Sickness, Part Two

Although the whiny part of me wants to say that no one is getting any better, the truth is that we are. It has just been a very long and very slow road. Bethie still wakes up twice a night from the coughing, although the duration and violence of the spells have been greatly reduced. Her fever has finally gone away entirely (we hope), and she doesn't cough much during the day. She has discovered an affinity for Popsicles which help soothe her throat, and every now and then I hear a fake cough, followed by a pointed glance at the freezer. Little imp!

I had another setback over the weekend. Although I was finally, finally able to keep small amounts of food down, I started having terrible coughing spells that nearly always ended in vomiting. So, even though the gastroenteritis had nearly gone, I was still vomiting. All the coughing triggered my asthma, and by midnight on Monday morning, I was in the ER. I had to have two breathing treatments (even though I had already had two at home) and a shot before I could breathe easily again. After several tests and a chest x-ray it was determined that my upper respiratory infection had turned to bronchitis and the doctor was very concerned that I might have pertussis (whooping cough) as well. He looked in my throat and found the beginnings of strep, too. I didn't even think that was possible, to have so many things wrong at once! He gave me a Zpack which he said would knock out all three things, some prednisone (steroids) for the wheezing, and told me to take my home breathing treatments every 4 hours til I can breathe normally again.

We're on day three of that regimen, and although there are some definite improvements - I haven't thrown up in 24 hours and I slept on one pillow last night instead of being propped up - it is a slow process. I can't keep Bethie home with me because I get so shaky and dizzy after the treatments that I don't feel like she is safe, and then after that passes, I fall asleep pretty hard. So, poor Jeff has dealt with all this for weeks and is acclimating to a new office, and he has to go 20 minutes out of his way each way to take Bethie to the sitter so that I can rest and heal. I think that after this weekend, though, I will see major improvements. All this from 3 days in a daycare!!