The Black Plague

Well, to celebrate my first full day out of bed in 5 days I thought I would chronicle the last week in the life of Team Larsen. We have had some sort of nightmarish plague that has swept through our family with a fury and has threatened to claim the sanity of all adults in the household, especially Chris (currently the last man standing). Being the only healthy adult for 4 days in charge of one hyper/well child and two sick children plus a sick spouse is enough to drive anyone to long for the days of having to work late hours in the hospital. : )

WARNING: The information that you are about to read is in excruciating detail. This is to aid my need to verbally process. Also, for all of my English loving friends, please excuse my grammar. I am using both present and past tense and it just depends on my feelings, not grammatical rules. : )

Wed 3:30 a.m.- Luke wakes up with a bad dream. Chris feels like Luke might have a fever which is confirmed around 6:00 a.m. with a temp of 102. At this point, I wasn't too upset. Wednesdays (especially this one) are typically hectic and I wasn't at all upset about missing a couple of meetings to have a more relaxing day.

Wed afternoon-Luke's temps start to stay more around 103. This is a little more out of my comfort zone.

Wed night-Rough night...never good to have a sick kid at night and for anyone who knows our family you know that our kids have a conspiracy against allowing us to get sleep on normal nights, much less when they're sick.

Thurs- Luke is still VERY sick. He has a painful cough and high temp that is making everyone miserable. His medicine is having a hard time keeping his temp down and so after a little talk with the phone nurse we decided to take him in. Diagnosis: Strep. Hmm...maybe so but we're thinking there's a secondary infection in there somewhere. We will soon find out...

Friday- Luke is still running a fever and enjoying endless amounts of tv. After an enjoyable conversation with Melissa, I noticed that I was beginning to feel rather flu-ish. I called Chris and received a word of encouragement. : ) Then called back an hour later to explain to him that it was very important that he come home so that there was at least one alert, afebrile adult to care for the lives of his children. Two hours later he was home and I was off to what ended up being a two hour wait at the CVS Minute Clinic (interesting name). The nurse said that I didn't appear to have strep, which we were concerned about with the new bambino, and I was somewhat relieved but still felt terrible. That was my last extended time out of bed and what I consider the point where "the plague" began to conquer us.

Friday p.m.- Caleb spikes a high temp and is up every hour and a half screaming, in the midst of Luke and I coughing our lungs up. Chris is sleep deprived, dilerious, and germaphobic by the a.m.

Sat- Kate, our energetic child, feels GREAT!!!! She's ready to go! Luke, Caleb, and I feel like death warmed over and Chris is being a trooper. He is not one to stay in the house for extended periods of time and he was virtually trapped. I am proud to say that at no point did he run out of the house screaming and leave us all to fend for ourselves.

Sun-Recovering from another bad night of sick babies and coughing fits, we all try to remember why we love each other. Kate is still well and energetic and beginning to need an outlet. Luckily, Luke begins to feel a little better so while Caleb and I rest Chris takes the kids out to the Nature Preserve for an adventure hike. It was greatly needed by all three. That afternoon, Chris forced me to change out of the clothes I had been wearing since Friday and go for a drive. It was actually very enjoyable. We stopped at Zestos for chocolate shakes and went to the top of Grady Memorial Hospital (a rare doctor priviledge, lol) and looked at all of the buildings in downtown. After that, Caleb and I were exhausted and headed back to bed.

Mon- Luke is 2 days fever free. Chris' lysol baths are working and I was up to 50%. Chris agreed to stay home from work to help with the kids, which was a blessing! Kate has her first fever and is so excited to finally be a part of the group. LITERALLY! At one point, her medicine was starting to bring her temp down and I told her that it was going to make her feel better. Her response was..."No! I want to be sick like Mommy". Kate is one of our worst sick kids because he has her dad's groaning and her mom's whining plus her own little dramatic Kate flare! We were up all night with her fever induced nightmares (she's a halucinator, like her mother) And we're hoping she makes a quicker recovery than others.

Tues-Here we are! Caleb and Kate still have a fever. Chris is celebrating his return to work yet continuing to be paranoid about when the plague is going to finally bring him down. I am feeling fatigued but less flu like. WOW! Who would have thought! Luke was able to go play with his friend Jack Henry for their standing weekly playdate. Whohoo! Things are looking up at the Larsen household!