March 31, 2008 - The Illness Bug Finally Hit!

Again, it's been a while since I've updated but I have a somewhat valid excuse this time. The illness bug finally hit us and Elizabeth was sick beginning with Easter weekend. It started fairly innocently. There was no school on Good Friday (March 21st) so we went to an Easter egg hunt and picnic at Montie's house. Elizabeth seemed a little more quiet and shy than usual so I suspected something was up. Still, we went to Montie's house and she helped decorate the bunny cake and hunt for eggs but she didn't eat a bite of her lunch. Later that afternoon, she felt warm to me and I took her temperature at 100 degrees. But she still seemed OK and had no other symptoms so we went to dinner Friday night with Mom and Dad.

Saturday morning she was still running a fever and I took it at 102 so I called Children's Medical and took her in. We saw one of the PA's, Kerstyn. They did a strep test and a urine culture (in case of urinary tract infection) but the immediate results for both were negative. Elizabeth had had two accidents on Thursday so I began to really think it was probably a UTI. But we still had to wait until Tuesday for the culture to grow so I still suspected that was it. We had plans to go to Athens that day to see UGA play Tennessee in baseball so we literally left the final decision up to the last minute. I asked Elizabeth if she wanted to go and she said yes so we decided to try it. It was a beautiful day (70 degrees and sunny) and we were planning to meet Jim and Lori and their boys along with Zac and Heather so we wanted to try to make a good day out of it. We got there just in time for the last part of the 1st inning. I'm glad we got there when we did because it was full and they started turning people away! Elizabeth watched a video in the car on the way there and seemed OK but she was laying down in my lap or Ed's during the entire baseball game. We went to dinner afterwards at a Japanese steakhouse and she didn't eat but a few bites of cereal bar and fruit bites. I was frustrated that I didn't know what was wrong but I continued to give her Tylenol to bring down the fever and hope for the best.

On Sunday morning, Elizabeth still was feverish so I went to Easter Sunday service at church by myself at 8:00am. I was sad that the kids wouldn't be dressing up for church but it wasn't the greatest day for it anyway since it was 40-something degrees in the morning! We decided to try all four of us at the Duttons' house in the afternoon. Elizabeth actually perked up for a little bit when we were outside playing and she managed to participate in the egg hunt but she quickly faded and needed to lay down on someone's lap. Daniel had a ball hunting for eggs and actually did a great job!

I ended up keeping Elizabeth home from school on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. She was still feverish on Monday and she actually threw up once on Monday night plus she had developed a slight cough. I called Children's Medical on Tuesday (the urine culture was negative) and made her an appointment for Wednesday morning but luckily Wednesday proved to be her breakthrough day. She started eating better and she started acting more like herself so I ran errands with the kids in the morning. We tried to go to choir that night but she fell asleep on the way there and didn't want to stay so I knew she was still not quite 100%. She went back to school on Thursday and when I arrived to pick her up, she tripped and fell in the hallway and started crying. Her teacher Ms Pam commented that she still wasn't 100% because she normally wouldn't have cried over something like that. I was still concerned but was hoping that a couple more days would do the trick and I was happy she was at least making progress.

We went to gymnastics on Thursday and all was fine but her behavior was still whiny and clingy. She often commented that she didn't want Daniel near her and she whined for small tasks (going potty, getting dressed, etc.). I began to think that she was spoiled after the days of laying on the couch watching TV and being waited on hand and foot so I tried to break her of that beginning with going to gymnastics on Thursday. She went to school on Friday and seemed to have a better day but her appetite was still spotty and she actually spit up a little bit when we went to Sangria with the Pinabells on Friday night. But we had ice cream afterwards at Bruster's at her request and she was all smiles but still didn't eat much of her ice cream.

Finally I think we broke through the virus on Saturday. Ed played tennis in the morning and I took Elizabeth with me and Dad to a baby shower for David and Melodi's baby. She was still a bit clingy and shy at the shower but warmed up to everyone after a little while. Ed and I went to Tin Roof and bowling as a social event for our Sunday School class on Saturday evening while Mom and Dad babysat. They took the kids to Longhorn for dinner and Elizabeth threw up in the car just as they pulled into the driveway. They said she didn't eat anything at dinner so it was really only milk that she vomited. Still, I was worried again that there was something going on. She came in and woke me up at 3:30am saying she needed to go to the bathroom and that her tummy hurt. I went to the bathroom with her and it was all diarrhea. Ugh! She was supposed to sing with her choir at the 9:35 service on Sunday but we decided to leave her at home. But I really think that the vomiting and diarrhea on Saturday night were the virus's last "push" out of her body. She really seems back to her full self since then and her appetite seems to have returned as well. She's not nearly as whiny and is content to complete simple tasks readily instead of whining and complaining. So we'll see......but I am optimistic that we have made a full recovery! Now if we can just pray that the rest of us don't get sick.....

In other news....Ed and I both won our tennis matches over the weekend. Ed won a thriller in three sets in which he was down 5-2 in the second set. I won 6-4, 6-1 playing with Lisa. I played much better than I did the last time I played with her. Hopefully we can keep playing together. Elizabeth's soccer was not cancelled yesterday despite all the rain on Saturday but we kept her home anyway, partly because of her tummy issues and partly because we had no one to watch Daniel since I was playing tennis. We also picked up our patio furniture at BJs yesterday (thanks to Zac and his truck). We opened the boxes and found that some assembly is required, with no instructions (of course) so hopefully we can at least get started on that sometime this week. But I'm really happy with it and I think it will look great on the stone patio. We also went to Home Depot Friday night and picked out paint for Daniel's bedroom. It's an olive green color but with a bit more tan/brown in it in addition to the green. I'm hoping it will look good and not too dark on the walls. Ed is hoping to paint next week while the rest of us are in Florida so we'll see.

The baseball season has officially started. The Braves lost last night in Washington DC on a walk-off homer in the bottom of the 9th but Hudson looked great pitching and I guess the Nationals needed to christen their new ballpark with a win. But the Braves are coming home tonight and I will be there! With Lorie, Holly, and one of Lorie's friends/neighbors. I can't wait although the weather is crappy today: cloudy and a high of only about 60 degrees but as long as the rain holds off I think we'll be OK. Glavine is pitching tonight and I hope he gets a warm welcome back to Atlanta.

We're all leaving at the end of the week. Ed is leaving for his Red Sox trip with Bryan on Friday. They are flying into Buffalo and driving up to Toronto. The kids and I are leaving on Saturday with Mom to drive down to St. Petersburg to stay with Auntie Pat for spring break until Wednesday. I hope and pray we all stay healthy and have safe travels!!