It’s a Sick-fest Here!

The sickness convention has been going on all week in our household and it hasn’t been fun.

It started with the husband coming down with flu towards the end of last week. He had a raging fever and was floored for two days. Then, as he was recovering over the weekend, both kids came down with flu symptoms. Noey managed to fight it off, beating his fever in two days, but Naomi has been hit quite bad. We had to zip her down to KKH A&E on Monday to see a doctor because it being a public holiday, her usual Paed clinic was closed and we weren’t sure where we’d find an open clinic. She was diagnosed with croup, an illness I have ever only read about in storybooks and have never actually known the details of. In summary, it is a throat infection in the area surrounding the voice box so, as you can imagine, my little girl hasn’t been sounding like herself these days.

First visit to KKH A&E for the both of us. Not something I want to repeat.

The worst thing about this bout of illness is that her appetite has been greatly affected, so I can see her losing weight by the day. From a girl who would march into the kitchen or to her highchair to demand food, she’s rejecting everything, even her favourites, and only drinking half her usual milk intake. It’s heartbreaking for me to watch, not to mention stressful, when she just screams and asks to be set free when we put her in her highchair to coax her to eat anything at all.

I’m at my wit’s end. Oh, did I also mention that my husband is out of town for the whole week? 

She wants Ritz? She gets Ritz. Even then, she only took a couple of bites.

She’s been sleeping a lot, which I gather is her way of trying to beat the bug. I brought her to see her Paed on Wednesday after she scared me by sleeping and being listless the whole day. Of course by the time we saw the doctor, she had perked up and was behaving normally. I’ve been told she’s on the mend. I really hope so. Because, to crown it off, Noey has come down with a fever and a runny nose again. I think he re-caught the bug from Naomi. Horrors.

Anyway, at times like this, I like to find things to be thankful about, so that I don’t end up wallowing in self-pity and being consumed with worry. So here’s my little grateful list:

1. I’m grateful that God has kept me well, so I can take care of my family. DD is always rather envious of the fact that I don’t fall ill easily. It’s my good genes, he says. Whatever the reason, I am praying that I stay well. And trying to drink plenty of water.

2. I’m grateful that Noey bounced back from his fever the first time round so quickly and I’m praying that he will do so again this time. 

3. In fact, I am grateful that the kids rarely fall ill. Noey is generally remarkably healthy. I sometimes wonder if its because I breastfed him for 18 months. Naomi is less so, probably because she started getting ill at a younger age than Noey, no thanks to interaction with her Gor-gor. Still, they are rarely ill enough that I have to see the Paed, and for that I’m grateful.

4. I’m grateful that the wait at KKH was very short, even though it was a public holiday, because we went before 8am. Naomi could be attended to quickly, and we could bring her back in between her observation period because we live not too far away.

5. I’m grateful that I have plenty of friends upholding us in prayer. I think that’s the real reason why I’m still standing!

6. I’m grateful that family has been very willing to help, though the kids still remain very clingy to me, especially when they’re ill.

7. Most of all, I’m grateful that I have the Lord to turn to for strength at times like these.

It’s tough, but with God’s help, we’ll make it through eventually! In the meantime, this blog will take a bit of a backseat. I’ll be back when things stabilise at home.