My Summer of Poor Health - Take one

 

Part one...

I think it all started July 10^th when we went out to Aunt Juliane’s house for a family gathering. The Feger siblings decided to get together and Juliane moved to Orlando not that long ago and lives near Rainbow River, like a street away in the “country” for Orlando. So it was Juliane and fam, Steven and fam and us. We were planning on staying the night because one of our summer plans was to go down the river the next day after our gathering before going home. Dinner was great, food was great, kids swam and played, four dogs, Andre’s margaritas. (Which oddly enough, I only had two drinks.) We know this never happens, it’s like something in me knew better, probably mom up above looking out. Tyler and Julia decided to stay with us and go down the river the next day so that made ALL Clara’s dreams come true. We actually (almost) all jumped into the back of Brent’s truck after dinner to go to the river before it closed so that the other Feger boys could take a dip since they weren’t staying. Of course Everett pooped on the way and I had NOTHING so he was a naked little boy in the river which cleaned him up pretty good. We stayed about 45 minutes, it was COLD!!!! Then we headed back to the house. Juliane and Brent have a mother-in-law suite attached to the house so there’s lots of space for company. Everett was getting sleepy at 10, probably 8 but rubbing his eyes so I decided to go to bed with him. He and I slept in a spare room in the main part of the house while Andre slept in the mother-in-law with the kids on air mattresses. Everett fell asleep about 11 because we are in a bed and he is used to a crib but we finally snuggled in. I woke up at 12:30 and noticed his head was wrenched back like he used to sleep before he had his tonsils out. He no longer sleeps that way at home so I knew something was up with his breathing immediately. I listened close and could hear him wheezing. Of COURSE I didn’t bring Albuterol, because that would make too much sense to travel with your sons breathing medicine when you’re spending the night 1.5 hours away. I should likely always have an O2 reader on hand for him and now I will for me for life I think just out of pure PTSD from Covid. I wonder if I’ll even stop thinking about my oxygen levels. (Sidetrack)  Lesson learned. He only uses it when he’s sick but I guess a good rules of thumb would be to take it for any travel and maybe even have one in the diaper bag at all times just in case because when it comes on, it comes fast. The good news is, we’ve been down this road WAY too many times and Everett is a champ so I knew he was okay. I nudged him to see what he sounded like “awake” and he coughed and it was super tight. I woke up Andre and we debated waking all the kids and going or me driving Everett back and coming back in the am. Andre wanted to all go but I felt so bad because the kids were SO excited to go on the river. I have no problem being a night owl so I felt safe driving him home so I convinced Andre to do that and then I’d come back and get them the next day. We packed him up by 1:30 and off we went. I put on his shows on his DVD because I didn’t want him to fall asleep and not be able to check on him. He was holding his chin up so I knew he wasn’t going to doze. He giggled the whole way watching Bubble Guppies and Blues Clues, I had to pull over to stop to switch up his shows from time to time so he wouldn’t get sleepy. We made it home at 3am. I gave him a treatment and rocked him listening, not planning on sleeping just in case. I thought He’d sleep until 6 and sound better and off we’d go to Orlando, hoping he’d even sleep in the car and maybe we could join in the fun. Instead he developed a fever, chills and I’m guessing body ache by 7. I gave him Tylenol, ibuprofen and more Albuterol because his breathing got worse. Our pediatrician has on call hours on the weekend and open at 8:30 so I rocked him back to sleep until I could call. They got us in at 9. By that point I had already notified Andre and our trusty backup Steven skipped church and drove out to Orlando to get everyone after the River fun so I could take care of Everett. We got to the dr and Everett puked all over both of us. Thankfully I had a change of clothes in the car for him and I drove home in my bra when we left. Of course it had to get in my hair too! My kids don’t puke, I hate to even say that and jinx anything but it’s super rare. I think that’s the first time Everett has puked from being sick, he has thrown up from choking on food a lot, but not being sick. Clara is a champ puker and the few times she does she makes it to the garbage and it doesn’t even phase her, no tears, just annoyed. The doctor said that there is a stomach bug going around. We weren’t sure about the breathing but he he was at 96 oxygen so she said go home, rest, and just watch his breathing, bring him back or to the ER if needed. She gave us medicine for the puking but that was the only time he threw up. We got home and I rocked him in the chair for four hours and he slept and I even kicked my feet up and dozed too. The crew made it  home disheveled and tired, I don’t think they got much sleep either, but we did check something we wanted to do off the list!

