Medical Miracle brought to you by a Blessing

Yesterday brought a whole new appreciation for wellness and a better understanding why some elderly and sick people can be kind of grumpy. When your body becomes so compromised with sickness and pain, it's hard to have a party personality all the time. I still am blown away by how quick I plummeted into this particular sickness.

Monday, I was super woman (ok not compared to other women, but for my usual daily choices, I felt super). I weeded as Talia and Tiago anxiously waited for the recycling truck. Oh, to be a kid again and get such simple thrills. Weeding was actually enjoyable since it was overcast and the ground was moist. I made some serious progress on the never ending weed task. Then while Talia napped, I worked out and Tiago rode his bike in circles around the garage. I put on some Backyardigans tunes and enjoyed watching Tiago freelance bike dance. I actually showered and did my makeup and hair before we went to music class that we were on time for.

We ate a healthy snack and then I actually played with Tiago. Well, not right away. I was talking on the phone with my sister and looking on the internet when Tiago tried to get my attention by waking up Talia to play with her. I was kind of grateful for the wake up call and had quite a fun time building race cars that shot red fire out as they raced around in a deflating balloon pattern (as illustrated by Tiago's hands).

The rest of Monday was spent doing fun family things. It was after the kids were in bed that my throat seemed a little scratchy.

Tuesday I felt really deflated and my throat was on fire. Fernando gave me a blessing which made the throat pain disappear long enough to drink some water. Water never tasted so good. Yesterday however, the throat pain came back with a vengeance. Swallowing was impossible. I have never spit so many times in my life. I had a sneaky suspicion that Talia and possibly Tiago were experiencing similar problems. Tiago didn't complain of any real discomfort, but his neck appeared to be holding a bone with how big his lymph nodes were looking.

5 hours later, most of which was spent waiting either in the Peds clinic or for meds, I was exhausted and embarrassed. I totally started crying out of sheer pain and frustration after a little coughing episode. I thought I could have a few minutes to compose myself since we already had been waiting for almost 30 minutes for a nurse to squirt saline up Talia's nose to check for flu. Unfortunately that is just when the nurse came and originally thought I was crying because of the wait. As soon as I opened my mouth and she heard my raspy voice, she understood. Also, I would randomly fall asleep while waiting. My kids, who acted awesome especially considering the circumstances. Luckily, Fernando was able to pull way from his Viper rotation to meet me at the specimen clinic. That is where the torture small children by sticking them with needles to draw blood. A necessary evil when they suspect your son has mono. My question is who has Tiago been kissing?

Fernando then slipped me into a room to give my the standard strep throat swab down and then had some meds put in for me. One set of wonder pills to make the swelling go down and a set of horse pills for the strep throat. The wonder pills were tiny and still hard to swallow, but because of them I was actually able to eat something yesterday. I could barely get 1/8th a cup of water down without bursting into tears. This is not a hyperbole. It literally felt like a cat was using my throat as a claw sharpener every time I moved a muscle in my mouth or throat. I was starving, but eating seemed to be unbearable. After those wonder woos, I was able to not only eat, but also start my huge antibiotic pills. I even had enough energy to do my nasty dishes that have piled up for two days and do some laundry. My aches are gone and instead of feeling freezing cold all the time due to fevers, I was actually hot and sweaty. It was the first time I was grateful for sweating.

Today, I can talk normal, swallow (yeah, I can eat and drink) with only a little discomfort, and yet am still highly contagious. The doctor called this morning to let me know that Tiago and Talia both have it too. Tiago was given some amoxil yesterday, but I was so out of it that I forgot to refrigerate it. Now I have to head back into the hospital to get a replacement and get Talia's medication. Hopefully it will be a lot faster, but even if it isn't, I feel like I have the energy and ability to function at a fairly normal level.