Mommy Sick Day(s)

Staci’s Fever Rule: No fever-reducing agents unless said person is absolutely miserable or has a fever greater than 103.

Otherwise, those meds do more harm than good. Remember, the body spikes a fever as a natural method to ward off infection. Let it do it’s job.

I don’t think I made it to 103 but at one point I stopped checking. If I heard that “BEEEEP” in my ear one more time I was gonna sling the thermometer. I never made it off the couch until around 7:30 last night. I even held off on going to the bathroom because it took sheer amounts of will power to even look in the direction of the half bath, much less drag myself the 5 steps to get there.

I literally thought I was dying yesterday. At one point, in my fever stupor, I thought to myself “so, this is what dying feels like.” I’m not even kidding. I even went so far as to write out mental letters to all my family & friends with what I wanted them to know. It was pitiful. I tried to watch TV but that was irritating. Especially because it was left on TLC, which was showing A Baby Story and Make Room for Multiples and various other birth shows with C-section after C-section. Bah! I didn’t have it in me to channel surf. Most of the day I just laid on the couch in silence left alone with my thoughts. Dangerous stuff right there. I prayed often when I could find the strength to collect my thoughts for a moment or two. I’m telling you, I was in BAD shape.

I eventually collected enough umph to meander to the pantry where I dug around and found a can of chicken noodle soup. I put it on to cook and then went straight back to the couch. Several minutes later I realize I’m going to have to go get my soup, but I just couldn’t do it. It was in the danger zone of becoming scorched soup but I managed to climb off the couch for a second time. After lunch, I remained on the couch indefinitely. My back was killing me from all that laying. Ouch!

At some point, I made the call to my dear mother-in-law who said she could pick up Skylar from school and take her home until hubby got off work. Praise the Lord! So my afternoon continued in silence and the occasional attempt to watch TV without much success. When I wasn’t freezing I was sweating and my throat started burning. This is definitely worse!

Around 7ish I decide that it might help my back to take a hot shower. It took me 30 minutes to finally drag my booty upstairs. Turns out I hated every bit of the shower. I was in one of my freezing moments and no matter how hot I turned the knob, it was never enough. I eventually tried soaking in the tub but it wasn’t much better. Washing my face caused me to touch my neck and realize that my lymph nodes were VERY tender. Uh oh!

Hubby arrived with The Little Girl right when I got out so then I had her to wrangle her into the bathtub. It was rumored that she was also running a low-grade fever so I wanted her to get a bath that night to avoid making her take one when she was in the throws of a big fever that makes you freeze/sweat. Her listening ears must have gotten left at school that day. She knew I wasn’t up to a battle and wasn’t really interested in my agenda to get a bath nor was she in any sort of a hurry to do anything. I’m guessing that part of this was the fact that she hadn’t seen me all day and was wanting to drag things out in order to sneak in some Mommy time. I wasn’t having it. Sorry kiddo.

I attempted to eat some chicken noodle soup that hubby’s mom made for me. It was so delicious and definitely homemade. However, my throat was so raw and tight that every single bite burned like the dickens. I tried to power through as many bites as possible before I had to give up. I was so sad because it was SO good. And because I was REALLY hungry. 🙁

Hubby suggested that since us girls both had a fever that we should both sleep together and he would sleep in the guest room. Probably best to quarantine ourselves and I had to agree. We need at least one functional person around here.

Skylar slept through the night just fine and woke up with no fever. Whoo hoo!! I woke up soaking wet again from sweating and noticed that now it hurt to even swallow my own saliva. Not good. You know your throat hurts when you resort to spitting EVERY TIME you need to swallow. Have you ever noticed how many times you swallow during the day? Trust me when I say, its a lot! When I did have to swallow it, honest to goodness, felt like my throat was a pin cushion. It was beyond painful.

Despite the fact that my fever was gone, the lymph nodes in my neck were now the size of ping pong balls. Eating was out of the question, so we got dressed and headed straight for The Little Clinic. Thankfully, I was seen right away. The PA said I had all the classic signs of Strep and since I didn’t have insurance she wouldn’t even bother to test me. She said that even if it came back negative, my fever and swollen glands were enough for her to treat me for a bacterial infection.

I took my prescription straight to Publix because it was for one of their FREE antibiotics. Had I been able to eat I may have chosen to hold off on the antibiotic one more day. I’ve read studies that Strep can clear up on its own. But, without nourishment there was no way that I would get better on my own. So, I came home, held the counter tightly, and swallowed a double-dose of antibiotics. At this point, I really wanted to die! Oooooowwwwww!

I tried to lay down to take a nap with Skylar but that meant I couldn’t spit so it was a no go. For the record, I know how gross it is to spit. It’s gross to write about it much less do it. Still, it’s either spit OR swallow & scream. I think the later would probably do twice the damage.

I finally told Skylar that Mommy can’t talk any more because even opening my mouth stretches the back of my throat and is ooouuucchhhyy!!

I’m really bummed about taking antibiotics. I haven’t taken them in almost 5 years! I know there are folks who think I’m hard headed about this stuff but I much prefer to let my body work the way it is meant to. We are self-healing creatures. But, at this point, I just want to feel better. I’m hurting in a bad way. After that dose of antibiotics I can’t even convince myself to go through the pain again to take ibuprofen.

So, that’s my update for the past two days. Hopefully I will be in better spirits tomorrow.

Now, please excuse me, I have to go spit! 😉