The sun will shine tomorrow, I might hurt, I might not. I have my meds, my ibuprofen, my Bug will have his ibuprofen and snacks that he can eat, the fluids he needs and the rest he will probably need too. My older two will play out in the sun, have fun with their friends, probably get a scrape and need a bandaid.
And then we will go to bed, wake up Monday morning, and start over again.
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