We're Sick and Tired of Being Sick and Tired

Well, we’re coming off a week of sick kids and trips to the pediatrician’s office. Last week, Margaret and Patricia had spring break from school, so Patricia promptly got a nasty head and chest cold, complete with fever. Lasted much of the week. Margaret, on the other hand, managed to dodge that bullet by spending as little time at home as she possibly could. She is, after all, an almost-teenager, and I guess it’s part of the job description to avoid family time as much as possible and at all costs. She’s not being confrontational, just avoidable. What she did manage to avoid, as a result, was non-stop and unrelenting coughing and nose blowing. I took Patricia to the doctor’s on Tuesday last week only to find out it’s a cold with the cough a result of post-nasal drip. Treat the symptoms, thank you very much for your co-pay.

I had planned to take Thursday and Friday off of that week to spend with the girls with Brigid in day care so we could have some quality time. When Thursday rolled around, Patricia seemed to be on the mend, so we went through with the Thursday portion of the plan. I dropped Brigid off at Sibley and Margaret, Patricia and I went shopping and then out to lunch, and then went to Borders to hang out and browse until it was time to pick up Brigid. It was a glorious day – warm sunshine and lots of girl time. We went to Sibley in time to find Brigid strapped into the “buggy,” a six-seat stroller they use for the toddlers to transport them anywhere they have to go en mass. When she saw us, she started to cry as if we weren’t going to take her with us. Until that time, she was having a blast. But as I unstrapped her from her buggy seat, she started to cough a barky oh-no-she-has-croup cough. Her teacher said she hadn’t been coughing like that all day.

We went to Stewarts as we often do and got a snack but by the time we got home, Brigid was feeling very, very warm. I took her temperature and it was 103! Her breathing was difficult and her barky croup cough was getting worse, so I called Dr. Chaskey’s office once again and they said bring her right over. The other two girls came with me to help and we were seen right away – labored breathing is taken seriously. Dr. Chaskey, whom I’ve known as long as I’ve been in Plattsburgh and whose oldest child, his daughter, shares the same birth date as Brigid, checked her out and said she had croup. The fever was a little disconcerting, but he gave us a prescription for prednisone, told me to treat her other symptoms with Advil and Tylenol, get a cool mist humidifier and keep her home from school the next day. What he didn’t tell me is what the prednisone would do to my usually compliant and fairly easy-going kid.

I gave her the first dose of the $30 non-formulary prescription that night and within minutes she was bouncing off the walls, flailing and wailing and running in circles. It took me forever to get her settled down for bed. Meanwhile, Patricia’s fever had returned so I sent her to bed early. The girls weren’t feeling all that well the next day – Brigid was still barking and I was surprised Patricia had any lung tissue left at all with all her coughing. She still had a fever, so we went back to the doctor’s office so they could do a strep test. That turned out negative, but they suggested she take Sudafed to help dry up the head.

Margaret, in the mean time, was fielding sleepover offers left and right. She ended up going to a friend’s for the night, leaving Patricia and Brigid and I to hang out together on our own. That was OK, though, because they were both feeling up to some Chinese food for dinner. We picked up Daddy and headed to China Buffet. The soup felt good on Patricia’s sore throat, which was raw from all her coughing and post-nasal dripping.

Saturday the girls seemed to rebound a little, and it was so beautiful out. Margaret came home from her friend, Colleen’s house, only to turn around, pick up her friend Maggie and head to Saranac Lake with Jack for a hike up Baker Mountain. Patricia, Brigid and I were on our own again and feeling well enough to go for a bite to eat and hit a couple first-of-the-season garage sales. But after lunch, it was time for the infirmed to come home and rest. The hikers returned with an invitation for Margaret to go over to Maggie’s to spend the night, so once again she was off and Patricia, Brigid and I were on our own. Jack took advantage of the great weather to rake the back yard, and Patricia and Brigid ran around outside for a bit, enjoying the sun. Jack had hauled the grill off the deck, brought up the deck chairs and table and I threw some hamburgers on for our first dinner of the season outside, it was that warm.

The sicklings were feeling poorly again that night, with Brigid falling asleep on the couch (unheard of) by about 7 p.m. I was doing my calendar at the Press and Jack put her to bed only to have her get up again an hour and a half later, out of sorts and feverish. I came home not long after, dosed her up with Advil, and got a ‘roid raging kid to bed long after her normal bedtime. We decided to skip mass on Sunday – John was in NYC seeing the Pope anyway and I didn’t want to have to sit in the pew with a sick steroid-addled toddler listening to a homily by the monsignor I probably would take issue with. Besides, Patricia was still coughing and although she was feeling generally better, that cough would send parishioners scurrying.

Patricia went to school on Monday feeling much better though still coughing, but Brigid, who had a very, very rough night of it the night before, work up burning up with fever. Her barking cough was gone, but it had turned into a head cold/chest cold kind of thing. So, back to the pediatrician we went – fourth time in a week, for anyone keeping score. Although the cough was soupy sounding they were more concerned with her ear. Turns out, she developed an ear infection. So, back to the pharmacy for antibiotics. She was very feverish last night but had a better time sleeping last night. She woke up fever-free and feeling great, more like her old self. We hadn’t given her any more of the steroids since Sunday morning, and I think that’s helped her bounce back to her old self as well. She wanted to go to school this morning, so we brought her over, letting them know that she’s feeling better but you never know with fevers. So far, I haven’t received that call saying come get your kid. I hope we’re finally on the road to recovery. What a long, strange trip it’s been.