The House of Icky Sickies

So I'm finally over the strep throat and feeling better. Seems like everyone else in the house has escaped getting it ... we're getting back to normal ... right?? WRONG! Saturday Sarah started complaining of a sore throat, her voice is hoarse, she had a fever, was coughing, and even threw up. So I'm thinking uh-oh ... she got it after all. Then that evening, Anna threw up. So Sunday morning I called the pediatrician and got an appointment to bring them both in (their office has urgent care hours on weekends/holidays). I was 98% convinced she had strep. They did a strep culture and ... NEGATIVE ... not strep throat. Apparently just a virus.

Today Sarah was feeling much better, but I made her rest most of the day and she even took an afternoon nap (virtually unheard of for her). And as if step throat wasn't enough, now I have a cold and a sore throat!

Then all day long, Anna wasn't feeling well. She woke up hoarse and with raspy breathing, and a low-grade fever. I made her rest all day. Then she woke up from her afternoon nap hacking and not breathing well. She has a history of respiratory problems, so I knew to get out the nebulizer and do a breathing treatment. Two treatments later and her breathing was still really labored, so I called the doctor. The nurse had me count her breaths per minute, and the doctor didn't like the results, so he had me take her to the Pediatric ER. FUN.

Two hours later (not bad, I was impressed with how quick and efficient they were!) she'd been seen by the nurse, given Motrin (for the fever), seen by the doctor, given two doses of an oral steroid, had a chest x-ray, another breathing treatment, and seen by the doctor again. Whew! The diagnosis: croup. A virus was the cause, and her throat and airways were inflamed, causing her breathing to be restricted. The good news is there was no pneumonia on the chest x-ray. The bad news is there were signs of asthma present, so this is something we'll have to watch for when she gets a bad cold or virus like this. Poor little Anna, she was such a trooper through the whole thing! Hopefully the medicine will reduce the inflammation quickly so that she can breathe easily again.

Oh, and did I mention that Elliot said his throat hurts tonight ...