Dirty Jobs

My life this past week has seemed like an episode of the show Dirty Jobs. Have you ever seen the show? Its where Mike Rowe (the host) goes around the country doing all sorts of dirty, nasty jobs that most of us didn't even know existed. Well, things around our house have looked like an episode of the show lately. Both kids have been sick. And we're not talking just the sniffles! Jacob woke up about 10 days ago with a cough and low grade fever. It progressively got worse as the week went on and then the cough was also coupled with some "tummy issues". I will spare you the details but lets just say I ended up putting him back in pull-ups! We went to the doctor last Thursday (a week ago) to get him checked out when it seemed that things were going downhill. Diagnosis was simple-an ear infection so we were given an antibiotic and cough medicine to help him sleep. Olivia was still doing fine at this point. We had a low key weekend, staying at home mostly, but the cough persisted.

Then on Monday morning, life as we knew it drastically changed! When Jacob woke up, he was crying and white as a ghost. Even his lips were pale (never a good sign!) He started gagging and that soon turned to vomiting. I quickly learned this was something serious. Poor thing could not keep ANYTHING down. He had it coming out both ends simultaneously. Even a tiny sip of water would go right through him. It was terrible. In the meantime, miss Olivia started showing some signs of not feeling too good herself. She had a runny nose and a little bit of cough. I spent all morning going back and forth between both kids cleaning up vomit, poop and snot! I took Jacob's temperature and it was 103.9 which is the highest I think it has ever been! I was worried! I called Craig and he came home on his lunch break. We put Jacob in the bath as well as doubled up on the Motrin and Tylenol trying to get his fever down. After about an hour, the fever had gone down and we quarantined him to our bedroom where he just laid and watched TV. We were very careful to wash our hands constantly so as not to spread germs! We had a doctor's appointment scheduled for 4:30 that afternoon so I was just trying to make it until then. Craig went back to work and when the time came, I loaded us up to head to our appointment. Well, we didn't even make it out of the driveway and Jacob threw up everywhere in the car! I had given him a bowl, but he somehow managed to miss it. So after cleaning all that up we were finally on our way. In my frazzled state trying to get out of the house, I managed to forget the stroller! So poor Jacob had to walk despite him wanting me to carry him. I felt so bad that I couldn't carry him, but it was just not feasible. I already had a 26 pound baby on one hip! He was super sick, still pale and hardly able to hold his little head up :( He even threw up while the doctor was checking him out! Official diagnosis was WALKING PNEUMONIA with a violent tummy bug!! The office visit was extremely difficult because he wanted me to hold him and sit in my lap but I was trying to hold Olivia at the same time while trying to not pass germs back and forth. I had my hands full! In fact, the doctor and one of the nurses both took turns holding Olivia and walking around with her because there just wasn't enough of me to go around! Craig was on his way from work, but he couldn't get there fast enough! They ended up giving Jacob 2 shots! One antibiotic and one for the nausea. He FLIPPED OUT and almost shot off the table when they stuck him. It took me, the doctor and the nurse to hold him down. Thankfully, Craig finally arrived (after all the drama was over) but at least he could hold Jacob so I could take Olivia back from the sweet nurse who had to tote her around! Olivia's cough and congestion had gotten worse so she was put on breathing treatments three times a day and then they both were given strong antibiotics. We we were also told to come back the next day so that Jacob's primary doctor could take a look at him. (We saw the other doc in the practice for all this). That night we got home, ate and both kids crashed. I think we were all worn out from the stressful doctor's office!

