Week of Hell
I can't remember having a worse week where nobody died. This last week has kicked my ass up and down.
Late last week, Alicia and I both came down with the cold that Kyle brought home from daycare. This isn't just an ordinary cold, though. It's an evil, insidious code that strikes deep within, lulls you into a false sense of security, and then attacks again with renewed vigor and purpose.
From Thursday through Tuesday, I was exhausted continuously, no matter how much sleep I got. My nose has been stuffed on and off and worst of all, my voice is nearly gone. Has been since Monday or so. My chest is so packed with phlegm that I can barely squeak a word out most of the time. My efforts to cough up the mucus have proven insufficient. By now, my other symptoms are all gone and I'm pretty much better, but I have yet to get all of the crap out of my lungs. It's still difficult for me to speak clearly and I've coughed my throat raw trying to get it out. It's very slowly improving, though, and Alicia is at 100%, so I'm hoping that means I'm a day or two away from feeling better myself.
That's not the worst of it, though. The daycare people called last Friday and demanded that Kyle be picked up. My mother-in-law, who works a lot closer to home than either of us, got him, took him to the doctor, and found out that he had an ear infection that was also causing his eye to gunk up. The doctor prescribed him an antibiotic for the ear and some drops for the eye.
Fast-forward to Monday. Kyle's looking fine, so we drop him off at the daycare (I still felt like shit, but I had to go to work). The daycare people called my wife during the late morning and insisted we pick him up AGAIN. He had produced three liquid stools in a row, and they basically have a three strikes policy. We later figured out that my wife was giving him too much of the antibiotic and it was causing the stomach problems. She felt horrible, of course, but the doctor assured us it happens all the time.
I stayed home with him on Tuesday, since I knew he wouldn't be good enough for daycare yet. By Tuesday night, he seemed okay, so we dropped him off at the daycare on Wednesday and they were fine with taking him. Then, of course, Alicia got a call from them at around 11:30 saying that his eye is all red and puffy and she has to come get him. We were pretty pissed off at this point, because they call every time the kid has a hangnail. We understand that they don't want him getting other kids sick, but the loose stool wasn't because of anything contagious and we had a doctor's note to prove it, so at this point we felt that they were crying wolf and it was just the ear infection flaring up again.
After arguing with the daycare people for a while, we had the doctor call them up and she said that we should bring him in to see her. When I got to the daycare center, I was shocked to see that it was the OTHER eye, and it WAS really red and puffy. Alicia felt terrible for arguing about it, but the doctor was likewise surprised that he actually did have conjunctivitis.
So that's where we are now. My mother is watching Kyle today and tomorrow. His eye is responding very well to the drops, and the doctor said he should be better by Friday. I still feel like crap, though. On top of that, my father has a worse case of what I have and we didn't get to go to the sedar we were planning on attending.
Terrible week.
Late last week, Alicia and I both came down with the cold that Kyle brought home from daycare. This isn't just an ordinary cold, though. It's an evil, insidious code that strikes deep within, lulls you into a false sense of security, and then attacks again with renewed vigor and purpose.
From Thursday through Tuesday, I was exhausted continuously, no matter how much sleep I got. My nose has been stuffed on and off and worst of all, my voice is nearly gone. Has been since Monday or so. My chest is so packed with phlegm that I can barely squeak a word out most of the time. My efforts to cough up the mucus have proven insufficient. By now, my other symptoms are all gone and I'm pretty much better, but I have yet to get all of the crap out of my lungs. It's still difficult for me to speak clearly and I've coughed my throat raw trying to get it out. It's very slowly improving, though, and Alicia is at 100%, so I'm hoping that means I'm a day or two away from feeling better myself.
That's not the worst of it, though. The daycare people called last Friday and demanded that Kyle be picked up. My mother-in-law, who works a lot closer to home than either of us, got him, took him to the doctor, and found out that he had an ear infection that was also causing his eye to gunk up. The doctor prescribed him an antibiotic for the ear and some drops for the eye.
Fast-forward to Monday. Kyle's looking fine, so we drop him off at the daycare (I still felt like shit, but I had to go to work). The daycare people called my wife during the late morning and insisted we pick him up AGAIN. He had produced three liquid stools in a row, and they basically have a three strikes policy. We later figured out that my wife was giving him too much of the antibiotic and it was causing the stomach problems. She felt horrible, of course, but the doctor assured us it happens all the time.
I stayed home with him on Tuesday, since I knew he wouldn't be good enough for daycare yet. By Tuesday night, he seemed okay, so we dropped him off at the daycare on Wednesday and they were fine with taking him. Then, of course, Alicia got a call from them at around 11:30 saying that his eye is all red and puffy and she has to come get him. We were pretty pissed off at this point, because they call every time the kid has a hangnail. We understand that they don't want him getting other kids sick, but the loose stool wasn't because of anything contagious and we had a doctor's note to prove it, so at this point we felt that they were crying wolf and it was just the ear infection flaring up again.
After arguing with the daycare people for a while, we had the doctor call them up and she said that we should bring him in to see her. When I got to the daycare center, I was shocked to see that it was the OTHER eye, and it WAS really red and puffy. Alicia felt terrible for arguing about it, but the doctor was likewise surprised that he actually did have conjunctivitis.
So that's where we are now. My mother is watching Kyle today and tomorrow. His eye is responding very well to the drops, and the doctor said he should be better by Friday. I still feel like crap, though. On top of that, my father has a worse case of what I have and we didn't get to go to the sedar we were planning on attending.
Terrible week.