After Everett woke he was at about 103 so I gave him more medicine. He ate, played, even though I tried so hard to get him to rest. Even his blue iPad which is his favorite didn’t hold him still long enough. This kid is one hell of a trooper. The rest of the day I could keep his fever at 101-102 alternating ibuprofen and Tylenol. He ate and acted fine the whole day. I got him all set for bed, steam bathroom before bed for 30 min, cool mist in his room, vicks rub, medicines, hydrated, cozy and rocked him to sleep. He woke up at 2 with 103.5, chills, sweats and I’m guessing body ache. Andre and I gave him the round of meds again. I rocked him for about an hour and laid him down and he slept until morning waking with 103. We did the EXACT same routine as the day before, he ate, drank, was himself. He may have eaten a tad less than usual but still, he had a great appetite. So this puts us at Wednesday which is when his symptoms started to improve a lot. Wednesday he was at 100, I didn’t even give him meds other than for breathing and he didn’t even need the full round of doses throughout the day. By Friday he was back to him completely minus a lingering cough. The doc never mentioned covid when I took him. He had been tested once earlier this year when one of his students in his class that sits directly next to him got covid and he also got sick and Everett had the flu. There were also two other cases in his class this past school year but Everett never had symptoms those two times. Covid honestly never even entered my mind with this only because this is how he gets sick when he gets sick, minus the puking.

Now enter July 15. Andre came home from work and said he didn’t feel good, wrapped himself in a blanket, sat at the dinner table, had something small to eat and went to bed. He felt warm but we didn’t take his temp. He said body ache and chills. That night at 9, I felt the exact same way. I took some Tylenol and went to bed. I woke up all throughout the night with a fever but I couldn’t move to find the thermometer to check it my chills and body ache were so bad. I got up with the kids at 6:30 because my kids don’t sleep in, EVER, even when mommy is sick. 😉 I had a SPLITTING headache and everything was too bring so I was wearing my sun glasses in the house. I do not get headaches, I get stomach aches, so this was tough for me, I don’t deal well with my head and I couldn’t even open my eyes to get Everett food. Thankfully Clara can (although fights it) can get her own food. I was wrapped in blanket feeding Everett when Andre got up and as soon as he came to take over I took myself to a walk in clinic. Sure enough, positive for covid. I didn’t call anyone, tell anyone, and even pretended like we still might be able to go go NY, why? Not sure, I didn’t want anyone to worry number one. I felt so bad with the disappointment of it all I couldn’t even come to terms with it myself. OUR BAGS WERE PACKED BY THE DOOR, one was even in the trunk already. I was beyond devastated and feeling like death didn’t help.

For the next four days I couldn’t open my eyes and walked bent over in half with sunglasses on, I even tried two pair at one point. I called my doctor as soon as I got my positive test and he called me in a steroid. So, at that point that’s all I was taking a steroid and some migraine medicine that did nothing. I don’t remember what night but I woke up with 105.5 and got in an “ice bath” which meant only cold water, ice packs, ice and frozen foods from our freezer. I didn’t even shake, I wasn’t cold at all which was scary. I “slept” in the bath and Andre sat in a chair next to me and took my temp every 20 mins or so to see if it went down and made sure it didn’t go up. It did decline as long as I stayed in to about 104. He sat in that damn chair all night taking my temp for me, still sick himself. I learned later reading about high temps that your body doesn’t make cortisol at night so that’s why it spikes so high even with medicine but lowers during the day. So by morning I could keep myself at 104 with ibuprofen and Tylenol and just sat hunched over with 999 sun glasses on.

There was a night in between the high 105.7 bath nights. It was after the second one I told Andre in the morning to take me to the ER. I didn’t want to go, I was bawling but after two nights in a bath like that and how LONG I had already been sick, I was really afraid I was going to die. I wasn’t checking my oxygen at that point, I had shortness of breath but that was just a symptom so I didn’t think much about it. I went to Bardmoor ER bc it’s closest. I should have known not to go there because I went there for my first ER visit as an adult earlier this summer when I KNEW I had a blood clot in my left leg and realized this at 11:30 pm on a Saturday, the first day off of summer and I woke up Andre and told him I was going to the ER to be safe. The clot started Everett’s bday weekend. I had a pain in my left calf and for three weeks it worked it’s way down my calf to my ankle. That Saturday night my ankle blew up and was all read and I did a google search and it was EVERY symptom SPOT on. So I got an ultrasound at 12am at the Bardmoor ER and they said it was muscular. I explained to them I JUST had a varicose vein removed in my other leg and I’m VERY clear the difference of a muscular pain (Uh, hello, former athlete?!) She reassured me it was muscular so I believed the expert and did what she said and elevated it and iced it, which is NOT what you’re supposed to do with a clot, you need to WALK WALK WALK and use heat. So, in my opinion, that tech should be fired. I did fill out the survey and complained and called the ER and complained. I’m sure she’s still misdiagnosing as I type. Since I had already had my varicose vein removed from my leg the week before, 16 incisions and a LOT of yanking. It was gross. Lisa took me but they wouldn’t let her go in with me. I had a STRONG vodka in a YETI and drank it the whole time, they thought it was water, I told them after and they said next time bring them one. I made it through the process of my vein being pulled from my leg with a breeze and even watched. Gross thinking about it now but drunk it was pretty cool. After that process I told them about the ER and so they did an ultrasound on my left calf before I left the office that day and SURE ENOUGH! It WAS a blood clot. They didn’t put me on thinners, they just said take baby aspirin.

 

I’m going to pause here and return for the next portion of my saga soon, stay tuned. This reminds me of when I was little and all my children came on and I can hear the song from the start of the show in my head right now which meant my mom sent me to nap so she could watch “all my children” – I ended up loving that show myself.

To be continued…