The next day, Jacob's vomiting had stopped, but the diarrhea was still in full force! And before you continue reading this, be warned! Some disgusting details are coming!! So when we saw his primary doc, (Dr. McK) she decided we need to "test" his poop in order to determine what was causing it to continue for so long. With the salmonella outbreak lately, they wanted to make sure it wasn't that or any bacteria! So yours truly got my next "Dirty Jobs" assignment! I was told to "collect" his poop, get it into 3 containers and return it the next day so it could be examined. Yea, just in case I hadn't had enough this week with wiping hineys, cleaning up vomit and wiping snotty noses, life just got even more FUN! Now you see why I chose the title of this blog! I will again spare you the details but lets just say it involved saran wrap :) As I was doing my dirty job, I was thinking, now wouldn't it suck to be the poor guy who gets to examine this stuff?? I think I actually got the better end of the deal!! Now, moving on....Jacob's cough was continuing to improve but now Olivia's was getting worse so I put a call in the next morning to the nurse's station to see if I could give Olivia more than 3 breathing treatments a day. The nurse actually called me back as I was on my way to turn in our "specimen samples" and when I mentioned Olivia's cough to her, she said well why don't we just take a look at her when you come in. So, back to the doctor's office we went. They took one look at her and said "she doesn't sound good". She was visibly wheezing and sounded like a 70 year old lifetime smoker ( no offense to anyone!). Dr. McK gave her an oral steroid and ordered me to give her a breathing treatment right then and there. I knew this wasn't good. We had to wait about 10 minutes and then Dr. McK came back in to see if her chest sounded any better, but unfortunately it did not. Then Dr. McK tells me that she thinks Olivia might need to be hospitalized to get her breathing under control! Are you kidding me???All I was trying to do was drop off my "samples" and now I might be headed to the hospital? Not what I had planned! However, despite her chest sounding so bad, she was acting pretty okay. She was active, trying to grab everything in her reach and didn't appear to be as miserable as she sounded. After careful consideration and probably pity for me, Dr. McK decided to give me the option--admit her now or go home and see how she does in the next few hours. Then at 3:00 I could decide whether or not to go to the hospital. I decided to go with Option B since that bought me time to go home, pack bags, call Craig, etc etc. It was now lunchtime. I took the kids home, got everyone fed and down for naps. Craig got home and I packed our things for the hospital. I just knew we would end up there. Olivia took a little nap on our bed and woke up just in time for our 3:00 decision. She seemed and sounded a little better to me, definitely not worse, but I was not comfortable with making the call. So with bags packed, we went back to the doctor's office for them to listen to her chest. And much to our surprise, Dr. McK said she actually sounded better!! She was still wheezing but the doc said we could go back home as long as we kept a close eye on her and continued to give her the breathing treatments and meds she needed. And again, we were ordered to come back the next day so she could listen to her chest again. This was last night. In my effort to be able to listen to her and make sure she was breathing okay, I ended up sleeping on the floor in her room after trying a few other options throughout the house. It was a long night for both of us and her cough was persistent.




This morning we made our 6th trip to the doctor's office and once again Dr. McK listened to her chest. She was still wheezing and did not sound as clear as the doc said she would like for her to, so she ordered a chest x-ray at the hospital just to make sure nothing more serious was going on. Again, not what I had planned but we immediately headed over to the hospital to get the x-ray done. As you can imagine, we have sat and waited and sat and waited A LOT this week! Jacob is over it at this point. It was hard for me to entertain him today while waiting for the x-ray but after a few games of I Spy we were called back! After the x-ray we headed home, had lunch and everyone took a nap. Including me! Except that mine was only about 20 minutes and after I woke up I decided to start this blog. Which at present time has now taken me almost 3 hours to write with all the stopping and starting I have done in between!! We got the results of the x-ray this afternoon and it was good. It is just a virus, so no pneumonia or anything more serious. YAY! Finally some good news!! And for the first time this week, we are not headed back to the doctor's office tomorrow!!! I hope I didn't just jinx myself! Jacob is getting back to his old self & is looking forward to being able to play outside again soon! As for me, I am just ready to get my summer started! Hopefully next week we can finally get to the neighborhood pool!!!

P.S. And even though my week has been full of dirty jobs, I am thankful I get to do them! A mother's work is never done :)