What a start to 2008!

We enjoyed ringing in the New Year at a friend's house, playing a few rounds of Mafia and catching up on life.
The week to follow was pretty laid back, we enjoyed visiting with friends and settling in after way too much holiday travel. Fox had a little cough at night, but it wasn't that big of a deal.

Sunday, the nursery workers reported that Fox wasn't his usual fun self, he was kind of lethargic and didn't want to play, just wanted to snuggle on one person per service. We came home and all took a great nap. Fox's cough was worsening, so I called the on-call nurse for the pediatrician's office. She really wanted him to be seen Sunday for an RSV swab test and a chest x-ray. She also insisted that he not be given a decongestant because he's under 2.

So after naptime, Fox and I went off to Patients First. They said it was just a cold, didn't do an x-ray or RSV swab, and sent me off with a prescription cough syrup. I picked up the Rx and headed home. When I got home and read the info on the Rx, it turned out to be a combo - cough syrup/decongestant/antihistamine. So I called the nurse back b/c I was concerned about the decongestant. She was still insistent that he needed the x-ray and swab, and said that we needed to get him to the ER for those tests.
We tried TMH, but there were no seats in the waiting room, and they said it was probably an 8-9 hour wait. So off we went to Capital Regional. We were in and out in 5 hours with a negative RSV test and no x-ray.

Monday morning I woke up around 5 feeling yucky, but nothing big. 7 am, that all changed.
I started throwing up (among other issues) and would continue to throw up for the next 12 hours. I couldn't keep anything in my body. (I'm trying to state all of this gently, but it is always a feat when you manage to vomit every color of the rainbow!)

It got to where I couldn't open my hands all the way and I was so scared. I have never been that sick in my entire life. So Barb came over after Vance put Fox to bed, and we headed to TMH. The waiting room was much less crowded, and after nearly three hours, I was given a bed in a hallway. Not just any hallway, but the hallway on the way to the trauma area. Where our friend Cynthia is a nurse. She saw us come in and got my IV started right away.

This, my friends? This is how I spelled relief. They gave me a great anti-nausea drug, and a pain killer that is apparently better than morphine. Within 5 minutes of the fluids coming in, I told Vance I was starting to feel like me again. My hands unclenched, I was able to relax and rest for the first time since 7:00 that morning.
We filled my phenergan prescription at CVS on the way home (I am so glad there is a 24-hour pharmacy nearby!) and I made it to bed at 5. Vance followed shortly after he sent an email to his boss about taking another sick day.

Today (um, I guess now it's yesterday - Tuesday) I slept until 2:30 and then was up for a few hours. Slept a few more hours, then got up and ate a little bit of Chicken and Stars soup. Thanks to Rebecca for the groceries!
Was talking to Vance, trying to figure out why I still had so much pain in my abdomen. He suggested I take a hot bath. As I slipped into the tub (gracefully, not accidentally!) I realized that my tummy was sore from all of the puking yesterday! Duh!

Vance will be heading back to work and I have a sweet friend from church coming over in the morning to help out with Fox. I am still super-weak and sore, and standing for more than 5 minutes totally wears me out. Keeping up after a boisterous toddler is not on the list of how to recover from the stomach flu!

So, just to keep you from being bored to tears with the medical drama that unfolded at the Casa de Rutherford this week, I leave you with Bacon.